Thanks to the care and commitment of more than 850 people — people like you — the Trout Hollow Hill Prairie is being restored.
When it was protected in September 2024, just two small patches of native prairie remained. Over time, without regular fire or management, aggressive cedar trees had crowded out the sunlight and native plants.
Trout Hollow Hill Prairie October 2024
Shane Kellogg
Trout Hollow Hill Prairie July 2025
Shane Kellogg
Now, the prairie is responding. Staff and volunteers have spent more than 100 hours this spring and summer removing encroaching trees, allowing light to return to the soil, and reconnecting the two prairie remnants. This work has already doubled the size of the open habitat.
In areas that were once shaded, native wildflowers like hoary puccoon and pointed-leaved tick-trefoil are blooming again. Wildlife, including turkeys, opossums, foxes, and migratory birds, have returned to the site.
Perhaps most exciting of all, an endangered orchid has been found: the Crested Coralroot (Hexalectris spicata). This rare plant grows only in specific conditions, relying on mushrooms and specific soils, decomposing leaves from oaks and other trees, and the right kind of forest nearby. Its presence is a promising sign that the prairie is on a healthier path.
