Prairie Restoration Project at Hoover Ridge Park

​Starting in 2024, in cooperation with Old Rag Master Naturalists and with permission from Madison County Parks and Recreation, the buffer zone between the Oak-Hickory Forest and the gravel road and the area underneath the powerlines began a transition to prairie.

• Native grasses and plants were identified and allowed to grow to maturity, mowing annually in the late winter. Non-native, invasive plants and tree seedlings are being controlled to preserve and cultivate the grassland native plant communities.
• The site was visited by state biologist Gary Fleming and the grassland plant species identified and recorded. Some species are documented for the first time in Madison County.
•  Oak-Hickory Forest also has unique native species that only exist if an area has never been grazed or plowed. These include a large stand of Pinxter Azalea/Rhododendron periclycemoides , New Jersey Tea/Ceanothus americanus, Club moss species and  Blackhaw viburnum/Viburnum prunifolium to name a few. All these plants can be seen from the walking trails and in the spring listen for the wood thrush, a migratory songbird that heralds spring in Virginia and raises its family here.