A strong prairie has the power to grow native plants. This power generates food sources and housing for wildlife and pollinators. Restoring this power will not look like a tidy freshly mowed lawn. In time, the native plants will take on a life of their own as the wildflowers find their spot to bloom. Initially, as the native plants are busy developing the network of roots, restorations tend to look a little unkept. Likewise, our neighbors, quite frankly, may not be impressed with the project....at least yet! 

 

After moving to rural Douglas County Kansas, we have been making decisions on how to utilize our land. Initially, we considered raising goats. While evaluating the needs of goats, it was pointed out to us that our property which we considered a great pasture was not really all that great. The cool season grasses simply did not have enough nutritional value. The nonnative grasses were over running the native plants. That was the moment it became clear...we were going to do a prairie restoration project.

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Several opportunities for assistance were available. Some of the programs we looked into included "The Seed Legacy", NRCS programs, and the Kansas Department of Wildlife. We chose to work with the Kansas Department of Wildlife.

After going through a site evaluation, then an ecologist consultation, a prescribed burn was the next step. Trust me, doing a prescribed burn is NOT for the faint of heart. Seeing your property go up in flames is a bit overwhelming as the landowner and the flames absolutely get the neighbor's attention. Fortunately, people that knew what they were doing helped us accomplish this task correctly. We then seeded 11 acres with help from Jordan Olsen from Quailman Enterprises. The largest benefit of having Jordan seed the land was that he shared his extensive knowledge, giving us a great learning opportunity and resource for the future. 

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The question of 'why do this project' has been asked of us several times.  Part of the answer is from a book my mother, Wilda Werner wrote, "From the Prairies Through the Years". From her book I learned a bit of what prairies were like when she was a child.  Her book included stories from her grandpa of the land back in the 1800s. With a little help I want to recapture some of the look and qualities of the land she described. The "magic" of native plants with amazingly long roots that help filter water, giving housing for wildlife, and providing pollinators a place to eat and raise their next generations will be a powerful prairie to be unleashed.