2017 prescribed burn excites children and adults

The prescribed ecological burn on April 10, 2017 was an exciting event for children and adults. Trained staff and volunteer from City of Ann Arbor Natural Area Preservation explained the purpose of the burn and described safety eqiptment and procedures. Since the wind was coming from the south, they started the burn at the northern edge. Here's what it looked like when the flames were closer to the viewers.

A few moments after this picture, we started to feel raindrops! So this is the first burn on record where it rained at the end of the burn. Kids and parents went home, so we'll plant seeds sometime later this week.

Wet Meadow Seed Collecting Fall 2011

Wet Meadow Seed Collecting Fall 2011, a set on Flickr.

We spent some time on a beautiful fall Saturday collecting and spreading seeds in Wet Meadow 3. We also collected Buhr Park apples and made apple sauce.a

Mother nature helps water the new plants

As everyone knows by now, May 2011 was one of the wettest months on record. And it poured buckets both Saturday and Sunday, so the festival was called off. We did get the plants in, thanks to heroic efforts by some Super Swampers, alumni and others. We started planting under cloudy skies on Saturday afternoon. As the rain started, we began to see just how much run-off comes from the parking areas by the pool and ice rink. By early evening there was an ankle-deep torrent flowing into the west end of the newest basin. The basin is certainly in the right spot!


Native plants are tough and most have thrived in their new homes. A few days later we finished planting along the sidewalk.
Stop by and see the newest wet meadow!

May 15 is Planting Day for a New Wet Meadow in Buhr Park

Join neighbors and supporters in helping to plant the newest wet meadow in Buhr Park.

May 15, 2011 - 10AM to 4PM
come anytime for as long as you want. Park in the main lot by the pool and ice rink.

Help plant over 1,000 plants that will help filter rainwater, create critter habitat and make the park more interesting.

The newest wet meadow is codenamed "Wet Meadow 1 Extension" because it is located just to the south of the first wet meadow in Buhr Park. It is separated from the first wet meadow by a grass path.

2009 prescribed burn - a big hit with kids

The prescribed ecological burn on April 2, 2009 was a great success! Lots of kids and parents had fun and leaned about fire, plants and wildlife.

This year we focused on the three basins in the souty west corner of the park (sometimes called Wet Meadow 2) that we planted in 2004.

More details soon.

P.s., if you took photos, please get in touch.

Like Monica the Garden Faerie who posted photos to her blog.

Super Swampers Gather Seeds

A group of Super Swampers met today to gather seeds. It was an incredible day to be out and even better for collecting seeds. Many dry days, low humidity and bright sunshine meant that seeds were flying off the plants into our buckets.

The best luck was with bee balm, milkweed (butterfly and common) indian grass and yellow coneflowers.

February 2, 2008 - Superswampers Seed Collecting

Today we collected seeds for Yousef's project on the south slope of Wet Meadow. If you didn't know, Yousef is working to make the front of WM II thicker with native plants. He is also trying to get the turf grass out. He is also a busy guy in many other ways.

We collected these seeds:

• Bee Balm
• Indian Grass
• Yellow Coneflower
• Black Eyed Susan

It was very cold and you could get tired really easy because there were so many seeds. It wasn't so cold, and we weren't too tired because Luke and Clare did a little sledding.

After collecting seeds we had hot chocolate, corn puffs and cider.

We also talke about the upcoming burn and global warming. When thinking about global warming, Fiona (who was very late indeed) rememberd seeing a video online about a man who powers his washing machine with a pedal power.

We also noticed that utility trucks were driving in the swale on the east side of Buhr Park. Jeannine chased them out this morning. Go Jeannine! We hope you get well soon.

Palace of Nature Woodchip Workday

On Saturday, November 3 about 20 kids and grownups came and spread woodchips to expand the footprint of the Palace of Nature.

The extension is behind the bench towards the west.

The extension means that there is less grass for parks to mow and more area of the palace of nature to expand into.

Clare and Sophia created signs for the kiosk near the playground.

Several people ventured into Wet Meadow II to collect seeds.

Total Volunteers: 15
Hours: 2
Volunteer Hours: 30

planting at Palace of Nature - Fall 2007

The Palace of Nature is a grove of native trees and shrubs. These help water to soak into the soil. These photos show volunteers planting on Sept. 23 2007.







If you're visiting the playground, take a look to see how our new trees are doing.

planting the west wet meadow - June 5 2004

More than 180 volunteers gathered on a sunny Saturday to plant the three basins of "Wet Meadow 2" on the west side of Buhr Park.

We used the plants we grew from seed.


Jane told everyone about the process.


Soon everyone was planting.


Children and adults pictched in, using plants grown from seed.


People of all ages helped water the plants.


The three basins have carefully-engineered spillways lines with large stones. Thanks to Chris Mueller for his careful excavation and construction of the spillways.


Cooperation releases abundance.

Growing tiny plants - March 2004

We planted our seeds and kept them in a greenhouse. In late March, we transplanted them to larger containers.



Jane showed us how to do it.


Lots of people helped.


This is another project that attracts volunteers of all ages.






Thanks to Chad and the Matthei Botanical Gardens for the use of their greenhouse, and for watering our tiny plants.

We had a meeting to tell people about the second wet meadow.


We explained what we were planning.





Jeff has helped us a lot

Collecting seeds Nov 2003

As part of the teen project to create a second wet meadow, we collected seeds (with permission) on November 9, 2003.



Seed collecting is enjoyable - even newcomers can quickly get the hang of it.


We had permission from the land owner to colect seeds on their property.

high water - March 16 2003

Early Spring can be a time for high water - especially when rain falls while the ground is frozen.



This is the first wet meadow, north of the farmhouse and barn.




Next time it rains, stop by and see the wet meadows catching water.