Monterey Rewilding Project

Our family owns some wooded land with some interspersed fields in Monterey, Tennessee. We are aiming to turn some of the fields, which are currently mowed grass, into native meadows. To do this, we will first spray herbicide in late Fall and then again in the Spring. From there, we are hoping to maintain an 18 month burn schedule.

Here is the first section that we will be spraying herbicide on.

We will spray this section the following year.

A beautiful overlook facing southwest.

A look at some of the wildlife spotted on a trail cam near a pond on the property:

Here are some of the butterflies I have seen around the property this Fall.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Dark phase, Papilio glaucus)

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

In November, we applied the first round of herbicide to roughly 2 acres of turf grass. While this may seem harmful, the goal is to selectively kill off non-native grasses that are impeding the ability for anything native to grow. In the long-run, this will allow native plants to grow and flourish which will be much more beneficial to the current and future wildlife of the area.