MDC closes parts of Schell-Osage for grassland restoration

The Missouri Department of Conservation is restoring portions of the Schell-Osage Conservation Area to native grasslands for the benefit of numerous species of native wildlife such as quail, rabbits, grassland songbirds, and pollinators such as monarch butterflies and native bees.

Temporary closings of sections for habitat improvements will continue until April 2016.

VERNON COUNTY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation is informing the public that portions of the Schell-Osage Conservation Area covering parts of Vernon and St. Clair counties will be closed for public safety as contractors remove invasive trees from prairies and old fields as part of a grassland restoration project. The temporary closings of various areas will take place from Sept. 1 to April 1, 2016. Closed portions will be posted with signs. Other portions of 8,633-acre conservation area will remain open during the habitat improvement project. 

According to MDC, the work is being done to improve habitat for many species of native wildlife including quail, rabbits, grassland songbirds, and pollinators such as monarch butterflies and bees. The work will focus on large-scale removal of invasive trees, controlling invasive plants with herbicide, and seeding native prairie plants. Grassland wildlife need connected habitat for foraging, migration, nesting, and brood rearing. In some areas where trees are being removed, shrubs will be allowed to regrow to provide important escape cover from predators or extreme weather.

The Department apologizes for any short-term inconvenience to area users and invites the public to visit the area after restoration work is complete to see the resulting benefits.

Call the MDC office at Schell-Osage for more information at 417-432-3414.

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MDC to co-host Prairie Days June 26 & 27 at Dunn Ranch

Free event showcases grasslands with bison, birds, wildflowers and native grasses

Eagleville, Mo. – A free Prairie Days event on June 26 and 27 will celebrate Missouri’s rich grassland heritage at Dunn Ranch Prairie and Pawnee Prairie Natural Area in Harrison County. Sponsors are the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and other conservation partners. Visitors can enjoy grassland birds and butterflies, wildflowers blooming on remnant prairies, and bison grazing on native grasses. Experts will discuss conservation efforts for species such as prairie chickens and the value of upland streams with fish such as the endangered Topeka shiner minnow.

   

Prairie Days will kick off on Friday, June 26, with an 8 p.m. social gathering at TNC’s Dunn Ranch headquarters, 16970 W. 150th St., Hatfield, Mo. The headquarters is west of Eagleville, Mo. Biologists will talk about prairie history, grassland management and projects such as prairie chicken restoration. Movies about prairie will be shown at dusk including “Blooming Secrets” and “Missouri’s Tallgrass Prairie: An American Original.”

   On Saturday, June 27, the day will begin 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. with birding hikes at MDC’s Pawnee Prairie Natural Area. Participants should bring their own binoculars, cameras and field guides. This prairie is rich in native wildflowers and grassland birds.

   Activities will shift to Dunn Ranch morning and afternoon. A highlight will be tours of TNC’s bison herd and discussions about their role in prairie ecology. Educational conservation sessions will be offered including plant identification, grazing nutrition, prairie headwaters, rare prairie species, pollinators, reptiles and amphibians, fire ecology and mammals of the prairie.

   Camping will be available at Dunn Ranch without hookups, or visitors can camp at Harrison County Lake with some hookups and primitive sites. Motel lodging is available in Eagleville and Bethany. A local non-profit group will operate a food concession. Booths or demonstrations will be offered by Missouri Prairie Foundation, Missouri River Bird Observatory, Pure Air Natives, Inc., Missouri Master Naturalists and Hamilton Native Outpost.

   Prairie Days will also highlight the conservation efforts underway in the Grand River Grasslands, a partnership between MDC, TNC, Iowa conservation agencies, private landowners, and private, non-profit groups. MDC’s Pawnee Prairie and TNC’s Dunn Ranch offer high quality habitat in the heart of the Grand River Grasslands. MDC and partners are working to restore a functional grassland ecosystem over a broad geography that supports both production agriculture and nature. The goals include restoring Missouri’s endangered prairie chickens. An overview is available at http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2010/10-0/grand-river-grasslands.

   For more information about Prairie Days, visit http://mdc.mo.gov/NWprairiedays, or call T.J. Peacher, MDC conservation education supervisor, at 816-271-3100.

    Information about Pawnee Prairie and maps are available at http://on.mo.gov/1LlXs50. Dunn Ranch information is at http://bit.ly/1ellp2i.

Related articles

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• MDC tracking Grand River Grassland prairie chickens (missourioutdoors.blogspot.com)
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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.