Shaw Nature Reserve – Gray Summit, MO

Grassland Restoration Network Annual Workshop

May 27 & 28, 2026 – Registration opens Thursday, March 26th

Registration for this year’s Grassland Restoration Network annual workshop will go live next Thursday (03/26/2026). Join us at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, Missouri, to learn, exchange, and connect. Since 1980, Shaw Nature Reserve staff and a dedicated community of volunteers have been getting their hands dirty and turning vision into habitat. The workshop will include tours and discussion our different grassland restoration projects, which include:

A chronosequence of one, two, and three year old prairie plantings displaying the conversion of old-field successional woodlands into a prairie-savanna complex. Wolf Run Grassland Restoration blog post and Timelapse of conversion

-Striking remnant glades, with a rich species diversity in full bloom, featuring glade-endemic species and unique habitat.

-The beginning stages of establishing an Army Corps of Engineers wetland mitigation bank

-Several ongoing and completed research projects will be discussed, including mycorrhizal fungi inoculation effects on establishing conservative species in a nascent prairie planting, varying mowing frequencies’ effects on establishing prairie plantings, and grass-specific herbicide as a means to enhance forb diversity in established prairies

This year will also feature Doug Ladd as our keynote speaker. For 31 years he was Director of Conservation for The Nature Conservancy – Missouri, where he managed science, land management, and conservation real estate activities. He has been involved with fire management and fire ecology, conservation planning, natural area assessment, and ecological management, restoration, and research for more than thirty-five years, with emphasis on vegetation, ecological restoration and fire ecology.