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INTRODUCTION Many individuals and groups have become involved in preserving and restoring native prairies and other habitats in recent years. The terms preservation and restoration have been used broadly, and sometimes interchangeably, to cover a variety of conservation activities. In general , preservation involves more restricted management for conservation of pristine natural areas, whereas restoration has been associated with reconstructing a prairie on plowed ground or a former prairie site by planting seeds and performing more intensive management, including the use of mowing, burning, and other methods. Conservationists are aware that pristine natural areas will degrade with time without some level of management and that restoration of low-quality land adjacent to natural areas aids survivorship of species needing larger territories . In this paper, we employ the term restoration as broadly de-¤ned by the Ecological Society of Restoration and discussed by Packard and Mutel (1997). Thus, restoration includes natural-area management for preserving pristine remnants as well as both reconstruction (planting prairie) and rehabilitation (nursing a degraded prairie back to a more natural condition). Restoration activities have concentrated on tallgrass prairie of the Great Plains and have involved groups of concerned individuals as well as county, state, and federal agencies. The Grand Prairie Friends in Illinois, for example, has been successful in acquiring and managing prairie remnants, conducting prescribed burns, and propagating and planting indigenous prairie species in 13 preserves (http://www. prairienet.org/gpf/intro.html). The Illinois Prairie Index (http://www. prairiepages.com/Prairie Indes.html#A) documents the diversity of 15 Restoration of a Prairie Remnant in the Black Belt of Mississippi Sherrill Wiygul, Kay Krans, Richard Brown, and Victor Maddox groups involved in conserving prairie sites. Of 88 prairie sites listed, 24 sites are owned by state agencies (principally the Illinois Department of Natural Resources), 19 are owned by county agencies, and 10 are owned by cities. The Nature Conservancy, federal agencies, cemetery associations, private individuals, foundations, and school districts own another 32 prairie sites. In contrast to conservation efforts in midwestern states, very little has been done to preserve remaining prairie remnants or to restore previous prairie sites in the Black Belt of Mississippi and Alabama. This lack of conservation effort may be due in part to the misconception that prairie is a midwestern habitat and not a natural habitat in Mississippi and Alabama, a view promulgated by Rostlund (1957). Thus, most individuals who are unaware of the biological uniqueness of this habitat probably perceive an unplowed prairie remnant as a fallow ¤eld. Most of the prairie habitat was converted to agricultural use, especially for cotton, during the 1800s (Aiken 1961). Agricultural production in the Black Belt changed from cotton to sod and forage crops, soybeans, and pastureland during the 1900s (Lowe 1911; Garber 1973). Only small remnants of the prairie habitat now remain, and these often are associated with eroded areas that have deterred agricultural or commercial use. A major threat to these remaining prairie remnants is the encroachment of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) due to suppression of ¤re. Preservation and restoration of a prairie habitat can be a complicated and dif¤cult process involving selection and acquisition of the site, assistance from individuals who can provide leadership for the effort, cooperation of a diverse group of people (especially those willing to donate time), development of a management plan, and funding. The following case history provides an overview of recent efforts to preserve and restore a prairie remnant in the Black Belt. RESTORATION OF OSBORN PRAIRIE IN MISSISSIPPI Site Selection and Acquisition Osborn Prairie, also known as 16th Section Prairie (e.g., Brown, this volume; Peacock and Melsheimer, this volume; Schauwecker and MacDonald , this volume), encompasses about 72 of the 146 ha of Section 16, Township 19, Range 15 in Oktibbeha County near Osborn, Mississippi (for illustration, see Chapter 14, p. 248). The selection of a restoration site at Osborn Prairie was based on four major considerations . First, the Section 16 land is owned permanently by the Oktibbeha County School Board and, as mandated by the state constitution, is leased at a percentage of its assessed value to generate funds for the school district. Thus, a professional and legally binding contract is Restoration of a Prairie Remnant 255 present between the owner and the leaseholder. Second, long-term leases for 30 years or more can be established, which ensures continuity with changing membership in the school board. Third, the majority of Osborn Prairie has never been plowed (Sidney McDaniel, personal communication), and degradation of...

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