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LAND MANAGEMENT

Pond Services and Pond Maintenance

Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and Northern Illinois

EROSION CONTROL

Surface waters like lakes, rivers and streams are complex ecosystems that provide a number of benefits such as drinking water supplies, flood control, electricity, food and habitat for wildlife, recreational opportunities, and commercial benefits for industries. Changes in land-use and land cover within the watershed often change the hydrology of an area leading to flooding, destruction of aquatic habitats, water quality impacts, and property damage. Many waterfront residents are directly impacted and experience rapid erosion and sedimentation.

The biologists at Cason & Associates, servicing Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, & Nothern Illinois, understand the unique dynamics of surface water ecosystems and have the tools necessary to develop restoration plans unique to each situation. Restoration plans are developed around a thorough understanding of factors that affect the water body, as well as local resources that may be affected by changes occurring at the restoration site.

Cason & Associates offers:

  • Restoration plan development

  • Plan implementation and project coordination

  • Shoreline stabilization

  • Channel manipulation

  • Removing invasive species

  • Re-Introducing native species

Cason & Associates uses a variety of techniques to create a natural habitat where fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and plants can flourish.

The success of any restoration project depends largely on the education and experience of those involved in planning and implementing it. Cason & Associates employs only degreed biologists and puts an emphasis on continuing education to ensure knowledge of the most up-to-date methods and techniques.

FORESTRY MOWING

Cason & Associates, servicing the Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Northern Illinois areas, conducts forestry mowing throughout the year to remove invasive brush and to release desired understory species, which can reverse years of site neglect and lack of management.

Mowing and mulching are essential aids to restoration and management. While brush and understory cover is necessary for some wildlife, completely overgrown and dense patches of land offer little habitat benefit to most species.

When managing prairies, mowing allows for both direct sunlight openings and warm season(native) grasses to compete against aggressive cool season grass.

When our biologists mow forests and prairies, we selectively mow to release desired species such as oak, pine, maple and aspen. We target buckthorn, honeysuckle, black locust, Japanese barberry and overgrown native brush.

Following mowing or mulching, we highly recommend treating the cleared areas to prevent the cut species from regrowing. We have a bloom-less mechanical application system and backpack sprayers for more targeted and harder to reach areas.

Once treated, we recommend planting or seeding native species to ensure this now open terrain is not re-colonized by undesired species. We offer planting and seeding services for your Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Northern Illinois area. To learn more, please visit our Terrestrial Planting and Seeding page.

Interested in learning more?

CONTROLLED BURN CONSULTATIONS, PLANS & PREPARATIONS

Did you know that fires historically took place every 2-4 years on Wisconsin landscapes? In fact, most of our endangered ecosystems are fire dependent. Many people look at fire as a negative, when in truth, fires in natural landscapes create a disturbance that rejuvenates the land.

In our current culture, when people think of fires, they think of the raging wildfires that pose threats to structures and life. When managing ecosystems with fire, we refer to controlled and prescribed burns. These fires burn and disturb the landscape, but several precautions are taken to ensure the fire only occurs in the prescribed area, is unable to leave the containment zone, both people and equipment are on hand to keep the fire under control and that the weather conditions are ideal for maintaining a controlled burn.

ECOSYSTEM BENEFITS OF FIRE

Prescribed fire allows for an ecosystem to be reset into an earlier stage. The fire allows for nutrients like phosphorus and potassium to be immediately input back into the ecosystem. After the fire, nitrogen also increases due to the increase in foliage production and fungi and bacteria releasing the nitrogen back into the soil. The increase in foliage production after the fire (up to 24 times more edible dry mass per acre) aids in supporting wildlife.

WHY SHOULD YOU CONSIDER PRESCRIBED BURNS ON YOUR PROPERTY?

Prescribed burns, in combination with forestry mowing and herbicide application, can shift systems like forests and prairies that previously required a lot of hands on maintenance, to one of a more “turn key” approach that requires significantly reduced maintenance. Re-establishing historic disturbance regimes, or at least getting as close as we can, will allow for nature to take its course much more efficiently. Many of the problems we face managing lands today is simply the result of land being left without proper management practices and/or disturbance.

Cason & Associates offers our service areas of Wisconsin, Upper Michigan Peninsula, Northern Illinois, the follow services in regards to controlled burns:

  • Controlled burn consultations where one of our biologists will determine if prescribed burns would benefit your property and the goals you have for your property.

  • Burn plans would then be created specifically for your property outlining burn areas, what preparations need to be done on the land prior to burning, what is to be done with the land after burning and burn frequency.

  • Burn preparations, including installing fire breaks and reducing fuels to control the fire, would then occur.

Cason & Associates does not currently conduct the actual burn, but our staff have prepared and participated in prescribed burns for government agencies throughout the country.

PERMITTING & GRANT WRITING

Cason & Associates, provide permitting and grant writing services for all of your habitat projects in the Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or Northern Illinois areas.

Click here for our aquatic permitting and grant writing services.

PERMITTING

Whether you are wanting to build a pond, restore your shoreline or a wetland on your property, install a beach, combat terrestrial invasive plants, restore a prairie, selectively thin a woodlot or any other habitat related project, we can help ensure you have the proper permitting and documentation in place.

GRANT WRITING

Successful programs also require financial resources. Cason & Associates’ grant writing specialists work with our clients to procure cost-share funding.

Our grant writing experience includes:

  • Partners for Pollinators (FWS)

  • The Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund

  • EQUIP (NRCS)

  • Wisconsin Forest Landowners Grant Program (WFLGP)

  • Invasive Control Grants(ICG)

Our staff has successfully written over two million dollars in grants for our clients. We would love to help you reshape the habitat on your property to be more useful to you, more aesthetically pleasing and greatly enhance the resource for wildlife use, here in Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or Northern Illinois.

Contact Us

Contact us to see what, if any, permits you may need for your project or to discuss how these grant programs may benefit you and your property.