Prairie restoration taking root in Iowa: Conservation groups eye new solutions
Kim NorvellCenturies ago, before Iowa's rich, black soil was converted into some of the world's most productive farmland, the state was mostly covered in tallgrass prairie and flowering plants known as forbs.
With the arrival of white settlers, huge plows pulled by multiple teams of oxen tore through the deep tangle of roots that had been growing since the end of the last Ice Age, 16,000 years before, to expose the soil.
Now, with nearly 90% of Iowa's land under crops, just 0.1% of Iowa's original prairie remains. According to the conservation group the Iowa Prairie Network, the loss of the prairie is "the result of many factors including agriculture conversion, urban sprawl, fire suppression, and ignorance."
The removal of native prairie plants like big bluestem, butterfly milkweed and pale purple coneflower has resulted in a loss of migratory birds and other beneficial pollinators such as monarch butterflies and bees. Those species are vital to crop production, seed spreading and the overall biodiversity of the state, said Graham McGaffin, interim director of lands at The Nature Conservancy in Iowa.
The native plants grow extremely deep roots, with more of their living mass below ground than above, according to the Iowa Prairie Network. This helps control erosion by keeping soil in place. It also helps absorb rainfall, providing better soil and water quality by absorbing and filtering stormwater before it enters rivers and streams, and can help prevent flooding by slowing the flow of water.
According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' Prairie Resource Center website, "When heavy rains fall into a prairie, stems of the native grasses and forbs slow the runoff allowing the water to infiltrate through the soil instead of flowing across the surface, carrying soil and nutrients to our marshes, lakes and streams."
More:Column: Prairies not unlike rain forests
Recognizing the ecological cost of turning Iowa into what has been described as one of the most altered landscapes on the planet, landowners and organizations statewide are working to restore prairie land. Iowa State University has piloted programs to plant prairie strips on crop-producing farmland, and the Iowa DNR Prairie Resource Center provides over 65 species of Iowa-origin prairie grasses and wildflowers for planting by public land managers across the state.
The Nature Conservancy manages prairie in the Loess Hills in western Iowa, a unique landscape created when the glaciers made their final retreat. The region is home to half of the original surviving tallgrass prairie in Iowa and the largest contiguous native prairie in the state. The organization hopes to expand from 7,000 protected acres to 100,000.
In central Iowa, the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge is home to 4,000 acres of replanted and reconstructed tallgrass prairie.
And there's a growing, yet still rare, movement to include conservation land in new housing subdivisions.
Linn County in eastern Iowa is working on Dows Farm, an agrihood that when complete will have dense housing on one-third of its 179 acres, with the remainder preserved riparian forest and a community farm.
A similar model known as Middlebrook Farm is under development in Cumming, though it's focused more on urban agriculture and community gardens than conservation. West Des Moines-based Hubbell Realty Co. has what it calls conservation communities in five Des Moines metro cities, providing acres of restored prairie near newly built homes.
And a Jasper County couple are looking to transform 58 acres of farmland they own into a conservation subdivision, where half of the land is restored prairie.
McGaffin said that while Iowans need housing development, it can be done in a way that sustains both them and a diverse, native ecosystem.
"The evolution of conservation over the last half century I think is making inroads down this path — how can we achieve both?" he said.
Kim Norvell covers growth and development for the Register. Reach her at knorvell@dmreg.com or 515-284-8259. Follow her on Twitter @KimNorvellDMR.