Join us at Konza Prairie Biological Station in Manhattan, KS for overview and field presentations on long-term plot and watershed-level studies in grassland ecology. This year’s workshop will focus how science at this National Science Foundation-funded Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site has deepened our understanding of drivers influencing pattern and process in tallgrass prairie. Discussions will focus on how science can inform grassland restoration.

Here is the URL to the registration page for the workshop.  Space is limited so register today.  $155 includes meals.

https://www.enrole.com/ksu/jsp/session.jsp?sessionId=211807&courseId=GRASSLANDRESTORATION&categoryId=10009

Lodging is not part of the registration. There are many hotels to choose from in Manhattan, but the Hilton Garden Inn and Fairfield Inn are walking distance to the Flint Hills Discovery Center (a must see!) and downtown (Poyntz Ave.), which hosts a number of restaurants and the Tallgrass Brewing Company.  There are a few beds or rooms available at Konza. Bill Kleiman is the person to email if you want of those, bkleiman@tnc.org

The meeting will begin at 12 pm on Tuesday, July 11^th.

DIRECTIONS: From I-70, you can exit Hwy 177 N, then take a left on McDowell Creek Rd., just before the bridge over the KS River. Alternatively, you can take the McDowell Creek Rd. exit off of I-70 (west of Hwy 177). Turn onto Konza Prairie Lane (there is a sign for the Konza Prairie Biological Station). Follow the gravel road into the Biological Station and continue until you see a large stone house on the right. We will meet in the conference center, which is a renovated stone barn just across the road from the stone house. Parking is available behind the conference center or behind the lab buildings in front of the conference center.

Map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Konza+Prairie+Biological+Station/@39.1068765,-96.6091402,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xc6aebaa3a23af35a!8m2!3d39.1068765!4d-96.6091402

Learn more about the Konza Prairie Biological Station: http://kpbs.konza.k-state.edu/

Learn more about the Konza Prairie Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Site:  https://lternet.edu/sites/knz

Tentative GRN Agenda

July 11^th

Arrive already having eaten lunch because next meal is dinner.

12-5 pm

Welcome presentation – Konza LTER (John Blair)

Walking field tour

Hulbert plots

Belowground Plots (Lydia Zeglin)

Rainfall Manipulation Plots and Irrigation Transects (John Blair)

Refreshments and Discussion (led by Chris Helzer)

5 pm Break/Konza Nature Trail hike

7:00 pm Catered dinner

8:00 pm Keynote: Long-term effects of fire and grazing on tallgrass prairie (Jesse Nippert)

July 12^th

8-11 am

Morning watershed tour

Patch-burn grazing (Tony Joern)

Riparian woody vegetation removal (Walter Dodds)

Shrub dynamics (Jesse Nippert)

Watershed Plot-studies (Melinda Smith graduate students)

NEON site (?)

12 pm Catered lunch

1 pm      Short overview of restoration research (Sara Baer)

Visit Restoration plots

2 pm      Refreshments and Departing Discussion (led by Bill Kleiman)

3:30 pm Everybody heads home