Friday, October 2, 2009

Coyote Knob

This is where I stopped clearing cedars several years ago. I stopped because I hadn’t spent enough time beyond this point investigating the type and amount of vegetation currently growing or the size and numbers of cedars needing to be removed.

There’s a lot of prairie grass growing under those cedars. It looks like removing the small cedars will let in a lot of sunlight.

Here’s a nice little group of Dwarf Hackberry. They don’t respond well to having trees dropped on them, so I’ll have to use a little caution here. It’s really hard to see deciduous trees and shrubs after they’ve lost their leaves for the winter. I’ll mark these with flagging before I start cutting.

The grass is really growing well in the spots where more sunlight gets through. This ought to really look nice after it’s cleared.

Adjacent to this opening is a dry rocky knob that drops off quickly on all sides. I’m guessing there’s a large limestone block acting as the base for this formation.

Groundhogs have made dens all around the knob. Most are no longer active and a couple were dug out and used as a den for a litter of Coyotes a few years ago.

This den was emitting a distinct animal aroma, but it didn’t seem strong enough to be from recent occupation. Even so, I wasn’t going to put my arm far enough down the hole to get a shot around the bend.

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