MDC Cape Nature Center to host 10th annual Native Plant & Garden Seminar

When landscapers decide to grow native, native plants can be difficult to find. The Missouri 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the MDC Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center. This event is designed to help well intentioned gardeners and landscapers find what they need.

Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Cape Girardeau County Master Gardeners will host the tenth annual Native Plant and Garden Seminar Saturday, March 14, from

“This is a much anticipated event in our area,” said Sara Turner, manager of the Cape Nature Center. “Each year we look forward to sharing ideas and connecting with fellow native plant enthusiasts.”

The Native Plant & Garden Seminar traditionally features guest speakers to offer inspiration and tips, presentations on choosing native plants, wildlife damage, propagation, herbs, mushrooms and other topics, as well as a native plant sale, coordinated with the Cape Girardeau County Master Gardeners.

Native plant and garden product vendors, such as the Missouri Wildflowers Nursery, Forrest Keeling Nursery, and the Master Gardeners, will be available Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

This event is free, but seating is limited for both sessions. Registration begins Feb. 2. To register, call (573)290-5218. For more information about this and other nature programs at the Cape Nature Center, go online to mdc.mo.gov/capenaturecenter.

Help plant a tree in a Missouri state park and Joplin

JEFFERSON CITY, MO., JUNE 13, 2011 -- You can help plant a tree in a Missouri state park and in the city of Joplin without lifting a shovel. Missouri State Parks is participating again this year in the Odwalla Plant a Tree Program that allows people across the nation to vote where they want trees planted.

            Odwalla has committed $100,000 to the campaign and each vote will be equal to $1 that can be used for trees. The number of votes a state receives will determine the number of dollars it earns to purchase and plant trees in state parks.  If you enter the six-character code printed inside the Missouri state park system’s new Welcome Kit, Odwalla will donate an extra dollar per vote. Voting will continue through Aug. 31, 2011.

            "This is the second year Missouri State Parks has participated in this program because we know how important trees are to the landscape and the people who enjoy them. This year, we are helping our neighbors in Joplin and will donate as many trees as we can to the city of Joplin and Joplin city parks,” said Bill Bryan, director of Missouri State Parks.

 “It is one thing we all can do to help them rebuild their community. It is as simple as taking a moment to vote,” Bryan said.

            To vote for Missouri state parks and help the city of Joplin, go tomostateparks.com and click on the link to vote and receive more information about the Odwalla Plant a Tree program.

            For information on Missouri state parks, go to mostateparks.com.

Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Second Annual BioBlitz June 4 & 5

Image by ImAges ImprObables via Flickr

Nature lovers of all ages are invited to help experts discover and document grassland plants and animals from Golden Prairie, a National Natural Landmark in Barton County.

By Carol Davit, Missouri Prairie Foundation

JEFFERSON CITY Mo -- In spring and summer, Golden Prairie is often carpeted with wildflowers as far as the eye can see. An original prairie remnant owned and managed by the Missouri Prairie Foundation, Golden is a peaceful place and haven for native prairie plants and wildlife.

On Saturday and Sunday, June 4 and 5, however, it will bustle with human activity as nature lovers statewide team up with biologists at the conservation organization’s free, second annual Prairie BioBlitz.

Barbara Van Vleck, a Missouri Master Naturalist from Kansas City, will definitely be there.

“MPF’s Prairie BioBlitz last year at Penn-Sylvania Prairie was the best outdoor event I have attended in 20 years,” said Van Vleck. “Cordial experts in many fields taught us at an appropriate level. A plant survey revealed blooms everywhere, including orchids! From a bat survey, herpetology talk to nighttime moth identification, it was an exciting two days. I wouldn’t miss it this year for anything.”

Across the country, nature lovers and professional biologists team up at “BioBlitzes” to identify as many species as possible (the “bio”) in an area over the course of 24 hours (the “blitz”). The Missouri Prairie Foundation is hosting its own version at Golden Prairie on Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5.

Golden Prairie is in Barton County, about three miles from Golden City. The Missouri Prairie Foundation purchased the 320-acre Golden Prairie in 1970, and since then, 310 additional acres adjoining or near the original tract have been purchased and protected. More than 300 plant species are known from the original 320 acres of the prairie, but for many other groups of species, little information is known from any of Golden’s 630 acres.

