grassland restoration network

Better to go slow enough to do the job well.  If you have enough seed to plant 15 acres you might be better to put that seed on 5.  Why?  Because planting too thin is a common cause of poor results. That five great acres can yield the seed to plant the next five and the next 50. Large prairie plantings thinly populated by native plants leads to weeds, work, and aggravation.

An example of well done: Volunteers Tom and Jenny Mitchell had 28 acres of former row crop ground to plant but did the job in four plantings of 7 acres each.  Below they stand in their very nice two year old prairie planting with 52 species planted at about 25 pounds per acre bulk weight. They restricted the species in the planting to those that occurred on the adjacent remnant prairie.  After two years they had 56 native plants, a native mean Conservatism of 4.4, and transect Floristic Quality Index of 26. If you don’t know what those values mean, the point is they got a lot of nice plants filling in what was a crop field.  The planting looks like a remnant prairie.   Now, after a decade has passed this planting is still looking very good.

It takes a lot of seeds per acre to make sure an area fills in with native plants, not weeds.

In the photo, around 3,000 pounds of hand collected seed is being mixed on the floor.   There is over 125 species in this dry-mesic seed mix.  Some of the barrels have just one species of seed. In a new planting that was a former row crop field, we are planting 40 to 60 pounds per acre.  We don’t clean our seed so perhaps 40% of that bulk weight is chaff.  The bottom line is this is a lot of seed per acre.

Further west of Nachusa, Chris Helzer in dry Nebraska is getting solid results using much less seed per acre on sandy soils.

When we look back on our past plantings we feel confident that poor plantings often resulted from “spreading our seed too thin”, the metaphor made real.

This prairie planting created by volunteer steward, Bernie Buchholz and friends,  is very diverse with over 165 species of plants showing up after several years from 175 species planted.  Yes, there is an eye popping amount of pale purple coneflower and a storm front to capture the drama. 

Over the next several posts I will share lessons learned on prairie restoration.  The first lessons is to decide whether you want high or low diversity results. 

High diversity takes extra time and resources to produce. If your habitat restoration goal is short term like with a Conservation Reserve Program ten year contract, then simply plant some grasses and maybe a few forbs.  

If you want habitat for birds then you may not need a plethora of plant species.  But, if you want to mimic the diversity of remnant prairie on the assumption that good things will result, or to provide habitat for all sorts of insects, or you want to connect remnant prairies with restored prairies in between….then you are talking about high diversity, and my lessons learned are for you.

Save the date!

Nachusa Grasslands will host the next Grassland Restoration Network workshop on September 9, 10, and 11, 2014.

Registration will only be $50 to $75 and include most meals. Such a deal.

The target audience for the GRN workshop are people actively doing/directing high diversity prairie restoration at a significant scale; or doing the science. The workshop has a lot of field time with some inside talks. We talk a lot about techniques, equipment, monitoring and measuring success, the science behind the restoration, and other wonkish topics.

Nachusa Grasslands has over 110 prairie plantings and many nice remnant prairies for you to look at, with many restoration very well done. September is a nice time of year too. Nachusa Grasslands is two hours west of Chicago in Illinois. http://www.nachusagrasslands.org/

So put the date on your calendar, and budget enough money for registration, travel, and hotel. We will have more details at this site by May.

Above: An asian bushclover, Lespedeza daurica, speciman sits out to help people learn what this invasive weed looks like.  You can’t kill it with Transline/Stinger but triclopyr or Milestone does the job.

Every manager has their list of what weeds they have to control and what herbicides or techniques they use to control it.  The link below is my current list:

https://grasslandrestorationnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/which-herbicide-for-various-weeds-july-2013.pdf

The 2013 GRN Workshop at Columbia Missouri was a fine success.   The main leaders of the workshop were Malissa Underwood, Elizabeth Middleton, Chris Newbold and Jeff Demand.  We also had registration assistance from Mindy Kremer of the Conservation Heritage Foundation, and logistical support from Corinne Carpenter of Mizzou.

We had around 90 people join us at the University of Missouri in Columbia.  We had a day of good talks and then visited Tucker Prairie.  We also spent a day in the field hearing good stories about planting prairie at Prairie Fork Conservation Area.  It was good to hear ideas that make us think and see good works in progress.  Thank you to all that participated.

Parking information:

Designated visitor parking garage is the Virginia Avenue Parking Garage, labeled VAG on the Campus Map and is at the intersection of Lake and Hitt Streets.
Missouri University Parking Garage map: http://umcspace.missouri.edu/muparking/default.aspx

Buildings to know (Map labels):
MU STUDENT CENTER (location of Tues/Thurs meetings)
MEMORIAL UNION (location of Wed. evening dinner)
Missouri University Campus Map: http://map.missouri.edu/

Location of bus and van pick up/drop off:
Hampton Inn
3410 Clark Ln
Columbia, MO
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Hampton+Inn+Clark+Lane+Columbia,+MO&hl=en&ll=38.962879,-92.287173&spn=0.017485,0.041585&sll=38.304661,-92.437099&sspn=4.516941,10.645752&hq=Hampton+Inn&hnear=Clark+Ln,+Columbia,+Missouri&t=m&z=15

Directions to Tucker Prairie (Tues p.m.):
Get off Interstate 70 at Exit 144 (Highway M). Head south on County Road 223 for 1.5 miles. Then head left (east) on County Road 220 for one mile. Then head left (north) on County Road 215 for 1.5 miles. The entrance is on the left side (west) of the road.
Directions to Prairie Fork (Wed field day):
1. Exit Interstate 70 at the Williamsburg Exit (Exit 161).
2. Take State Route D North into Williamsburg (0.4 miles) and follow Route D as it turns west (2.3 miles).
3. Route D will turn south and cross Interstate 70.
4. Stay on Route D for 1.9 miles.
5. The main entrance road into Prairie Fork will exit to the east off of Route D.