by Izabella Redlinski, Deputy Director of Resource Management, Forest Preserves of Cook County

[Izabella was at our GRN workshop at Windom Minnesota and sent me some resource links related to topics we were discussing – BK]

Paper by R. Pizza et all – this work looked at Wisconsin prairies that were seeded with seeds sourced from various distances from their final destination – the establishment rate and abundance was not affected by distance of seed sources, but phenology might have been. The seeding rate was what also increased positive results (shocker I know!)

Bucharova et al – talks about different seed sourcing techniques – regional admixture being the favorite – this is in fact what many of the projects discussed on this conference do. Caveat – this work is from Germany and based on European grasslands and meadows.

There is a CW café that talks about this prepared by myself and a group of folks interested in the seeding with climate change in mind. More on this initiative here from the GRN blog itself!

Lastly, something we know already – the planting year conditions affect prairie restoration outcomes by Anna (Funk) Groves –  which probably reinforces why we should seed prairies on multiple years

Research that supports or negates some of our practices based on experience is important, and I wish there was more of a bridge between practitioners and researchers to listen to us and address questions we have.