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Re: riparian vegetation response summary

I have read "Miracle under the oaks", which is a fair bit of 
journalism, but does have some of the faults you mentioned. But I was 
refering to a distinct project, on the grounds of the Chicago Botanic
Garden, along the Skokie River, as an example of riparian prairie 
reconstruction.

I'm not entirely comfortable with the statement that Steve Packard 
"invented a non-existent biome", unless you meant to say 
"reconstructed a no-longer-existing ecosystem". The system in 
question (bur oak - tallgrass savanna) has a pretty good basis in 
empirical (historical, old journal and natural history) evidence, and 
now, based on a couple of decades of restoration activity, in 
practical and experimental evidence, as well. It is not exactly a 
riparian community, since it occurs (in somewhat different versions) 
both within and out of river floodplains, indeed over a greater area 
of mesic and even sandy upland than in floodplain proper. 

Cinna arundinacea is a species very likely to be found in bur oak 
savannas, as well as other mesic to wet-mesic, intermittently burned 
"woodland" types. In my experience, it is less abundant in unburned 
forests. Phargmites is essentially a denizen of marshes, a much 
wetter and opener system.


James C. Trager
Shaw Arboretum
P.O. Box 38
Gray Summit MO 63039
PH# 314-451-3512
FAX 314-451-5583
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