The Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District has been seeding farmed uplands back to native warm season grasses for almost 30 years. Historically, seeding was done using a grass drill in the months of January, February, and March. If possible, it was sown on the surface of a light snow covering. A high degree of success has been achieved with establishing these grasses and nearly all uplands seeded had a dominant stand within 3 to 5 years. During the first 2 to 3 years, an abundance of annual plants such as foxtail, marestail, and sunflowers dominate newly seeded fields--providing excellent habitat for pheasant, white-tailed deer, rabbits, and bird species that prefer weedy annual plants. During this establishment phase, thenative grasses and forbs develop deep root systems, but low amounts of foliage. By the end of the fifth year, the weedy annuals decrease while the planted species become dominant.
The major species seeded included big bluestem, Indian grass, little bluestem, switchgrass, and sideoats grama. Other native species included western wheatgrass, green needlegrass, and slender wheatgrass. Seeds were purchased from seed companies and were primarily improved varieties.
A few fields were seeded to mixtures designed to be more attractive to nesting waterfowl. These were comprised of non-native cool season grasses and legumes such as intermediate wheatgrass, smooth bromegrass, alfalfa, red clover, and yellow/white sweetclover. With time, these species either declined or increased in dominance--resulting in a poorly competitive plant community that allowed noxious weeds to become established.
During the past 20 years, some upland seedings included small amounts of native forbs; such as round head lespedeza, compass plant, leadplant or purple prairie clover. High seed costs and the species' slow rate of establishment discouraged extensive seeding.
Newly acquired wetlands were not seeded, but allowed to re-vegetate from the existing seed bank contained in the soil. In 2000, we began to experiment with seeding certain wetland species, particularly sedges and wetland grasses. Certain species, especially some of the sedges, do not appear to return on their own and may have been eliminated from the available seed bank.
A few areas acquired by the Service had never been cultivated, but probably experience overgrazing and applications of herbicides. Most of these sites currently contain an abundance of non-native species, such as Kentucky bluegrass and to a lesser extent smooth bromegrass. Dominant prairie forbs and grasses, such as leadplant, purple prairie clover, or porcupine grass and native wetland plants, such as western wheatgrass, marsh vetchling, or fog fruit can be found.
The term high diversity seeding includes harvesting, processing and sowing large numbers of native species in an attempt to return the plant community as close as possible to its pre-cultivation condition. The term restoration has often been used to describe this same process, but restoring a grassland is not as simple as planting a few native plants.
Our objective is to manage uplands for warm season, grass-dominated (big bluestem in the eastern portion, and little bluestem in the western portion) plant communities with a diverse mix of other cool- and warm-season grasses,sedges, rushes, and broadleaf forbs. Reference materials (see below) and examination of remnant native prairie tracts and wetlands were used to formulate a "watchlist" of plants.
During 1997, 1998, and 1999 Prairie-Plains Resource Institute conducted a large scale high diversity seeding on Springer WPA. The success of that seeding caused our office to expand high diversity seeding throughout the District.
It was determined that the wet meadow plant community was lacking and many wetlands would benefit from seeding of sedges, rushes, and wetland grasses. Disking of wetland areas was reduced, while burning and grazing was increased to encourage the establishment of native wetland species. We expect the plant communities to recover from the seed bank in the soil when the hydrology and proper management is restored. A few select species, such as bur reed, may have been eliminated from the seed bank by the heavy waterfowl grazing pressure the wetlands receive.
Harvesting begins in July with the gathering of sedges and rushes with the seed stripper. The seed stripper is also used on western wheatgrass, sideoats grama, coreopsis, Indiangrass, big bluestem, little bluestem, deer vetch, and Illinois bundle flower. The staff and volunteers continue to hand strip seed throughout the season as species mature. The harvest sites varies from year to year, depending on the weather. Our focus is to harvest the most seeds with the least amount of effort. The majority of the harvesting is done with the seed stripper head attached to the combine.
Processing is required to some extent for all seeds. After harvest, the seeds must be dried. The seeds are usually spread out on cement floors and air dried for a few days. Drying is sped up by using two forced-air seed dryers. The hammer mill is used to break apart species that have large amounts of stems or seedheads needing to be broken apart. No grass species are run through the mill.
