Historical Marker #398: Pheasant Branch Encampment

This parking lot fits around 10 vehicles and offers easy access to the park.
Mar 27th, 2024

Pheasant Branch is my happy place, hands down....I go there almost daily! This leg of it however can get muddy, slippery, and can be a little more challenging of a walk with the hills. For those with mobility issues I'd suggest starting at a different point.
Dec 8th, 2023

Oct 5th, 2023

Beautiful, calm place to sit during my lunch hour. Love watching the birds and insects do their thing.
Jan 12th, 2023

Pheasant Branch Conservancy is a growing and changing landscape for over 25 yrs now. This land was purchased to preserve Belfontaine (beautiful fountain), the springs on the edge of North Lake Mendota as the earliest French Voyageurs named it. The high hillside was steadily cleared by chainsaw wielding volunteer crews, mainly consisting of retirees. Along with judicious spot application of herbicide to cut stumps of non-native honeysuckle shrubs, the invasives were ultimately defeated in their reign of ecological dominance. The thin, highly erodable soil was steadily infilled by naturally occurring floral genotypes, and some broadcast seeding by volunteers. Then cornfields that were herbicide maintained for weed control of cropland, were harvested for much needed funds for ecological restoration. The cropland was now relatively weed-free & perfect for broadcast seeding by volunteers with native forbs & grasses, & is steadily increasing in beauty. There is a series of propagation beds which are plug planted with rare/difficult to seed species. These beds produce propagules for interseeding in the restored areas, thereby increasing biodiversity overall with rarer floral species.
Sep 27th, 2023