Download Mississippi Prairies and Grasslands - blackland prairies of northeast

Mississippi Prairies
and Grasslands
Timothy J Schauwecker
Coordinator, Landscape Contracting and Management Program
Dept of Landscape Architecture, Mississippi State University
quick facts
• 1.2 million acres in Mississippi
and Alabama (estimated from
Jones and Patton 1966)
• Relict prairies now found as very
small patches (estimated at < 1%
of the historic range) in:
 abandoned pastures
 power line rights-of-way
 National Forests
Chickasaw WMA
Bienville National Forest
• Limestone parent material
distinguishes Southeastern
prairies from Midwestern prairies
• Similar geologic formations
found in Arkansas and Texas
• Threats to prairie habitat include:
 exclusion of fire
 succession to forest
 overgrazing
 row-crop agriculture
what was it like?
Philip Juras
Black Belt Prairie c. 1775
Montgomery County, AL
Oil on Canvas
24" x 32"
October, 2009
concept drawings by Philip Juras
Prairie Concept
Chickasaw WMA, Mississippi
Oil on Paper
10" x 10"
August 28, 2009
Prairie Opening
Chickasaw WMA, Mississippi
Oil on Paper
10" x 10"
August 28, 2009
prairie opening
http://mississippientomologicalmuseum.org.msstate.edu/habitats/black.belt.prairie/BlackBeltPrairie.htm
historic descriptions
From Gray, M.T. 2010
blackland prairie in mississippi
www.mo15.nrcs.usda.gov/.../MLRAs/mlra_135a.html
prairie in the gulf coastal plain
Peacock and Schauwecker 2003
Not a continuous band, a series of “prairie islands”
From Barone and Hill 2007
upland prairie forest/woodland
Hill et al. 2009
blackbelt vs jackson belt
Blackbelt geologic formation is older, soils are
different, especially in the west end of the
Jackson Belt
Some species are more common in each:
e.g. Liatris aspera, Echinacea purpurea in
Jackson Belt
Should we mix species, genetic pools?
disturbance
response to disturbance
From Schauwecker and MacDonald 2003
c4 grasses
Little bluestem – Schizachyrium scoparium
Big bluestem – Andropogon gerardii
Indiangrass – Sorghastrum nutans
Sideoats grama grass – Bouteloua curtipendula
Panic grass – Panicum virgatum
And a Sedge:
Cherokee sedge – Carex cherokeensis
perennials
Sunflowers – multiple species of Silphium
Blazing Stars – multiple species of Liatris
Asters – multiple species of Aster
Prairie clovers – two species of Dalea
Milkweeds – multiple species of Asclepias
Coneflowers – Ratibida and Echinacea
Many, many more
managing disturbance
Choosing how to introduce disturbance into your prairie
depends mostly on SCALE
• Individual plants, small bed:
– Pruning by hand
– To Mulch or Not To Mulch
• Portion of your yard/property
– Mowing
– Burning?
• Fields, field borders, acres
– Burning is cost effective
– Mowing is a good surrogate
– Lack of disturbance will move community to
woodland/forest
timing of disturbance
growing season vs. dormant season
Growing season:
Typically favors perennials, but keep in mind:
Favors anything that is not actively growing
Dormant season:
Typically favors grasses
Good to mix it up
restoration and gardening
Mostly out-of-state sources:
Texas
Missouri
Illinois
Wisconsin
Pennsylvania
Local genotypes and cultivars
are not readily available in
Mississippi
Local sources need to be
developed
Collection from remnant
prairies has drawbacks
resources
Friends of Osborne Prairie
Mississippi Natural Heritage Program
Mississippi Native Plant Society
www.prairiewildlife.com
www.mississippiblacklandprairie.org
CP-33: USDA Conservation Reserve Program
references
Barone, J. A. and Jovonn G. Hill. 2007. Herbaceous flora of blackland prairie remnants in Mississippi and western
Alabama.” Castanea 72 (4): 226-34.
Gray, M.T. 2010. The use of General Land Office records and Geographical Information Systems for restoration of
native prairie patches in the Jackson Prairie region of Mississippi. Master’s Thesis, Department of Landscape
Architecture, Mississippi State University . 170 pages.
Hill, J. G., Stone, W. D. and Seltzer, J. L. 2009. Description of an upland oak-hickory forest in the Black Belt from
Osborn Prairie, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. Journal of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences 54(2)
Peacock, E. and Schauwecker, T. 2003. Introduction: The Nature, Culture, and Sustainability of Blackland Prairies. In
Evan Peacock and Timothy J. Schauwecker (eds.), Blackland Prairies of the Gulf Coastal Plain: Nature, Culture,
and Sustainability, pp. 1-7. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Schauwecker , T. and MacDonald, J. 2003. Blackland prairie plant communities of northeast Mississippi:
Composition, threatened species and assemblage response to disturbance. In Prairies of the Gulf Coastal Plain:
Culture, Nature, and Sustainability, Peacock, E. and Schauwecker, T. eds., pp. 246-253. University of Alabama
Press.