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

Mesic Sand Tallgrass Prairie

This is one of the rarest communities in the Oak Openings Region. It was the most common wetland community in the region, but because of development and fire suppression it is now reduced to small fragmented patches. Mesic prairie is seasonally flooded, holding water from late winter to mid-spring. This plant community occurs on sand flats between the dunes. Vegetation composition varies within the community due to slight changes in the soil pH and moisture. Trees are scares but shrubs can be frequent. Shrubs include prairie willow Salix humilus, meadow-sweet Spiraea alba, steeplebush Spriaea tomentosa, dogwoods Cornus spp., and chokeberry Aronia melanocarpa. Common grasses include big bluestem Andgropogon gerardii, little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium, and Indian grass Sorghastrum nutans. Forbs include dense blazing star(marsh blazing-star) Liatris spicata, colic-root Aletris farinosa, tall coreopsis Coreopsis tripteris, grass-pink Calopogon tuberosa, showy tick-trefoil Desmodium canadense, yellow wild indigo Baptisia tinctoria, Canada goldenrod Solidago canadensis, showy goldenrod Solidago speciosa, and soapwort gentian Gentiana saponaria.