We can use your help

Tax deductible contributions to the Green Ribbon Initiative will be used to support education and stewardship work in the Oak Openings Region.

To donate to the Oak Openings Habitat Protection and Restoration Fund, click here.

To donate to the Oak Openings Carbon Offset Fund, click here.

To make a general donation to the Green Ribbon Initiative, click on the donate button below. These funds will go to:

Stewardship work on private lands.

Educational materials and handouts.

Outreach events, such as Blue Week

Support of the oakopenings.org web site

Black Oak/ Lupine Barren

This is considered the classic “Oak Openings” community. This is a savanna where black oak Quercus velutina and white oak Quercus alba are widely spaced and give the community a “park like” appearance. Open stands of these trees occur on the dry sand dunes. Sunlight reaches the surface which allows for a rich herbaceous layer that includes little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium, Pennsylvannia sedge (Penn sedge) Carex pensylvanica, Junegrass Koeleria macrantha, Canada frostweed Crocanthemum canadense, wild lupine Lupinus perennis, plains puccoon Lithospermum caroliniense, western sunflower Helianthus occidentalis, butterfly milkweed (butterfly weed) Asclepias tuberosa, goats-rue (rabbit’s pea) Tephrosia virginiana, rough blazing star Liatris aspera, and flowering spurge Euphorbia corollata.