By Charla Wurm
cwurm@wbcowqel.com
The mosquitos and ticks joined the Daughmer Bur Oak Prairie tour but it did not hinder the vast exploration of nature at the prairie.
An attentive crowd joined Crawford Park District Naturalist Warren Uxley on a mile long hike through the Daughmer Savannah over the weekend.
“Gave everybody a tour, got to see some unusual and some very rare plants and some very rare plant communities. It’s an interesting place and everybody should come and visit at least once,” said Uxley. “Hopefully when they do come, the insects won’t be as bad as they were today, but everybody should visit and see it a least once.”
The group saw Mountain Mint, Button Bush for butterflies, Blue Flag Irises, Prairie Dock and five different species of milkweed. White Oak, Pin Oak and Bur Oak trees also dotted the landscape.
“Basically I just want everybody to know how important Daughmer is,” Uxley explained. “It’s one of the best examples of a Bur Oak Savannah in all of North America and I am not exaggerating when I say that. It is an extremely important site, that’s why the Department of Natural Resources wanted to acquire the site and they wanted to acquire it for over twenty years, but have always failed, but finally it happened. It is an extremely important site; I just can’t overemphasize that.”