1943-Weed control; sunflowers were mowed and bindweed was treated with sodium chlorate.

1947- Sodding in upland gullies; seeding and local prairie hay mulch used in eroding areas.

1948- Additional spot seeding; sod added to the uplands; selective grazing suggested as a means of reducing fire hazard.

1949- First use of a herbicide other than sodium chlorate (2,4-D).

1951- 40 acres mowed.

1952- Upland hayed.

1953- Bottomland hayed.

1954- Seeds harvested

1955- Smooth bromegrass infestation noted.

1963- 2, 4-D used for weed control.

1964- Lowlands heavily infested with weeds. Dalapon used for smooth brome control and 2, 4-D for broadleaf weeds.

1965- Thatch buildup leads to complete mowing.

1968- Smooth brome mowed.

1969- 7-11 acres of lowland seeded.

1970- First prescribed burn; 2, 4-D applied.

1976- 4 acres of lowland reseeded.

1979- Woody plants sprayed with ammonium sulfamate; routine 2,4-D spraying program stopped.

1980- 17 acre wildfire occurred.

1982- Quantitative vegetative sampling begun; prescribed burn in April (8 acres); manual removal of musk thistles and common mullein.

1983- Entire prairie burned, 4 acres of weedy lowland mowed.

1984- Weedy lowland mowed; fall burn of small overgrown sumac; herbarium assembled.

1986- Lowland area sodded and planted with approximately 3,000 greenhouse grown seedlings from locally collected prairie seed.

The first priority of soil stabilization gave way to an interest in more natural management of vegetation. For example, prescribed burning replaced mowing and the general use of herbicides. 

A logical, progressive understanding that management procedures can be integrated and selected to obtain certain results has occurred. 

Interest has also moved from native grasses in the early stabilizing years of the 1930's and 1940's to an interest in legumes in the 1950's; and on to a more recent and complex understanding of the role of forbs. 

Quantitative sampling of the vegetation was initiated in 1982 and a herbarium was assembled in 1983 and 1984. 

A recent concern has emerged over the use of local gene pool sources for future introduction of plants, which indicates a further evolution of the park's understanding of the prairie ecosystem.