The bulk of the mixing is completed in mid-November. It is done by placing the high volume grass seeds in piles surrounding the center of the floor and placing the smaller lots around the mixing area. The seed piles are then all mixed together once the right amount of each species is in the mix. Species with extremely small seeds are sprinkled into the mix. Seeds from various species are shared and traded with the Nature Conservancy and Prairie Plains Institute. A list of species in various mixes was developed.
A Vicon spreader is used to broadcast seed during the winter months. The spreader uses a PTO driven oscillating arm to spread and distribute the seed. The tractor can be operated at a higher speed, and it is nearly impossible to plug up the spreader. Almost no maintenance is needed. It is estimated that seeding requires about 12-14 bulk pounds per acre or about 5 to 7 PLS (pounds of live seed)/acre. The two main drawbacks with the Vicon spreader are not being able to see where seeded as well as the impact of the wind. Seeding over the snow improves visibility. Seeding in two directions reduces the chance of leaving a bare patch.
Ecological Restoration of High-diversity Prairie PPRI’s Basic Guide by Bill Whitney Published in Prairie Plains Journal #13 pp. 39-56.
The Tallgrass Restoration Handbook for Prairies Savannahs, and Woodlands by Steven Packard and Cornelia Mutel
The Prairie by J.E. Weaver and T.J. Fitzpatrick, Ecological Monographs, Volume 4, pages 109-295 (1934). Reprinted in 1980 by Prairie Plains Resource Institute. Aurora, NE.
North American Priarie by J.E. Weaver. Johnsen Publishing Company. Lincoln, NE.
Native Vegetation of Nebraska by J. E. Weaver. University of Nebraska Press. 1965
Flora of the Great Plains, ed. T. M. Barkley et. Al. (Great Plains Flora Association). University Press of Kansas, 1986.
Atlas of the Flora of the Great Plains, ed. William Barker et. al. (Great Plains Flora Association). Iowa State University Press. 1977.
A Garden of Wildflowers. Kansas Wildflower Society. 1992
Plant Species Used in Seed Mix
SCIENTIFIC NAME
COMMON NAME
MIXES CONTAINING SPP.
GRASSES
Agropyron caninum
slender wheatgrass
1
Agropyron smithii
western wheatgrass
1, 2, & 4
Alopercus aequalis
short-awn foxtail
1 & 2
Andropogon gerardii
big bluestem
1, 2, 4
Andropogon scoparius
little bluestem
Bouteloua curtipendula
side-oats grama
Bouteloua gracilis
blue grama
Buchloe dactyloides
buffalograss
Calamagrostis canadensis
Canada bluejoint
3
Dicanthelium oligosanthes
Scribner’s panicum
Elymus canadensis
Canada wildrye
Elymus virginicus
Virginia wildrye
Eragrostis spectabilis
purple lovegrass
Hordeum jubatum
foxtail barley
1, 2, & 3
Leersia oryzoides
Rice - cutgrass
Muhlenbergia racemosa
Marsh muhly
Panicum virgatum
Switchgrass
Sorghastrum nutans
Indiangrass
Spartina pectinata
prairie cordgrass
Sphenopolis obtusata
prairie wedgegrass
Sporobolus asper
tall dropseed
Sporobolus heterolepis
prairie dropseed
Stipa spartea
porcupine grass
Tripsacum dactyloides
eastern gamagrass
FORBS
Achillea millefolium
western yarrow
Allium canadense
wild onion
Amorpha canescens
leadplant
Anemone cylindrica
thimbleweed
Antennaria neglecta
field pussytoes
Apocynum cannabinum
Indian hemp dogbane
Argemone plyanthemos
prickly poppy
Artemesia ludoviciana
cudweed sagewort
Asclepias syriaca
common milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa
butterfly milkweed
Asclepias verticillata
whorled milkweed
Aster ericoides
heath aster
Aster praealtus
willowleaf aster
Aster novae-angliae
New England aster
Aster oolentangiensis
Sky blue aster
Astragalus canadensis
Canada milkvetch
Astragalus crassicarpus
ground plum
Callirhoe alcaeoides
pink poppy mallow
Callirhoe involucrata
purple poppy mallow
Cassia chamaecrista
