The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States

Introduction

xi Prairies are incredibly complex and diverse natural communities. They evolved under harsh conditions: huge herds of bison, expansive fires, and extended droughts. In many places they’ve now been largely replaced by rowcrop agriculture and urban sprawl or degraded by years of continuous severe grazing, haphazard herbicide use, tree invasion, and the introduction of nonnative grasses and wildflowers. Those that remain are often relegated to steep terrain or to places where rocks or moisture make farming difficult. Because of their scarcity, it’s critically important that the remaining prairies retain as much biological diversity as possible. Prairies thrive when they’re subjected to periodic intense disturbances like fire and grazing. They stagnate and lose their integrity when those disturbances are withheld. Invasive species can quickly degrade the plant diversity and habitat quality of a prairie if they are allowed to gain a foothold. The risk of invasion is compounded in fragmented landscapes where prairies are smaller and more exposed to the sources of those invaders. Because of all these factors, thoughtful management is essential to the continued health and survival of prairie communities. This book is an attempt to provide background and guidance to prairie managers trying to preserve the biological diversity of native grasslands. It is split into two major sections. The first section is an overview of the complex workings of prairies. Within that section, chapter 1 describes plants and the communities they live in, and chapter 2 details the way in which those plant Introduction xii introduction communities are modified and regulated by natural and human-induced disturbances. Chapter 3 discusses prairie animals . Chapters 4 and 5 illustrate the importance of diversity within plant and animal communities and the landscape context within which natural processes operate. The second section builds upon the ecological information from the first section and provides guidance for developing effective management strategies. Specifically, chapters 6 and 7 describe the general process of adaptive management and the guiding principles for designing appropriate management strategies. Chapter 8 illustrates various management systems that can help achieve certain objectives. Chapters 9 and 10 lay out guidance for dealing with species that have particular habitat requirements and for invasive species . Chapter 11 includes general information related to prairie restoration techniques. Following a short conclusion, the “Note on Climate Change” discusses the role and importance of prairie management in the context of a rapidly changing climate. Eight appendices are also included to provide more specific information on management tools as well as other sources of information related to the topics in this book. The first three appendices provide more detail on grazing, prescribed fire, and invasive species, respectively. The Tallgrass prairie like the Greene Prairie Restoration at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum can harbor diverse populations of both plants and animals. xiii introduction fourth provides a contact list for local expertise in your state and is followed by bibliographic information and sources of additional reading. Most of the information in this book and its general management philosophies should apply to grasslands anywhere in North America. However, the specific management strategies and recommendations are most relevant to prairies in the following areas: eastern North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, northwestern Missouri , northern Illinois, northwestern Indiana, Iowa, southwestern Wisconsin , and southwestern Minnesota (figure 1). 0LQQHVRWD :LVFRQVLQ ,OOLQRLV ,QGLDQD ,RZD 0LVVRXUL .DQVDV 2NODKRPD $UNDQVDV 1HEUDVND 6RXWK 'DNRWD 1RUWK 'DNRWD 6KRUWJUDVV3UDLULH 0L[HGJUDVV3UDLULH 7DOOJUDVV3UDLULH 3ULPDU\DUHDFRYHUHG E\WKLVERRN Figure 1. The information presented in this book is intended to apply to the majority of North America’s tallgrass and mixed-grass prairie regions. ...