{"id":2544,"date":"2021-08-12T18:12:12","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T18:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mbgecologicalrestoration.wordpress.com\/?p=2544"},"modified":"2021-08-12T18:12:12","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T18:12:12","slug":"a-prairie-resurgence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/a-prairie-resurgence\/","title":{"rendered":"A prairie resurgence?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

James\u00a0Faupel\u00a0is\u00a0the\u00a0urban\u00a0ecology\u00a0restoration supervisor\u00a0at the\u00a0Litzsinger\u00a0Road Ecology Center<\/a>, a\u00a0suburban\u00a0outdoor education\u00a0site\u00a0managed by\u00a0the Missouri Botanical Garden. The property is a mix of reconstructed bottomland prairie and restored riparian woodlands\u00a0in St. Louis County, Missouri.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

North American prairie remnants are\u00a0invaluable\u00a0pieces of a once vast\u00a0grassland ecosystem,\u00a0critical\u00a0for the survival of so many plants and animals.\u00a0Prairies\u00a0are\u00a0one of\u00a0the most endangered\u00a0ecosystems\u00a0in the world, removed from existence by our agricultural\u00a0development\u00a0for crop production.\u00a0According to the National Park Service<\/a>, less than\u00a01%\u00a0of original prairies\u00a0now remain\u00a0in North America.\u00a0The Missouri Prairie Foundation<\/a>\u00a0states that\u00a0less than\u00a0half\u00a0of\u00a01%\u00a0of pre-settlement prairie is\u00a0left\u00a0here in\u00a0my home state.\u00a0These few remaining\u00a0North American prairie\u00a0remnants are\u00a0vital\u00a0seed banks for local ecotypes of\u00a0thousands\u00a0of\u00a0native\u00a0plant species,\u00a0such as the federally endangered\u00a0Mead\u2019s milkweed\u00a0(Asclepias\u00a0meadii<\/em>)<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0they are\u00a0home to\u00a0many\u00a0species of animals that just cannot be found in any other\u00a0type of\u00a0habitat.\u00a0Most\u00a0prairie specialist species\u00a0cannot survive\u00a0once a\u00a0fragmented\u00a0prairie has been plowed\u00a0or bulldozed\u00a0under.\u00a0Species such as the\u00a0regal fritillary butterfly\u00a0(Argynnis\u00a0idalia<\/em>)<\/a>\u00a0only occur on remnant prairies in Missouri and\u00a0have not appeared in our\u00a0human-made prairie reconstructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A now rare, prairie horizon view. This one is visible at the National Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Kansas. Photo Credit: James Faupel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Undiscovered remnant prairies are generally only spared thanks to\u00a0practices such as\u00a0consistent\u00a0haying\u00a0or\u00a0grazing,\u00a0and\u00a0have\u00a0sometimes\u00a0been\u00a0found protected in unused areas of\u00a0historical sites, such as\u00a0old\u00a0cemeteries.\u00a0Unfortunately, remnant prairies are\u00a0now\u00a0mostly found\u00a0in rural settings\u00a0far from the\u00a0eyes of\u00a0our growing urban populations.\u00a0These\u00a0sometimes small patches of\u00a0prairie\u00a0habitat\u00a0do not have large dramatic features,\u00a0such as mountains or canyons that draw vacationers\u2019 attention from states away. Most remaining prairies are\u00a0also\u00a0no longer large enough to host their once charismatic\u00a0herds of\u00a0grazing\u00a0megafauna,\u00a0the\u00a0American\u00a0bison.\u00a0The amazing views of\u00a0these smaller,\u00a0modern-day\u00a0prairies\u00a0must\u00a0be experienced\u00a0up close and personal.\u00a0This\u00a0is\u00a0a problem if you want to educate the public on the importance of protecting\u00a0these\u00a0fragile habitats, that\u00a0are\u00a0now\u00a0fragmented and\u00a0spread far from each other\u00a0across\u00a0such a\u00a0vast\u00a0continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Middle school children getting to know prairies up close and personal, at a prairie managed by the Missouri Botanical Garden. Photo credit: James Faupel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My home city of\u00a0St. Louis was once\u00a061%\u00a0prairie<\/a>\u00a0pre-European settlement.\u00a0The only remnant prairie still existing here is a small plot at Calvary\u00a0Cemetery, which\u00a0has had to have extensive restoration work\u00a0done\u00a0to remove trees, shrubs, and exotic invasive plants\u00a0from\u00a0smothering it out of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The prairie remnant at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis City looking very open after some much needed restoration work, consisting of tree and shrub removal. Photo credit: James Faupel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many organizations in St. Louis have begun to reconstruct prairies here over the years, to help regain this lost habitat for local wildlife and to be able to get these\u00a0valuable\u00a0grasslands back in view of the public.\u00a0Some of the earliest prairie reconstructions in the\u00a0Greater\u00a0St. Louis\u00a0Region\u00a0started in the 1970s and 80s.\u00a0Specifically within St.\u00a0Louis\u00a0City\u00a0&\u00a0County, this practice didn\u2019t begin until\u00a0the 80s.