showy partridge pea
Cassia marylandica
Maryland senna
Chrysopsis villosa
hairy goldaster
Cirsium altissimum
tall thistle
Cirsium undulatum
wavyleaf thistle
2
Dalea candida
white prarie clover
1 &2
Dalea purpureum
purple prairie clover
Delphinium virescens
prairie larkspur
Desmanthus illinoiensis
Illinois bundleflower
Echinacea angustifolia
purple coneflower
Erigeron strgosus
daisy fleabane
Erigeron philadelphicus
philadelphia fleabane
Eupatorium altissimum
joe-pye weed
Eupatorium perfoliatum
boneset
Glycyrrhizia lepidota
wild licorice
Grindelia squarrosa
curlycup gumweed
Heliathus annuus
common sunflower
Helianthus grosseratus
sawtooth sunflower
Helianthus maximilliani
Maximillian sunflower
Helianthus petiolaris
plains sunflower
Helianthus rigidus
stiff sunflower
Kuhnia eupatoriodes
false boneset
Lactuca oblongifolia
blue lettuce
Lespedeza capitata
round head lespedeza
Liatris punctata
rough blazingstar
Liatris pycnostachya
thick-spike gayfeather
Liatris squarrosa
scaly blazingstar
Lithospermum incisum
narrow-leaved puccoon
Lotus purshianus
deer vetch
Lysimachia ciliata
fringed loosestrife
Mirabilis nyctaginea
wild four-O-clock
Monarda fistulosa
bee balm
Onethera biennis
common evening primrose
Oxalis stricta
yellow wood sorel
Oxalis violacea
violet wood sorel
Oxytropis lambertii
purple locoweed
Penstemon grandiflorus
shell-leaf penstemon
Phlox pillosa
praire phlox
Physalis heterphylla
clammy ground cherry
Physallis virginiana
Virginia ground cherry
Potentilla arguta
tall cinquefoil
Psoralea argophylla
silver-leaf scurf pea
Psoralea tenuiflora
slender-leaf scurf pea
Ratibiada columnifera
upright prairie coneflower
Rosa arkansana
prairie wild rose
Rudbeckia hirta
black-eyed Susan
Salvia azurea
blue sage
Senecio plattensis
prairie ragwort
Silphium laciniatum
compass plant
Silphium perfoliatum
cup plant
Sisyrinchum campestre
blue-eyed grass
Solidago canadensis
Canada goldenrod
Solidago missouriensis
prairie goldenrod
Solidago rigida
rigid goldenrod
Spharalcea coccinea
scarlet globemallow
Tradescantia bracteata
bracted spiderwort
Tridanis perfoliata
Venus’ looking glass
Verbena stricta
hoary vervain
Viola pedatifida
prairie violet
SEDGES AND RUSHES AND OTHER WETLAND EMERGENTS
Aesclepias incarnata
swamp milkweed
1, 2 & 3
Alisma plantago-aquatica
water plantain
Bacopa rotundifolia
water hyssop
Bidens cernua
nodding beggarticks
Bidens frondosa
devils beggarticks
Carex atherodes
slough sedge
Carex brevior
fescue sedge
Carex lanuginosa
wooly sedge
Carex stipata
sawbeak sedge
Carex vulpinoidea
Fox sedge
Coreopsis tinctoria
plains coreopsis
3 & 4
Echinodorus rostratus
burhead
Eleocharis acicularis
needle spikerush
Eleocharis macrostachya
spikerush
Equisetum fluviatale
horsetail
Heteranthera peduncularis
mud plantain
Juncus interior
interior rush
Juncus torreyi
Torrey’s rush
Lathyrus palustris
marsh vetchling
Lippia cuneifolia
wedgeleaf fog-fruit
Lycopus americanus
American bugleweed
Mentha arvensis
common mint
Polygonum coccineum
marsh smartweed
Polygonum lapathifolium
pale smartweed
Prunella vulgaris
self heal
Ranunculus flabellaris
threadleaf buttercup
Ranunculus macounii
Macoun’s buttercup
Ranunculus cymbalaria
small marsh buttercup
Rorippia sinuata
spreading yellowcress
Sagittaria graminea
grass leaf arrowhead
Sagittaria latifolia
arrowhead
Scirpus acutus
hardstem bulrush
Scirpus americanus
chairmaker’s rush
Scirpus heterocheatus
slender bulrush
Sparganium eurycarpum
bur reed
Stachys palustris
marsh hedge-nettle
Teucrium canadense
American germander
Verbena hastata
blue vervain
Vernonia baldwinii
Baldwin’s ironweed
Vernonia fasciculata
western ironweed
Total: 144 species
1 - East
2 - West
3 - Wet meadow
4 - Loess mixed grass prairie
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