Thoughts on Establishing a Prairie

Imagine you're looking out onto 3,000 acres of pasture land, and would like to complete a successful prairie restoration.  This will be about a 7 year project to even get close to a fully established prairie that you can feel good about.

Take a walk through the tract of land, and do a thorough inventory.  Seek out any native plants that may be hiding, and stake this area out.  Chances are, if you find a few native plants, there may be more seed beneath the soil.  This could potentially turn into a remnant of previous prairie plants naturally occurring.  

Take the non marked existing land, and spray the vegetation with a non-selective herbicide.  This is done late summer.  

All vegetation you sprayed will be ready to burn after a couple weeks.  The dead vegetation will act as fuel for the fire.  

Burn breaks must be made around the possible remnant areas found to protect these plants as they will still be living when the fire is conducted.  

Once the fire has run through, seeding may commence.  DO NOT throw all of your eggs into one basket... 

Install a cover crop such as Canada Wild Rye.  

This article also states that side-oats grama is another fine cover crop for establishing a prairie: http://www.ag.iastate.edu/farms/06reports/w/NativeCoverCrops.pdf

The article also brings about another point of installing seeds of plants that will establish early in the spring.  This is most notable for stabilizing the soil.  

Remember More disturbance --> More opportunity for invasive/aggressive plants.

As the competition from the previous flora is diminished, and a fire sent through in the fall, the spring will have awakened any seed in the soil looking for a chance to emerge.

This point is exactly why you do not want to put all your eggs in one basket.  With no forbs or fabaceae plants installed, you are given the upper hand to combat anything that emerges unwanted.  Selective herbicides targeting broadleaf plants can be used in mass quantity.  This will not harm your cover crop of rye or side oats, and will dramatically decrease the unwanted plants.

Something to take serious and to watch for on these herbicide labels is the ounce per acre, and how many applications per year you're allowed.  If you're doing this by yourself with smaller equipment, and a little less low tech, this can be challenging.  Luckily there's Ag equipment out there that utilizes GPS to know where to spray.  On a 40' boom sprayer, if the rig crosses over an already sprayed area, the 7' or so of the boom that crossed will automatically shut off.  The rate at which these machines put out is also much more effective and cost efficient that trying to do it yourself with an ATV and 10' boom.

Take a survey of problem areas, and reflect on whether or not the land would be ready for seeding.  You may need another round of fire, and mass herbiciding before installing the rest of the seed in year 3.  Achieving a successful prairie in accordance with time, is most beneficial to rid out the invaders first.  This is getting the heavy lifting out of the way first.  

Let's say you spend year 2 spraying selective herbicides, and decide not to install the prairie seed.  Continue the same process of fire, and selective treatments until you believe you have exhausted the seed pool within the soil.  Once this is accomplished, spray the cover crop again in late summer.  Burn these areas to prep for seed.  Install the prairie seed, and watch it emerge in the following spring.  

Some say you can inter-seed amongst your cover crop, but I'd say just start from scratch again.

Identifying the plants as they come up can be seen as quite challenging as they're seedlings and a lot can look similar.  Yet looking at a chart showing which plants emerge when, will cut down the number of plants substantially from your seed list you installed for identification.  

As a side note to this installation, it is recommended to use a mycorrhizae inoculant with the seed mix.  The science with this gets complex, as this is a difficult relationship to study.  There are many factors that can go into the results.  In essence, it acts as a performance enhancer that bolsters the surrounding soil.  However, I would like to think that this can also feed any invasive plant seeds still within the soil (making them just as adventageous). There is also minor disturbance with the seed drill.  This could provide enough of a window combined with the mycorrhizae to entice the invasives to emerge.  Not to mention all competition has vanished from above ground.  Just something to think about.  We'll save the entire mycorrhizal association with plants for another day.  

With all of that being said, there are numerous ways to go about restoring a prairie.  I believe the learning curve is getting a lot better.  If someone invents sort of a sonar detector (fishing) to inspect the soil before a seeding to determine what seed lies beneath the soil, we'd all be a lot better off.

Someone asked me the other day if our prairie was affected by the drought we had this year.  I answered that prairies are built to withstand drought.  That being said, it was a very strange year out there...

That was the last post I started last year.  And also where I'll pick back up.

The year thus far has been going quite well for a prairie manager.  The aggressive growing cool season grass reed canary has come up, but it's been cool enough early to keep all other plants from emerging as fast.  This certainly allows the crew to move a lot faster with a non-selective herbicide to take this grass out, and be more productive.