“Today, ecologists consider temperate grasslands to be the most endangered, least conserved of any terrestrial habitat on earth, and no temperate grasslands are more threatened than tallgrass prairies,” said Carol Davit, the Foundation’s director of communications and development. “Collectively, our remaining prairies in Missouri support up to 800 plant species, dozens of vertebrates and thousands of invertebrates. We want to see how many of them we can find at Golden Prairie, and BioBlitz participants will help in that effort.”

On the afternoon and evening of June 4 and the morning of June 5, biologists who study ants, bees, birds, beetles, butterflies, true bugs, moths, mammals, aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, land snails, vascular plants, mosses and liverworts will lead groups across the prairie to survey and inventory as many species as possible.

Several Missouri Conservation Department (MDC) biologists, including Mammalogist Debbie Fantz, Natural History Biologist Mike Arduser, Resource Science Division Field Chief Rochelle Renken, Fisheries Management Biologist Tom Priesendorf and Naturalist Shelly Cox will be group leaders. Other leaders include Shaw Nature Reserve Biologist and Entomologist Dr. James Trager, Botanists Justin Thomas and Nels Holmberg, Malacologist Ron Oesch, Lepidopterist Phillip Koenig and Naturalist Elizabeth Hamilton.

“We are thrilled that so many biologists are giving their time to help uncover the plant and animal treasures of this prairie,” said Davit. “If you love wildlife, this is a great opportunity to learn from experts passionate about their given subjects, and play a role in much-needed data collection as well.”

MDC’s Mike Arduser, who will lead the bee group, added, “The Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Prairie BioBlitz brings two important things together -- scientific data collection and the opportunity of nature enthusiasts at all skill levels to participate in this work, and also interact with each other. At the end of the weekend, BioBlitz participants go away with a greater understanding of prairie then when they arrived.”

Following the afternoon activities on June 4, there will be a potluck picnic supper, stargazing and free tent camping on the prairie. The BioBlitz is free, but participants must RSVP. For a detailed BioBlitz schedule, directions to the prairie, and to RSVP, visit the Upcoming Events page at www.moprairie.org, email info@moprairie.com or call 888-843-6739.

The Missouri Prairie Foundation is a 45-year-old membership organization that protects and restores prairie and other native grasslands through acquisition, management, education and support of prairie research. The organization owns 2,600 acres of prairie across the state and helps manage an additional 1,500 acres owned by conservation partners.

Prairie in Progress by Lia Heppermann, MDC Wildlife Biologist

Image via Wikipedia
Reprinted from:

St. Louis Regional Newsletter
MDC

June 2011

Visitors to the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area will notice many fields planted with native warm season grasses and wildflowers, or forbs.  This is an effort to restore, or more accurately reconstruct, the prairie once known as Howell’s Prairie, which was a part of this area many years ago.  It may be surprising to know that prior to European settlement more than one- third of the Missouri landscape was prairie.  With settlement however, the prairie was grazed and plowed and converted to farmsteads and agriculture. Additionally, settlers began to control the fires causing the prairie to gradually give way to trees.  Few examples remain today of undisturbed, unplowed remnant prairie, and those that do remain are invaluable to our natural heritage.  Instead, we are often left with the difficult prospect of restoring degraded prairie or trying to recreate prairie habitat where it once existed; both of which are poor substitutes for the real thing.  Natural prairie communities are filled with a diverse array of plant and animal life which unfortunately do not respond to the “if you build it, they will come” hypothesis.  Ecological restoration is more complicated than that.  In spite of this, doing nothing is not an option either.


Which brings us back to the reconstruction project at Busch.  Progress has been slow and there are many challenges.  Currently nearly 200 acres have been planted with seed from Missouri seed suppliers.  They provide seed that is native to, and grown in,  Missouri and therefore adapted to the local climate and its rainfall, soils, insects, and other herbivores.  Patience For more information on prairies visit:
http://mdc.mo.gov/landwater-care/plant-management/prairie-grassland-and-field-managment or http://www.moprairie.org is key since it takes many years before the wildflowers will bloom.  During the first few years, plants are developing deep root systems to survive drought, fire and grazing which were characteristic elements of natural prairies.  Controlling invasive exotic plants and implementing fire are additional challenges.  Unfortunately, herbicide is necessary to control sericea lespedeza and other invasive
plants.  The challenge is to remove one and leave the other.  Fire is implemented as often as possible to stimulate the growth and vigor of the grasses and forbs.  Happily, we are making progress, and when you visit
you can find pale purple coneflower, round-headed bush clover, purple prairie clover, lead plant, rattlesnake
master, rosinweed, compass plant and many others blooming among the tall grasses.