Grasslands Steward Presentation

I was asked to give a small presentation last week to the community stewards that do volunteer work on the site.  They asked for an introduction to myself, as this was my first time with them, and a talk about upcoming goals.  I figured a 15 min. talk, with a 30 min Q & A would suffice.  It's always refreshing to see the passion these volunteers carry with them.

Prairie Chat:
Where does my interest in the prairie come from?

When you immerse yourself in a prairie you can feel so consumed, and yet so relaxed.  That's what I love about it.  There are absolutely tons of interactions going on.  I find so much peace with that.  It's like clockwork.

Within the soil we've got billions and billions of microbes doing unseen work that nourishes and stabilizes the soil structure.  Above ground we've got everything photosynthesizing, crawling, hopping, flying, slithering, (plants, animals, arthropods, birds, reptiles).  That bright thing in the sky is pretty important too.

All of these work in a lock and key sort of way.  And I view us in the same way.  We have to fit.  We have to fit perfectly.

If we do nothing (and not restore what we've already turned into an ag field...), invasives would continue to thrive and block out our native prairie plants that gave us the best soil in the world (roots/climate).
Putting it another way, all species that were here living freely before we showed up, were already adapted to our specific biome.  Then we came and shook things up quite a bit.  That change we've created was/is very fast according to a plant species that's been around for centuries.  They are not allowed enough time to adapt to us.  Therefore, we need to embrace that, and be good stewards to the earth.


The other side of the spectrum is doing too much.  If we don't keep the integrity of the land, we falter.  If we're not precise with our invasive control treatments, we may harm everything we're trying to let thrive.  Creating disturbance of any sort will result in favorable conditions for invasives.

If we have the knowledge, patience, identification skills, and passion, then I believe we fit perfectly.

Then I went into our Invasive schedule for the year, and an interesting Q&A session of which I'll detail both later on.

Birdsfoot trefoil and why this deserves its own post

Birdsfoot is a legume, and mostly planted as a forage crop for cattle.  Used widely due to the plants ability not to bloat the animal.  Happy cow!!  This is labeled as an invasive plant:

http://www.invasive.org/weedcd/species/5949.htm

This plant doesn't die.
Why:
Germinates twice: 
- Once in the early spring, and another early fall.  Twice!!  How stubborn and resilient can you be!
Adventitious root system:
- Deep tap root good for storing energy, spreads through rhizomes and stolons
- This plant creates a matted structure that makes it difficult for chemical coverage (finding the source).

http://www.anbg.gov.au/glossary/webpubl/glossss.htm

Chemically tolerant:
- It can withstand 2,4-D, which is one of more, if not the most common broadleaf herbicide.
- Clopyralid is a chemical that specifically targets legumes.  However this has been researched that roots do not uptake clopyralid as well as other chemicals will.  Therefore you'll get a top kill (the leaves) and yet the plant will remain alive and continue to produce, because the roots were not affected.
This is what we've been seeing on our site.  With the birdsfoot elaborate root system, you can understand why.
See:  http://www.larimer.org/weeds/herbicide.pdf

Hard to find:
- Small leaves and grows/spreads close to the ground

Shade tolerant:
Although this plant prefers a lot of sunlight, it will still thrive if taller plants block it from sunlight.

Most effective mode of action?
Apply a pre-emergent herbicide that will sit in the soil for at least a year, and then seed with your plants the following growing season (even this has been proven difficult).  If you have good plants in the soil already, you cannot add a pre-emergent.  In which case you can have fun scratching your head at this AMAZING invasive plant.

Ethiopian Watershed Trip

I picked up an edition of the Ecological Restoration publication from back in March 2010.  There was an article that caught my eye:  Yitbarek T.W., Satishkumar Belliethathan, and Masresha Fetene:  "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Watershed Rehabilitation:  A Case Study in Farta Woreda, South Gondar, Ethiopia."

