Burning the bluffs for better growth

WINONA — Neighbors have united in the Pleasant Valley bluff watershed in Winona County to bring the local ecology back to its former glory. Under the Restoravore nonprofit, founded by Gabe Ericksen, the community is working with soil, plants and animals — as well as a judicious application of fire — in their environmental efforts.

“When you get into native plants, it’s pretty addictive,” Ericksen said. “Prairie and native ecology are everything I do. It’s my work, it’s my hobbies. It’s a slippery slope because once you get into it, you just get more and more into it.”

Ericksen is an ecological restoration contractor with a background in landscaping. Before Restoravore, he had done work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners for Fish and Wildlife program, which provides cost sharing for landowners who want to do ecological work. He had already helped with restoration projects in the area for about a decade, his own property included, when he started talking to his neighbors in the Minnesota bluffs — particularly younger families like his whom he had worked with already.

“Since we were all doing this and seeing the results of it, we decided to do some cooperative farming experimentation — cooperative hobby farming,” Ericksen said. “Because we’re all close together, living in this little valley, we’re able to watch each other’s places and take care of the animals. … We decided to formalize into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that became Restoravore. (This) allowed us to access more grants and parter with other agencies and organizations.”

Kaitlyn Bottorff, Restoravore’s board chair and plant and restoration specialist, was introduced to Ericksen through working at Prairie Moon Nursery, a native plant nursery near Winona. Ericksen was a client, and she also lived near Restoravore’s valley.

“I could tell right away he was a real hardcore restorationist at that time, even in the native gardening sphere,” Bottorff said. “The work that Restoravore is doing on an ecological level and a community level really exemplifies a lot of things I’m personally passionate about, so I wanted to get involved and do what I can to help.”

The region’s topography is home to a wide range of native species Restoravore seeks to foster.

“As you go up the bluffs, you may start to see on the edges maybe some sedge meadows (and) wetland areas,” Bottorff said. “As you get higher up, that’s where you start to see the bluff prairies as your hydrology dries out. … On top of the slopes, you can start to see that oak savannah and-or mesic hardwood forest. As you go down the other (northeast) side of the bluffs, you start to see more maple-basswood community plant types. … There is a lot of biodiversity happening in the area.”

When Restoravore started, the families began acquiring goat herds for browsing and clearing buckthorn, and they bought some yaks from a farm in Red Wing. Today, they have six yaks which they move to different properties for care and grazing.

Controlled burning is another tactic Restoravore uses. Ericksen said he feels the removal of fire and most grazing species, created the area’s current ecosystem, which he said is dominated by invasive, eroding and less edible plant species. By reintroducing fire, it brings back the more fire-resistant native oak and hickory while cutting back on the non-native elm and soft maple. In spring of 2025, Restoravore burned over 300 acres on 30 different properties within their mini-watershed.

“Most of the wooded areas we see now are just degraded grassland ecosystems,” he said. “We’re trying to shift things back; those grassland ecosystems were super highly functional and very biodiverse, very edible for grazing animals and other wildlife. … The Native Americans were managing the landscape before the settlers were here, and they were using fire to maintain the ecosystem, to foster edible plants.”

Buckthorn and other forms of woody encroachment create more shade and make a wetter environment, which threatens the drier, sunlight-dependent plants. Additional factors that affect the biodiversity include predicted wetter winters in the future and nitrogen translocation from fields.

“That added moisture favors trees and other woody plants and shrubs over these grassland situations where you see more dry, arid environments,” Bottorff said.

As they connect with as many landowners as they can, Restoravore’s projects include bluff prairie restoration, expanding and rebuilding savannah-structured areas, using heavy equipment to clear out invasive species, and re-seeding native grasses and wildflowers. Starting this year, they are also starting to work in streams of water along with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and they have about a half-dozen agricultural properties they are converting into prairie hay pastures with warm-season grasses and wildflowers which benefit livestock.

Additionally, Restoravore maintains its community engagement projects to spread environmental awareness and support, and they maintain their website with updates and tips. Ericksen himself typically goes out looking for restoration partners.

“(Gabe) has taken this area, … thought strategically on a landscape scale on where these habitat improvements could be and then has approached landowners to say, ‘Hey, there are these programs available, would you be interested in partnering and working with us?’” Bottorff said.

The benefits to the small-scale watershed have already gone beyond aesthetics. For instance, the rusty patched bumblebee, an endangered species, is moving through their area, and more people are paying attention to them and other pollinators. The plants themselves also prevent erosion, improve water quality, and provide a more diverse food selection for deer and other animals. The process takes years to implement, and the seeds are not always cheap, but Restoravore is already seeing some of the payoff.

“Having a nice, healthy, diverse ecosystem is good for everything,” Ericksen said. “It’s more edible and better for biodiversity all around.”