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Re: Trouble Indicators

I don't know what the approved protocol is for replying to e-mail.
I always put my reply at the top, and send it all back, so readers can
observe the change and know what I am replying to.  This means that I now
have the file on my IN section, and again under my reply in the SENT
section -- so then I delete it all from the IN to save disk space.

Christopher:  your reply is invigorating; thanks so much.

Our 1400 acre prairie was donated to us (the Native Prairies Association of
Texas, NPAT) in memory of the Maddin family, who had owned it for several
generations, almost 3 years ago.  It has a streambed, bottomland (sandy
alluvial) that had been plowed for row-crops, sloping prairie land with
mesquite, and rocky upland.  It had been rented out for a long time, and so
was grossly overgrazed .  We are planning to restore it to mixed prairie
areas over the next 25-50 years, with a Prairie Dog Town by 2010, and a few
buffalo by 2020.  It is 8 miles south of Colorado City, which is 50 miles
west of Abilene in upper west Texas.

If you know of a small mammals person in the area, please let hir and me
know.  And if you are in striking distance and would like to advise and/or
participate, please e-mail your postal address and phone and e-mail so we
can correspond directly.

About your invader problems.  If you actively restoring prairie (ie seeding
with nativegrasses and forbs and reducing herbivory by at least 80-90%) I
suggest you not worry;  over the next 100 years they will hopefully fade
away.  I have been on this land here in Dallas, 600 acres, for 25 years;  we
have kept it ungrazed for the last 20;  the soil surface is now covered, and
a number of plant species are now coming back, presumably from the soil seed
bank, because they are not now known anywhere else around here.  KR
Bluestem, extensively seeded in the 1960's, is now almost gone.

We don't have White Clover here, and we have Japanese Brome, not Hungarian.
I will look for them on the Maddin Prairie, and report back


Geoff Stanford:   gstanf@swbell.net
7171 Mtn Creek Parkway   Dallas   TX   75249    tel: 972-296.2476

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Kodani <Z959983@WPO.CSO.NIU.EDU>
To: prairie@mallorn.com <prairie@mallorn.com>
Date: Sunday, September 27, 1998 6:14 PM
Subject: Trouble Indicators


>>>> "Geoff Stanford" <gstanf@swbell.net> 09/27/98 11:58am >>>
>
A GREAT CHUNK OF MY PREVIOUS REPLY HAS GOT LOST FROM HERE,    but, Chris,
you probably still have it.
Now that is my opinion.  What indicators do you recognise?
>Geoff
>************************************************************************
>To Geoff and Everybody Else on this List,
>
>I think this thread on how we measure the success of a prarie
>restoration is great!  Although I'm still new to prairie botany, I
>think I'll agree with Geoff that the presence of native plant species
>is a good indicator of success.  I'll add my 2 cents worth--that if
>you've got native prairie mammals, such as eastern cottontails, least
>weasels, least shrews and shorttail shrews, as well as those
>all-important meadow voles or prairie voles, you've got the makings
>for a self-sustaining small mammal community!  (this year my meadow
>vole population has been very high!).
>
>My study site in Northern Illinois has a few of the plant species
>Geoff listed, but I am troubled by the presence of some non-natives,
>especially Hungarian Brome, and White Sweet Clover.  Would their
>presence indicate a restoration that is in trouble?  Or does everybody
>have these?
>
>--CK
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