Prairie Restoration

There is no need to go into the details of why biodiversity is important here, since there is literature aplenty proving its value. Dancing Rabbit's land is primarily made up of old fields that had been farmed extensively up until 12 years ago. Monocultures have already taken their toll on much of the area. One of our justifications for building a new ecovillage instead of retrofitting an existing building site is that it gives us an opportunity to actively work at restoring some of this area and manage its development toward a more diverse prairie and savannah system. Fortunately, the federal government and the Missouri Department of Conservation agree that this is important work. Most of our land is in a federal program called the Conservation Reserve Program or CRP. In fact, most of the land was in CRP for 10 years before we arrived, saving it from destructive agricultural practices and giving the fields a chance to reestablish their soil and roots. We have utilized the program even further and are working to actively reforest parts of the property to prevent erosion and provide wildlife habitat and to re-establish native prairie grasses and forbs (wildflowers) in other fields.

This year alone we are planting native grass in over 15 acres. For the first few years, we will simply be working to establish the few varieties we have planted and eventually maintaining them with regular prescribed burns, an essential part of the prairie's life cycle. Once these are well established, we hope to rebuild the diversity of plots by replanting patches of the few native wildflowers and grasses that can still be found in northeast Missouri. Although we do not currently have any plans to directly work on wildlife management of native animals, we certainly expect and hope that these plots will provide a sanctuary from the expanding farms, roads and towns elsewhere. While the CRP program often encourages the use of herbicides and large farming equipment to plant fields, we are using a more gentle approach. We have had a neighbor disc the fields with a large tractor, and we may do some maintenance mowing in the first few years with our own small tractor. Other than that, we are planting the seed primarily through hand-broadcasting and will maintain the fields through burns which hinder invasive plant growth and provide excellent growing conditions for the native prairie plants.

Fifteen acres may seem to be a small drop in the bucket that used to be the Great Prairie, but even backyard plots can be helpful to provide waystations for some birds, insects and seeds. If you live in any of the plains states, you may wish to consider converting some of your yard to native plants or growing native wildflowers in containers if you live in an apartment. The more places in the country that are propagating the seed of native flowers and grasses, the better the chances of the prairie's survival. And of course, growing native grasses and plants is great conservation work in any ecosystem! To find out more about prairie restoration, contact us or see one of these great resources:

What you can do! Plant native grasses and flowers in your backyard or local community garden. Support organizations such as Seed Savers Exchange (3076 North Winn Road, Decorah, Iowa 52101) or Native Seed, which are working as seed "libraries" for many otherwise hard to find plants. Do not support companies that contribute to sprawl and build over un-developed terrainÐÐand let them know about it.

Update: Same field as above 2 years later. Check out those native grasses!

Resources

Tallgrass Restoration Handbook

Stephen Packard and Cornelia Mutel, eds. Island Press: Washington DC, 1997

Prairies Forever

6916 Columbia Ave., St.Louis, MO 63130, (314)727-1867
www.prairies.org, info@prairies.org

Prairiesource

www.prairiesource.com

Iowa Prairie Network

PO Box 516, Mason City, IA 50402-0516
www.IowaPrairieNetwork.org

Missouri Prairie Foundation

Box 200, Columbia, MO 65205
www.moprairie.org

Natural Areas Association

108 Fox Street, Mukwonago, WI 53149, (414) 363-5500

Openlands Project

25 East Washington Street, Suite 1650, Chicago, IL 60602-1708
www.openlands.org