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Re: How to define a successful prairie restoration? Geoff's reply

There are several indices by which to judge the quality of pristine prairie.
Pristine here means original, unplowed, not hayed, not overgrazed sod;  I do
not know where any such exist.  Unplowed and not overgrazed are obvious;
unhayed is less appreciated:  repeated annual mowing at end June, and often
end October also, will eventually eliminate species which flower or are
approaching seedset at those times.

When I am asked to estimate the quality of a tallgrass prairie I look first
for Liatris (Gayfeather) species;  if present, good.  Grass indicators are
Big Bluestem, and Eastern Gammagrass.  Surface-rooted Silphium species in
the prairie are rare, for they prefer year-round moisture, and all the
prairies I have inspected so far have been so overgrazed that the original
water-table has dropped many inches, too low for those surface-rooting
species to survive.  The deep-rooted S. laciniatum is a valuable indicator
of a good prairie.

The next thing to do is to travel all over, several times in the year, and
see how many species you can identify, or at least recognise, during a full
year;  if 100 or more, that's pretty good;  if 200 or more it is top-rank.
What's more, so are you!

Now that is my opinion.  What indicators do you recognise?             Geoff


o----Original Message-----
From: Carl Kurtz <cpkurtz@netins.net>
To: prairie@mallorn.com <prairie@mallorn.com>
Date: Sunday, September 27, 1998 10:39 AM
Subject: Re: How to define a successful prairie restoration?


>>On my property of some 60 acres I am attempting to restore all of it to
>>prairie/wildlife habitat.  Some spots 'restored' are several acres others
>>as small as 20 square feet.
>>
>>How do measure/claim progress?
>>
>>As I walked by one area of about 100 by 30, it was full of blooming New
>>England Aster , some other purple/red asters and alot of flea bane
daisy's.
>>Yuck! I thought, New England Aster, while Extremely showy is an aggressive
>>forb.  The flea bane daisy , of course, was not planted there on
>>purpose.....
>>There were alot of different butterflies in this patch....I moved slowly
up
>>to where a Monarch Butterfly was probing  atop a New England Aster.  I
>>asked him if he was happy with my restoration efforts...I pointed out that
>>New England aster's are considered aggressive, some people frown on a
patch
>>of mostly New England Aster.
>>
>>No reply was forth coming.  It kept probing the flowers...
>>
>>It flew over to some of the 100+ butterfly bushes  I have planted.  I
>>slowly followed it.
>>
>>It alighted on one of the white butterfly bushes, almost 9 feet tall in
>>this, it's second year.
>>
>>I asked the Monarch if he knew that he was now on a non-native plant.  Did
>>not he know that native plants are  preferred over non-natives?
>>
>>It stayed on the white Butterfly bush probing the flowers.  Didn't even
>>acknowledge I was speaking to him.
>>
>>I waited for an answer....but no answer would I hear...
>>
>>Then it took off ....back towards the Asters....but it never stopped....It
>>kept going ...south...
>>
>>Would it make it to the Mexican mountains for  the winter?
>>
>>  Would it find suitable habitat so  Monarch's could return next year to
my
>>prairie and find even  more flowers blooming next year?
>>
>>Perhaps then I would get the answers to my questions???......
>>
>>Or.............
>>
>>Maybe I had my answer.......
>>
>>As another Monarch landed in the patch of New England Asters.......
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>Alan,
>
>Every prairie restoration or reconstruction is successful when it provides
>habitat for native plants and animals.  However, in the long run successful
>restorations or reconstructions achieve a level of stability through their
>diversity, which protects them from invaders by filling all the available
>root zones with desirable species.  Through this diversity they become
>dynamic systems and continue to evolve and change through time.  Management
>of your area should gradually diminish until very little is required to
>maintain its stability.  From the monarch's point of view you have
>certainly been successful, next year another chapter will unfold.
>
>
>
>
>Carl Kurtz
>515-477-8364
>cpkurtz@netins.net
>
>
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