Three factors stick out when comparing the last spring and this year's spring out at Orland Grasslands:

The first being we burned the fall of 2011.  One of the responses a prairie will have to a burn is emerge earlier the following spring than if we hadn't burned.  After a burn, the ash from plants will drop, snow will fall, and the soil will be exposed to the spring sun.  This prevents reflecting, and warms the soil.  We did not burn in the fall or spring of 2012/2013.

The second factor is quite a simple one.  We had eight 80 degree days in March!  The average last year in March was 63, compared to just 41 degrees this year.

The leisure this provides for a prairie manager is immense.  As previously stated with the cooler temps holding back the native plants, we are able to move a lot faster, and not have to worry about damaging the natives.  Last year seemed like a bomb went off to kick off the growing season, and everything came up at once.

This week has been the first week of noticeable growth across the site.

Blue eyed grass (which is actually not a grass at all, but a part of the Iris family) had just bloomed last week:

Same with Wood Betany this week:

Penstemon and Monardas are shooting up, and the ticks...ohhh the ticks are out in full force as well...

The third factor is also an obvious one.  We recorded the wettest April to date, and it shows.  Carex sp are out in full force feeling great right now.  As evident by this picture (the lime green plants are all sedges):

As to whether or not the prairie was affected by drought or not last year, indeed it was.  The drier areas of the prairie (Mesic) did so-so.  A lot of the plants strained to flower and seed out.  However the wetter areas suffered the most.  Our Marsh and Wet Prairie regions showed poor results.  The wetlands we have dried up, and was replaced by a lot of barnyard grass.  It's just a guessing game on what's in the soil in an area that's been under water for most of its existence! 

And so we begin using our more selective herbicides to combat invasives, and promote growth for the natives.  Happy growing season!

Some pics

Summer is finally starting to begin its senescence.  Yikes.  Worked in a couple 75 hr weeks there.  Managing an old ag field into a prairie is crazy tough.  Just when you think you're ahead, somewhere you're probably not.  This field always leaves you wondering, how could it take us so long to complete a task I thought would only take half a day!  There's usually always some cleaning up to do.  

The drought that we've been having is tricky to deal with.  For the most part, plants have been doing alright.  Management techniques have been altered a little, but nothing too dramatic.  We've seen plants stagger a little, not knowing whether they should force seed, or save up until another rain comes.  Usually we saw them stagger and force seed.  

Recently we've had some rain come in, and we're seeing quite a response from the plants.  It's like the time you're in bed, slept until 11 (not knowing you did), realize how late it is, and then you give that biiiig stretch...and sigh.  

The woman and I haven't had internet, so it's tough to get out to a coffee shop and blog after work.  Getting internet in a couple days though, so should be able to get on here more!!

I was having a conversation with the director of the Audubon Society, Chicago region, and we were just talking about restoration in general.

An interesting note about my prairie restoration site is that audubon is quite involved.  In fact, our seed mix is geared towards grassland birds who don't like tall grasses.  That means we have no big bluestem out there!  It's not the end of the world, but I do miss the great qualities that come with big blue.  The matrix these grasses create out in the prairie helps suppress invasives.  The question then becomes, is this an artificial prairie (not self-sustaining)?

I tell the director that what we do as restorationalists is take what farmers want to do, and we do the opposite.  In case you didn't know, farming is a cash cow........Thus there is a ton of information on the subject.

Sometimes the info goes both ways.  Both the farmer and restorationalist want to combat invasive species to protect their crops/natives (teasel, thistle, purple loosestrife, garlic mustard).  Other times, farmers will want to plant an aggressive invasive for forage for their cattle to feed on (Birdsfoot trefoil, white sweet clover, fescue, brome).  Aaaand restorationalists what nothing to do with these forage crops.

Farmers like them so much because they're aggressive and self sustaining.  Once the forage seed is established, the rancher will only have to worry about over grazing and certain diseases.  The early years in a prairie, restoration managers even have to watch out for their own natives, goldenrod especially, to make sure they don't crowd out other higher quality plants.

That brings up another point.  Conservation value (C-value) determines how important (valuable) a plant is.  The highest a C-value can get is 10.  A C-10 plant will be very rare, and will only grow within a high quality, well established prairie.  This is how you determine how healthy a prairie is.  These C-value plants act as indicator species.

Although there isn't a lot of material on how to get rid of these money making aggressive invasives, there are tons of articles for how to manage them to thrive.  When an article says, "Do not mow at a certain time to allow the plant to restore its energy back to its roots for the winter," you bet your ass we're going to mow during that time!

Graze/Burn/Mow quick thoughts

I just finished reading a couple articles.  You ever get when you read these scientific articles that more often then not they’ll just contradict another article and leave you with no clear solution??  It’s like everyone’s always just thinking out loud.  

