Oak savanna
What is special about oak savanna?
Oak savanna is a unique plant community characterized by a prairie-like mix of grasses and wildflowers, dotted with large, widely-spaced oak trees. Once common across the Midwest, oak savannas are now highly endangered.
Oak savannas are home to an immense diversity of life, often harboring over 30 species of plants, more than are found in either prairies or forests. The unique structure of this plant community provides the perfect habitat for game animals such as wild turkeys, as well as many bats, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects that are currently threatened or in decline. Moreover, certain species such as the red-headed woodpecker and Karner blue butterfly are restricted to oak savannas and cannot persist without them.
The rich species diversity of oak savannas, along with their tolerance for fire, have the added benefit of increasing the community’s resilience to climate change.
As you learn more about oak savannas, we encourage you to explore the reading list and resources provided below. Check back often as new resources are being added regularly. And be sure to join our email list and Facebook page, where the real networking of the Network happens! Peers and experts are ready to answer your questions about oak savanna restoration.
Recommended Reading
Oak savanna fact sheet | UMN Extension
Oaksavannas.org
This website provides land managers, ecologists, foresters, landowners, and interested laypeople with the tools needed to restore oak savannas in Midwestern North America.
Integrating livestock production and conservation: Use of cattle in oak savanna restoration
Videos
Saving the savanna: Restoring a historic habitat in Burnsville, Minnesota
Home to many bur and white oaks dotting its gently rolling hills, Terrace Oaks Park provides a great example of the city’s efforts to restore oak savanna habitat and remove invasive species. In this webinar recording, Dr. Rebecca Montgomery, University of MN Department of Forest Resources, provides background on oak savanna ecosystems, what makes them unique, and why it is important to restore them. And Caleb Ashling, Natural Resources Specialist with the City of Burnsville discusses their restoration showcase at Terrace Oaks Park.
Podcasts
Dirt Rich Podcast, Episode 23: Oak Savanna Origins
Take a deep dive into oak savannas and discover the patterns of this ecosystem’s growth across geographical space and time, all the way back to when mammoths and mastodons walked Minnesota.
Dirt Rich Podcast, Episode 24: Restoring Oak Savanna
How do we restore oak savanna? What does it take? Where have we been and what’s been missed in prior restoration attempts? Dive into a variety of techniques used for restoration, including spraying, mowing, burning, baling, and grazing. Knowing what to take and what to leave is key in changing the trajectory of an ecosystem.
Tools and Resources
Bison and savanna research at Cedar Creek
Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve brought bison to their oak savannas in 2018 as part of our decades-long work on savanna dynamics and restoration.