\u00a0I\u00a0have the pleasure of\u00a0working\u00a0on one of those prairies\u00a0reconstructed\u00a0in the 1980\u2019s,\u00a0at the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center, a prairie started and managed by Missouri Botanical Garden staff. The ecology center is a private education site dedicated to working with K-12 teachers, to improve upon their ability to engage their students in place-based education, using our local ecology as the framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent work at the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center suggests that St. Louis prairies are making a comeback. Our\u00a02021\u00a0spring intern, Lydia\u00a0Soifer, began work on an independent research project looking at prairie habitat connectivity within St. Louis\u00a0City & County.\u00a0Through this project\u00a0Lydia and I\u00a0generated a count of\u00a058\u00a0small-scale,\u00a0urban prairie\u00a0reconstructions managed by various entities\u00a0within\u00a0this\u00a0highly populated\u00a0area.\u00a0There are\u00a0also\u00a0many more\u00a0prairie\u00a0reconstructions in the 7\u00a0surrounding\u00a0counties\u00a0within Missouri and Illinois.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With an increase of 58 small prairies slowly over 40 years, this may seem like a time to celebrate, but this prairie resurgence should not be taken lightly. Some of these new prairies are now at risk of failure. Prairie reconstructions cannot be left to their own devices in our modern, highly human influenced world. Investment in both ongoing habitat maintenance and the continued education of staff is a necessity, or these prairie reconstructions can quickly turn into fields of exotic invasive weeds or full of aggressive trees and shrubby growth. Even at 32 years old, the urban prairie I work at still needs continued maintenance to keep it a \u201cnative prairie\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenges\u00a0facing\u00a0urban prairie\u00a0stewards\u00a0range from\u00a0intense\u00a0seed pressure\u00a0from surrounding invasive plants,\u00a0severe\u00a0runoff and\u00a0volatile urban\u00a0waterways,\u00a0minimal funding and educational resources, fire\u00a0&\u00a0smoke\u00a0restrictions\u00a0that limit the chance of using prescribed fire,\u00a0and\u00a0heavy browsing\u00a0from\u00a0oversized\u00a0whitetail\u00a0deer populations. Many businesses\u00a0and\u00a0organizations outsource\u00a0with\u00a0private contractors for their\u00a0prairie\u00a0maintenance, which can have some beneficial and detrimental outcomes. There is not a constant\u00a0visual\u00a0presence overseeing the land\u00a0they hold,\u00a0but it can be much more affordable than permanent staff. Sometimes the only maintenance is periodic visits from dedicated volunteers. The decision to reconstruct a prairie should be well thought out and planned for optimal\u00a0long-term\u00a0care. Placement should be targeted\u00a0for\u00a0areas where\u00a0a new prairie\u00a0could\u00a0help connect existing fragmented habitats\u00a0to improve\u00a0urban\u00a0wildlife corridors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
A prairie planting reclaims some space previously occupied by turf grass on a steep hillside at Bellerive Park, a St. Louis City Park. Photo credit: James Faupel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Are these human-made prairies working?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, it appears prairie reconstructions are gaining some ground within St. Louis and surrounding areas of the Midwest. How do we know if these reconstructions are being successful? What is success? Data collection of any kind is minimal to non-existent across these local sites, so assigning a value to these lands could be considered speculative at best.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\u00a0transferred to\u00a0the\u00a0Litzsinger\u00a0Road Ecology Center\u00a0in 2018, I took notice of data previously collected there relating to pollinators (I have a passion for animal associations with native flora.).\u00a0There were collection records from around the year 2000,\u00a0of the now federally endangered\u00a0rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus\u00a0affinis<\/em><\/a>), the\u00a0endangered (IUCN Red List)\u00a0Southern plains\u00a0bumble bee (Bombus\u00a0fraternus<\/em><\/a>),\u00a0and the\u00a0vulnerable\u00a0(IUCN Red List)\u00a0American bumble bee\u00a0(Bombus\u00a0pensylvanicus<\/em><\/a>).\u00a0This is\u00a0the\u00a0only\u00a0confirmed record\u00a0of the\u00a0rusty patched bumble bee\u00a0in St. Louis, and its\u00a0range has\u00a0now\u00a0shrunk considerably in recent times and can only be found much farther to our northeast. After surveying the reconstructed prairies at my work, I was able to find these two\u00a0latter\u00a0bumble bee species of concern. I was curious. Could more of the prairies around St. Louis be supporting the potentially declining populations of Southern plains and American bumble bees?