A prescribed burn was completed in April of 2006 in the treated area. This removed a layer of thatch to make the subsequent herbicide application more effective. The site was sprayed with Sethoxydim herbicide in late May of 2006 to kill only the grasses, including reed canary grass. Sethoxydim does not kill broadleaf plants or sedges. Using this selective grass herbicide gave the sedges and forbs a chance to return in areas where they are still present but suppressed by reed canary grass.
The areas where native sedges and forbs were no longer present were designated as tree planting areas. In April of 2007, box elder trees were removed from the area to facilitate site preparation and direct seeding. The area was treated with Sethoxydim herbicide in early June. Areas designated for direct tree seeding were mowed in late June and treated with Glyphosate herbicide in late August to kill all the plants in the areas to be direct seeded. The herbicide treatments appeared to have killed most of the reed canary grass.
The site was mowed and tilled in mid September and direct seeded to a mixture of bur oak, white oak, swamp white oak, black walnut, butternut, bitternut hickory, Kentucky coffee tree, Ohio buckeye, chokecherry, wild plum, dogwood, redbud, ninebark and false indigo seeds in late September and early October. Seed was thrown out onto the tilled ground by a person in the back of a trailer towed by a tractor. We seeded 15 bushels of walnuts and five bushels of acorns per acre and lesser amounts of the other species listed above based on the site and seed availability. The larger seeds were disked in, followed by the smaller seeds and oats, and finished with a cultipacker. Warm wet weather allowed the oats to grow well, hopefully minimizing the affects of creek flooding. Willow, cottonwood and tamarack seedlings were planted in 2008. Silver maple seeds were sown on the area in June of 2008.