Weve gotten to a point where we can harvest native prairie seed pretty effectively, said Ron Cole, project leader of the Services Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) near Odessa, Minn. But even after native seed is harvested you still have the problem of separating the seeds from stems, leaves and other litter before replanting.
But thanks to the Minnesota DNR and the Minnesota Waterfowl Association, the task of cleaning native prairie seed has become much easier.
Weve just constructed a new seed cleaning facility at Big Stone, said Cole. And, if things go as planned, well process over 90,000 pounds of native Minnesota prairie seed this year. The market value of this cleaned seed--which includes Big and Little Bluestem grass, Sideoats Gramma, Wild Rye grass, Indian grass, Switch grass, prairie coneflower, Blazing Star, Lead plant and other forbsexceeds $2 million. Just cleaning the seed commercially would have cost more than $20,000.
(While some native grass seed is relatively inexpensivecleaned Big Bluestem seed costs about $15 a poundscarcer varieties of native grass and many forbs cost $150-$450 a pound, while rare varieties may cost as much as $200 per ounce.)
Cole began construction of the cleaning facility in the fall of 1998, but then ran out of funding to complete the project.
The project was stalled until the Minnesota DNR and Minnesota Waterfowl stepped in with additional funding to help us complete the construction of the facility, Cole said. Thanks to this partnership, weve now got one of the best native seed cleaning facilities in the entire Midwest.
The Big Stone NWR seed cleaner complements existing Service seed cleaning facilities in Detroit Lakes, Minn., and Prairie City, Iowa.
Once the Big Stone seed cleaner became operational in early October, seed harvested from Big Stone NWR, federal Waterfowl Production Areas, state Wildlife Management Areas, State Parks, and private land, began arriving by the truckload for processing. After being dried and cleaned, the seed is repackaged and returned to the area of the state where it was harvested for replanting.
While the majority of cleaned seed will be replanted on public land as part of prairie restoration efforts, some seed will also find its way onto private land as part of cooperative agreements between the Service, the Minnesota DNR, nonprofit groups such as the Minnesota Waterfowl Association and Pheasants Forever, and private landowners.
We generally like to plant a mix of native seed, said Cole, with both grass and forbs when possible. This combination yields the most benefit to wildlife.
Mike McGinty, executive director of the Minnesota Waterfowl Association agrees. A diverse mix of prairie plants provides both important nesting cover and a food source for waterfowl and grassland bird species, McGinty said. We were happy to help with the Big Stone seed cleaning facility. This is an investment which will benefit waterfowl for years to come, especially in the important duck production areas of western Minnesota.
While a mechanical seed cleaning system is very efficient, some prairie seeds, especially small forb species, must still be collected, cleaned, and separated by hand. For example, a group of volunteers at Sherburne NWR near Zimmerman, Minn., worked all summer to manually harvest, clean and separate native forb seeds. The net result? Just 18 pounds of seed. However, since this mix included many expensive forbs such as Needle Grass, Lupine and Prairie Larkspur, the small harvest approached nearly $7,000 in market value.
However, Cole points out the real value of native prairie seed is measured in benefits to wildlife, rather than market value. Thousands of acres of Minnesota prairie will be restored using the seed collected from National Wildlife Refuges and state land in Minnesota. In turn, this prairie will provide important habitat for dozens of grassland bird and mammal species.
Although pleased with the progress of prairie restorations in Minnesota, Cole remains concerned about the continuing loss of existing native prairie throughout the Midwest.
Were never going to be able to recreate native prairie once its been plowed, he said. Real native prairie might contain over a hundred grass and forb species. Well plant a half dozen on our prairie restoration projects and be pleased if they all `takebut our restorations will never be as productive or dynamic as undisturbed native prairie.
A companion project, the Services Northern Tallgrass Prairie Habitat Protection initiative, which Cole also directs, is in place to identify and protect the remaining native prairie throughout Minnesota and Iowa.
Landowners interested in protecting their native prairie can contact Ron Cole at the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge by calling (320) 273-2191.
For more information about native prairie and prairie restorations, visit your nearest National Wildlife Refuge or Wetland Management District office. A National Wildlife Refuge map showing the locations of these offices is available by calling 1-800-344-WILD.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprising more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries and 78 ecological services field stations.
The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://www.fws.gov/r3pao/
