CONSERVATION

PROJECTS

Conservation Manager

Upon meeting his future wife Kathy in 1999, Mark started volunteering at Oaken Acres. He met while she was a naturalist at Russell Woods Forest Preserve and he was a summer intern. helping with the children's summer camp environmental education program. His work at Oaken Acres has centered mostly around cage building/repair and stewardship of the wildlife habitat on the farm.

Mark has a BS iand MS, both in Geography, and a PhD in Geology from Northern Illinois University. His career has focused at the intersection of technology and agronomy for over 20 years. Mark's current interests include conducting field research of regenerative agriculture concepts.

Mark Stelford

Oak Savanna

Located on the east side of the Kishwaukee River, small areas of woodland developed prior to European settlement given the river acted as a firebreak for prairie fires. When Kathy moved here in 1984 a big part of the area was mowed. She stopped that practice and it is amazing to see the native plants that have come back - they were there all the time, just waiting for the right conditions! Things life bluebells, jack in the pulpit, bloodroot, spring beauties, great Angelica, dogtooth violet, and trillium. The conservation work here involved the removal of invasive species (e.g., garlic mustard, giant ragweed, reed canary grass) as well as make firewood. The goal of both these activities is to raise money for the wildlife rehabilitation efforts.

Prairie Areas

The remaining part of the two small farm fields was also enrolled in CRP over twenty years ago, but they were planted to paired plants instead of trees. With several different prairie plants blooming throughout the growing season, these areas now support honey bees! Invasive management is front and center - reed canary grass, Canadian thistle, wild parsnip, and poison ivy are key challenges, in addition to "scrub trees" (which if left to grow would shade out the prairie). Both areas have small ponds - it is great to hear the frogs in spring and summer as well as see wood ducks and mallards taking a break. Work is ongoing to get these areas prepped so we can do controlled burns in the fall, (which help to promote the perennial plants and suppress annuals). Mark talks about how we don't want "uncontrolled burns" at the property!

Did you know that the majority of Oaken Acres property is dedicated to conservation efforts? These activities are coordinated by "Mr. Oaken Acres" Mark Stelford. He finds a quote from Henry Betson helpful to form the mindset of our conservation efforts. Trained as a soil scientist Mark sees the quote applying beyond just animals.

For nature shall not be measured by man. "In a world older and more complete than ours they move finessed and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by boils we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underline, they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time..."

~HenryBetson

There are several different conservation

areas on the property.

Tree Plantations

Over twenty years ago, two small farm fields on the property were enrolled in the USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Part of each field was planted to several species of trees: oak, hackberry, and sycamore. A small area was planted with eastern white pine to serve as windbreak from the farm house. Over time other tree species (and multiflora rose bushes) seeded themselves in and they compete for resources (water, nutrients, sunlight). They need to be removed per our CRP contract. A big removal project happened in 2022. All wood removed was chipped and a lot of it will be used in a composting project at the farm in 2023!