The article is based in the northern region of Ethiopia.  The study (as noted in the title) wanted to look for the benefits and costs of a watershed rehabilitation.  Surrounding the study was the idea of ripping out grasses and trees to make way for agriculture, leads to all sorts of ecological (economic) impacts.  Some of these are as follows:  Increased of siltation of downstream rivers, carbon sequestration, water/soil conservation, biodiversity, aesthetics, and ecotourism.  It's a great article showing interest in land that may often be overlooked.

I was fortunate enough to travel to Ethiopia while in school.  We traveled there to study the watershed of Ethiopia, and understand the importance of water.  We visited different NGOs in the capital Addis to learn how they dealt with sanitation and running clean water.  We then traveled outside Addis around the southern territories and stayed with different tribes.  When you travel outside of the capital, communication gets very tricky.  Even with people from Ethiopia, because of all of the different tribes/languages, communicating gets lost in translation.  There's also a lot of old standards tribes believe in whole heartedly.  A simple act as washing your hands to fight off germs is very foreign to them.  We visited a school that received a well for the first time, and they very much appreciated this.

On a personal note, I absolutely love kids.  When I was a kid, I remember how much fun recess was.  When I was younger, I moved away to a new school.  The first question that was asked during recess was how far could I throw a football.  I don't know why this is the way it is, but I had friends on the spot after I threw the football a good distance down the field.  
This time I was throwing a ball as high as I could straight up in the air.  The kids would run around in circles with their heads jerked to the sky, and their arms straight out fending off anyone around them trying to catch the ball.  They were having a blast!
After a while, my arm was going to fall off, so I crouched down to the ground.  That's when I noticed there were probably 50 kids surrounding me very close.  An idea popped in my head.  I decided (I don't know why) to become a monster!  While the kids waited eagerly for me to get back up and throw the ball, I stood up and made a giant roar sound.  Then I began chasing them all around while they were screaming and laughing.  Honest to God, it was one of the most fun times I've ever had in my life.  My group was taking lunch at the time.  I thought there is no way I'm just going to sit here while these kids are having recess, and I'm so thankful I went out in the field with them.  

The trip was an absolute wonderful experience.  What made me even think of writing on the blog was a a man I met.  I don't have my notes with me now, but I'll add his name and organization once I get to them.  His organization takes kids off the street, and puts them in school.  They pay for everything, including books, clothes, and food.  His organization also has a "soup kitchen" in which my group worked at 3 days out of the 7 while we were in Addis.  He carried himself as just a regular man, even though he was the head of this successful organization; he was very humble.  Below I have a picture with him, and I try to live by his demeanor every day.

Nachusa Grasslands Visit

This is a prairie restoration at its finest.

There are test plots all over their almost 5,000 acres of land.  From annual burn sites, to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year seedings right next to each other!  You can literally see how long it takes native prairie plants to emerge.
*The first year you won't have that many natives coming up from your seeding.  In fact, you'll have aggressive weeds trying to make their way in.  No wonder you need patience when you plant a prairie!  Those prairie plants you haven't seen yet, have spent the last 2 years establishing their root systems.  Now in year 3, they'll be ready to flower!

It's a great place to have your many restoration questions answered:
Does a specific chemical work on a particular plant?
When is the correct time to treat this plant?
Should you seed the more conservative plants right away, or wait until the quicker sprouting plants establish the soil while you fight back the weeds with treatment control, and then do you interseed the conservatives?
When do you decide to burn?  Spring/late summer/fall??

These guys have been at it for 25 years.  A lot of the stewards have been with the site easily over a decade.  They contain a lot of knowledge on restorations.  Nachusa has grown slowly in acres throughout the years.  That's why it's great to see the 1st year seedings, all the way to the established prairies, and everything in-between.

If you'd ever like to feel consumed, yet strangely relaxed, and randomly think (or make up) a Ralph Waldo saying in your head, give them a visit!
Nachusa Grasslands

Pics:

Prickly Pear

Pussy Toes

Prairie Smoke

A nice oak savanna

Standing on a remnant with the green area in the background being burned last fall

Wood Betony

Silky Aster near the bottom