Restoring the Tallgrass Prairie: An Illustrated Manual for Iowa and the Upper Midwest

2. Planning Your Site

Planning Your Site Learning to Recognize and Identify Native Plants In order to plant an authentic native prairie, you must first study native plants in their natural setting. To the average person the small remnants of prairie that are left may look like just another domestic pasture. To locate a natural prairie, get to know other people who have been interested in native plants. Directories of state preserves can be obtained from departments of natural resources in most prairie states, and private organizations such as the Nature Conservancy have directories of prairies they are conserving. Nature walks organized to prairie sites and membership in prairie organizations are the best way to learn about prairie propagation . In Iowa, prairie walks and nature hikes are published weekly in the Des Moines Sunday Register's Big Peach Section (it is good to see the paper including noncompetitive events in the sports section). Knowledgeable leaders identify and teach about prairie plants on these walks. Take the time to visit a variety of sites. You will find no two alike. A list of organizations interested in restoration is provided at the end of this book. Members of the Iowa Prairie Network, a statewide organization divided into six districts, share their prairie experiences. The purpose of the net7 work is "to learn about, teach about, enjoy, and protect Iowa's prairie heritage ." One of my best prairie experiences was a September walk on the eighty-acre prairie of Joel and Joyce Hanes near the Floyd County Fossil Park at Rockford, Iowa. They are active officers in the Iowa Prairie Network. Their dedication and the extent of their efforts were evident as we viewed the 170 species they have cataloged since purchasing and managing their native prairie in 1988. Four types of gentians and ladies' tresses, only a few of the diminishing species, were included. As an added plus they have discovered on their property an area of sea fossils that date back 375 million years. They were deposited when the Middle Devonian period brought inland seas washing over the area from Muscatine to Mason City. And as if this wasn't enough for one day's experience, Joyce then led us to an Aldo Leopold bench overlooking a breathtaking view of the Iowa landscape that included several small towns. During the day concerned people offered information on methods and management of prairie remnants that were being lost to woody encroachments. The prairies in the Midwest vary from tallgrass in the black soil where grasses grow higher than your head, to sand prairies where growth is more sparse, to bedrock loess prairies existing on steep hillsides where grazing is difficult and farming impossible, to very wet fens and boggy areas. Railroad rights-of-way and cemeteries are also excellent places to find surviving native plants. Quickly I discovered that each prairie takes on a personality of its own. This is true even in a small geographical area because of the lay of the land and the soil content. Notice where the forbs and grasses are growing. Are they on a north slope, a south slope, or flat land? Is it a high prairie on top of a hill or a low prairie in a valley? What is the moisture level, available sunshine, and consistency of the soil? Is the vegetation formed in a mosaic pattern of clumps and bunches? What plants are found growing together? For example, in July hoary vervain may be in masses at the top of a pasture, while pale coneflowers, flowering spurge, purple prairie clover, and porcupine grass are giving way on one slope and ox-eye and prairie coreopsis are beginning a blaze of color around the bend. Down along the wet bottoms slough grass is growing tall where blue flag and Michigan lily have just ceased blooming. The beauty of this private twenty-five-acre prairie exists because it has never been plowed and is lightly grazed. Two bulls are there this year and cause little disturbance to the plants or to me while I sketch (permission had been given to me by the owners to study the plants). Light grazing can have an effect similar to burning. The little spring 8 Planning Your Site flowers had their colonies in May, and the fall plants will also be giving a new array of color. Each month and nearly each week the prairie takes on a new appearance. This natural...