8.0 PRSR 03-09-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Rather than break the property up into separate restoration sections,the entirety will be restored at once. However, restoration will still be a multi-year endeavor and will include at least three years of maintenance before the prairie and grassland can successfully establish. Conducting the restoration process all at once will help ensure that costs are kept to a minimum. Mowed paths will serve as fire breaks so that portions of the units can be burned on a rotating schedule. It will be important to rotate burns in order to provide refugia for insects and other wildlife. Overall, restoration can also extend into the adjacent subunits, depending on the amount of woody removal along the field edges. Site preparation Because the hayfield and grassland are dominated by non-native, cool-season grasses,restoration is more difficult than if the area was in agricultural production. Apart from the current cover of smooth brome and other plants,the seedbank is likely full of a number of weedy species.The first step in site preparation will be to broadcast an herbicide to areas with dense brome cover. Once top-killed,the unit should be burned to remove dead vegetation. It can then be lightly disced or harrowed to help flush the weed seedbank. However,completely turning over the soil is not recommended. Herbicide should then be applied at least one more time, likely twice to kill the regrowth. The fields can then be drill seeded with their respective mixed height mesic species mixes (prairie and savanna); these mixes will contain an abundance of pollinator species,including milkweeds and other nectar plants. See Appendix B for a list of plant species for restoration of prairie and savanna. Small forb seeds should be hand-broadcast rather than drilled to avoid burying them too deeply. Seeding in the fall or winter, referred to as dormant seeding,benefits forb species, as many require cold,wet stratification prior to germination.The seed will get worked into the soil by the freeze-thaw cycles of winter and will germinate in the spring.The melting snow will provide the necessary moisture to fuel the seed's germination. However, because the soils have medium erosion potential, a cover crop should be considered for inclusion in the fall seeding to help prevent erosion.Winter wheat is commonly used for this purpose. Maintenance:Mowing and burning In the summer following the seeding,the prairie and savanna will need to be mowed roughly three times.These establishment mows help to stimulate vegetative growth and to keep weed species from flowering and dispersing seed throughout the site. This also allows light to reach the new seedlings,which are mostly very small the first year. Mowing should occur when the vegetation reaches roughly 12 in,though it is difficult and unnecessary to be exact in this measurement. Because mowing is used to prevent annual weeds from seeding into the restoration,mowing should be timed to prevent weeds from setting seed,with height often being a proxy for these Friends of the Mississippi River Bailey Point Nature Preserve NRMP 56