A Study of Prairie Reconstructions in the Eastern Dakotas

Abstract

Two studies of reconstruction processes in the Northern Great Plains (NGP) are presented. The first study is a retrospective study on United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) managed lands seeded with a high diversity (>15 species) seed mix. Sites were grouped by available management history to find management tactics which may trend sites towards a more successful state. A large amount of variation was captured. Results showed uncontrollable factors may be driving the outcomes of these reconstructions. Attention should be paid to uncontrolled and landscape factors to drive management of each site. A second study investigates a possible method to establish specialized seed mixes. Precision Prairie Restoration (PPR) was used to establish five repetitions of six treatments. Early results are optimistic with several target species becoming established. Future sampling will be needed to determine success of this method.