Obviously I kid, but it does get old.  How about instead of doing small sample sizes, you do large ones, and instead of short term studies, you make them all long term!!!  Go out and get that money!

Ok…

The first article was about installing prairie seed on an old grazing field that will continue to be grazed.  

Things I took away from this:

- When grazing is implemented, drill seeding came out better than broadcast seeding. 

- if the object of a land manager is truly to get the land back to what it used to be, grazing is one of the methods needed on a prairie restoration (Bison).  

The second article spoke about how there was little to no effect of mowing or burning on a prairie within the soil.  They did say that this may be due to a short sample size.

- Out of PH, water content and organic matter within the soil, moisture was the most significant change.  Reasoning behind this is a simple one.  With the litter burned off, sunlight directly hits the soil, which increases evaporation.  The top layer of the soil profile is less dry than the lower. 

Photos!

 Dickcissel

 King Bird and Mallards

 Bobolink

Plains Garter

A little more on cool season grasses!??

The previous post I mentioned it's important to control cool season grasses on a prairie.  It made me think of an article I read previously called, “Field based effects of allelopathy in invaded tallgrass prairie.”  Allelopathic phytochemicals are released by a plant to halt other plants from growing within proximity of the plant.  This benefits the allelopathic plant by reducing its competition and ensuring the plant gets enough of the nutrients and water in the soil for itself.  This article I read studied fine fescue, and what it's effect could be within a tallgrass prairie.  Specifically looking at the phytochemical m-tyrosine which the fine fescue's roots puts out.

The authors use invigorating language when describing allelopathic ways by using such phrases as “Novel weapons,” or “Invasion front” as if these were the foot soldiers coming through before the cavalry.  When I fall asleep, I sincerely do not dream of plants air raiding other plants to gain a strategical position to eventually take over their space.  However I have seen Fantasia, soo….

Not to take anything away from the authors, these allelopathic advantages are huge.  These invasives come over from a foreign place, and the native plants have no understanding of how to co-exist with these invaders.  The natives have no evolutionary game plan to survive against them.  

A similar example of invasion, and perhaps easier understood, is with the alien lionfish to the Atlantic Ocean.  The lionfish preys on smaller fish.  These smaller fish have no idea the lionfish will eat them.  So the smaller fish hang out right beside their killer!!!  It really is bizarre when you think about it.  The learning curve is just too big/long for the preyed fish to learn to hide from the lionfish.  Consequently the lionfish are now thriving all too well within the Atlantic, and the smaller fish are being depleted.  

All the action with the phytochemicals happens within the soil.  So don’t forget to think about all the factors involving the soil.  Soil microbes may or may not hinder these these chemicals as their released.  Soil type and saturation conditions are important as well.  

The study concluded reinforcing what is known and somewhat inconclusive pertaining to whether or not fine fescue can take over a tallgrass prairie via phytochemicals.  M-tyrosine was not a stand alone determinant of invasion within the tallgrass prairie.  “Seed density, rapid and high seedling emergence and fast growth rates,” determined more of the invasion rather than m-tyrosine.  The study brought up the fact that once dominance is established, perhaps then m-tyrosine plays more of a role for keeping out other plants.  

Jess Harnden, Andrew S. MacDougall, Benjamin A. Sikes.  "Field Based Effects of Allelopathy in Invaded Tallgrass Prairie."  Botany 2011 89(4): 235-242, 10.1139/b11-010.

Spring comes to an end

The end for spring plants seems to be here.  Everything is flowering, and will soon set seed.  All plants seem to be around 2-3 weeks early due to a warmer than usual spring.

As a prairie manager I'm worried about specific invasive plants on site such as Reed Canary Grass, Pastinaca, and soon Birdsfoot trefoil.  

Below is an example of similar flowers between the native golden alexander, and the invasive pastinaca.  Look at the last photo and see how aggressive pastinaca can be!!  

Golden Alexander

Pastinaca sativa

A large patch of Pastinaca

Taking control of cool season grasses such as fescue and brome are important as well right now.  Although not considered invasive, they are still aggressive, and have the ability to choke out the native plants trying to become established.  Mowing at a height of 6-8 inches is a technique used on a 2nd year prairie.  This avoids clipping the natives, and takes out the higher grasses.  Give the natives a chance, and let them breath!!  

Monarch with nothing else but this red clover around.... 

Moved in to a new place a month ago, and still don't have internet.  Not sure how much longer I can go, but it certainly affects my blogging!  I have plenty of pics to put up.  I'll have to find time after work to use the internet connection out there. 

Stay tuned!!

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.