Volunteers improve Jennings prairie
BRADY TWP — Dedicated volunteers of all ages participated in Jennings Environmental Education Center’s Prairie Improvement Day on Saturday.
The annual event was attended by more than 50 volunteers, including Boy Scout troops 33 and 860, with the purpose of managing the blazing star prairie’s ecosystem.
Participants were given hedge clippers and led on a short walk to the prairie, where they proceeded to cut down prairie brush.
According to Wil Taylor, center manager at Jennings, prairie improvement must take place in winter, as it is the hibernation period of an endangered snake.
“We’re trying to slow the trees from encroaching into the prairie by cutting saplings and brush. The volunteers are helping us get ahead of what we can’t reach with equipment,” Taylor said. “Because of the endangered snake, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, we have to do work in the winter.”
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