Services Provided > Property Evaluation
Property Evaluation
Why get your property evaluated
- To determine what native plants you already have
- To get recommendations for making your property better for wildlife
- To learn what species are invasive on your property
- To get recommendations for maintenance efforts
What is involved in a property evaluation
- Determine what plants you have growing on your site. This includes trees, grasses, and herbaceous plants like wildflowers and weeds. Five reports in spreadsheet form are provided.
- Determine which alien species are most invasive and should be controlled. Offer control techniques.
- Suggest new plantings or enhancements to what already exists.
- Offer management techniques to control unwanted plants such as weeds, tree seedlings, and invasive plants.
- Upon completion of an evaluation, the client receives an "Evaluation" report and "Species Found" report.
- The Evaluation report contains descriptions of the property along with changes and maintenance suggestions.
- The "Species Found" report is a spreadsheet of all plants found on the property,
What is contained in the "Species Found" report?
It is a spreadsheet of all species found on the property. This spreadsheet is divided into 5 worksheets.
- Species (grouped by plant family)
- Species by state rank (most rare to most common)
- Species by coefficient of conservatism (most weedy to most conservative)
- Alien species by alien status (least invasive to most invasive)
- Species by growth habit (e.g. woody plants, annuals, etc)
What is the "Evaluation" report?
It is an evaluation of the property. The property is normally divided into areas.
- For large properties you may have a native grasslands, ponds, creeks, woodlands, old fields, or pastures.
- For small properties (like a city lot), you may have a backyard, side yard, front yard all with different amounts of sun. There may be a wet area, a slope, or a hillside - all which require different plants.
This report is composed of the following sections.
Property Section
For each area of the property the following information is included
- Description of the area
- Any plants that need to be removed
- Recommended plants to add
- Interesting plants found (edibles, rare, unique)
- Invasive plants that are found and need to be controlled
- Preparing for planting
- Planting instructions
- How to manage a site after it is planted.
Management Section
The following management suggestions are included
- Eliminating woody plants like trees and shrubs
- Weed control in plantings
- Control of invasive species
- Management of native prairie
- Hand planting seed
- Plant Identification help
Types of properties that I would evaluate
I can do an evaluation on any size property such as...
- A small city lot
- A larger suburban lot
- A small acreage (under 10 acres)
- A larger parcel of property (10 acres or more)
Existing native vegetation
You may already have a remnant of a native plant community such as ...
- a native or restored prairie
- or native woodland.
- a pond or wet depression
- a creek or river flood plain
- agricultural land with no natural vegetation
These remnants already have a diverse array of native plants growing on them. The land just needs some proper management so that the plants prosper. I will identify what you already have growing in these remnants.
What is the cost of an evaluation
To keep the evaluation affordable for people, I charge an hourly rate of $25. This includes ...
- Travel to and from the site
- Visiting the site
- Preparing the Species Found report
- Preparing the Evaluation report
An average evaluation runs between $200 and $300.
A $50 deposit is required upon arrival to the site.
Get an estimate for an evaluation
If you are interested in having an evaluation completed for your property, fill out the Evaluation Questionnaire form and I will be in contact with you..
Contact me with any questions you may have.