Clintonville High School students hand-plant prairie seed as part of grassland establishment project. Photo by Greg Rose, Clintonville High School.

Members of the Clintonville Fire Department burn grassland area to prepare site for prairie planting. Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Tribune-Gazette. Copyright. All rights reserved.

Clintonville High School students clean and sort seed they hand-collected from a nearby nature center prairie for planting into a newly established grassland area adjacent to the high school. Photo by Greg Rose, Clintonville High School.

This past year, Green Bay Field Office Biologist Gary Van Vreede worked with a group of teachers and community members from the City of Clintonville, Wisconsin, to establish grassland prairie habitat at the local high school.  This two acres of habitat is the initial phase of a larger project designed to establish 10 acres of grassland prairie on community property located adjacent to Clintonville High School.  Prior to project initiation, the site was comprised of a mix of exotic cool season grasses and weeds.  To eliminate competition from this undesirable vegetation, the site was treated with herbicide throughout the summer with assistance from an area farmer.  Members of the Clintonville Fire Department conducted a prescribed burn to remove the dead vegetation and prepare the site for planting.  While a portion of the seed for the project was purchased through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, much of the seed was obtained from an existing prairie located on a nearby nature center.  The seed was collected, cleaned, and planted by students from the high school ecology class.  The final planting, which included 42 species of forbs and five species of grass, will provide habitat for a variety of wildlife.  Due to its proximity to the high school, the prairie will serve as a convenient resource for outdoor environmental education.  Informational signs will be placed along a recreation trail that borders the site, providing an opportunity for members of the community to learn about the benefits of grassland prairie habitat.