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Left image \u2013 A Southern plains bumble bee queen nectaring on spider milkweed (Asclepias viridis<\/a><\/em>). Right image \u2013 An American bumble bee worker visiting great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica<\/a><\/em>). Photo credits: James Faupel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Previously, not much was known specifically about the rare Southern plains bumble bee in the St. Louis region. According to the Checklist of the Bees of St. Louis, MO (Camilo et al. 2017)<\/a> only two records within the city had been collected, in addition to the collection I mentioned earlier from the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center in St. Louis County. According to many local bee specialists, the American bumblebee used to be commonly seen all around St. Louis, but the Checklist notes only 3 sites that it was recorded at during their recent surveys. After spending a lot of my free time surveying St. Louis prairies, woodlands, and gardens over the last three years, I have found very promising results in the prairies.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six of the larger and older prairie reconstructions in St. Louis City and County, with moderately rich species lists of native plants, were found to contain and support the Southern plains bumble bee, sometimes two to three years in a row. Many more of the prairies I visited supported the American bumblebee. Shutterbee<\/a>, a local citizen science project I partner with, has recorded 3 Southern plains bumble bees and over a hundred American bumble bees from bi-weekly bee surveys in private home gardens in St. Louis City and County over the last two years. This shows there may be increased value in native plant gardens placed near prairies, for enlarging the foraging areas of bumble bees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am also beginning to see a trend with these two species\u2019 floral choices. These two species of conservation concern seem much more reliant on native prairie plants than some of their more common bumble bee counterparts, that are flexible enough in their diets to visit many more exotic flowers. For the moment, this is just observational data, but at least it is showing that there is value in the hard work being done bringing these grasslands back to urban spaces. There are many other ways we could begin to assign value to man-made prairies, but more data collection needs to be done across the board on urban prairies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\u00a0of\u00a0these\u00a0same\u00a0prairie reconstructions containing milkweeds,\u00a0blazing stars,\u00a0sunflowers,\u00a0asters, or goldenrods\u00a0have\u00a0also\u00a0been recorded to\u00a0attract in the majestic, migrating\u00a0monarch butterfly (Danaus\u00a0plexippus<\/em><\/a>). Last\u00a0December,\u00a0the monarch was nearly put on the U.S. endangered species list. The US Fish and Wildlife Service put off this decision for\u00a0a few\u00a0years\u00a0and will revisit it. If the\u00a0well-known\u00a0monarch\u00a0butterfly\u00a0does indeed get listed\u00a0as endangered in the near future, will there be a vast new interest in prairie reconstruction?\u00a0Will there be more investment in prairie protection and reconstruction from municipalities, utilities, corporations and other large land holders?\u00a0If a quick surge of interest arises, education\u00a0about\u00a0these unique ecosystems and their management will be needed\u00a0more\u00a0than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are\u00a0current\u00a0opportunities to capitalize on the revitalized interest in the outdoors\u00a0that\u00a0the pandemic brought about, and with\u00a0urban populations projected to outpace\u00a0their rural counterparts<\/a>\u00a0in the future,\u00a0native\u00a0ecosystems\u00a0will\u00a0need\u00a0to be brought to the people,\u00a0to spark their curiosity and passion with nature.\u00a0Without\u00a0urban prairie\u00a0reconstructions, we won\u2019t be able to inspire the future volunteers, donors, conservation voters, and land stewards\u00a0needed to\u00a0care\u00a0for\u00a0and\u00a0protect\u00a0remnant\u00a0lands.\u00a0Urban prairie reconstructions are therefore integral in the process of\u00a0preserving\u00a0our rural remnant prairies, while also being ecologically biodiverse and important in their own right.\u00a0We need more prairie reintroduced into\u00a0North America\u00a0and we need continued investment in their\u00a0long-term\u00a0care and monitoring. We aren\u2019t just hoping to save endangered species, we are also hoping to save our continent\u2019s most endangered ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
A monarch butterfly visiting New England aster (Symphyotrichum nova-angliae<\/a><\/em>) at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center\u2019s 5-year-old prairie reconstruction<\/a>. Photo credit: James Faupel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St. Louis has restored dozens of urban prairies. James Faupel (Missouri Botanical Garden) describes their impact on pollinators and what is needed to keep them healthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,26],"tags":[145,146,147,182,261,313,530,710,814,912],"class_list":["post-2544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grassland","category-missouri","tag-bombus-affinis","tag-bombus-fraternus","tag-bombus-pensylvanicus","tag-calvary-cemetery","tag-danaus-plexippus","tag-education","tag-litzinger-road-ecology-center","tag-prairie","tag-shutterbee","tag-urban"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nher.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/03b_urban-prairie_bellerive-park_james-faupel.jpg?fit=1045%2C783&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}