At LREC, we have been restoring tallgrass prairie since 1989 and have restored approximately 12 acres of tallgrass prairie. The prairie formerly in the Deer Creek watershed was mainly wet-mesic tallgrass prairie, which commonly occurs on flood plains of small streams such as Deer Creek, has poor drainage with surface water present following heavy rains, and is a system maintained by fire. Characteristic plants of our target ecosystem include: Big bluestem, cord grass, switch grass, sawtooth sunflower, prairie blazing star, false dragonhead, foxglove beard-tongue, rattlesnake master, sedges, rushes, Virginia wild rye, Eastern gama grass, sneezeweed, common cinquefoil, dwarf St. John’s wort, and showy bluestar. If you know your plants well, you can find almost all of these characteristic species at LREC now.

How did these species get there? A six acre area and a four acre area were sown with prairie seed in 1990, following a season in which the former crop fields were plowed and planted in a cover crop. In 1999, an additional 1.5 acre area, the Pasture Prairie, was sown with native prairie seed near the educational buildings of LREC. Later, a small strip of prairie was added near the driveway to the education areas. We continue to manage these prairie areas to discourage the growth of trees, shrubs, aggressive native species and non-native plant species and continually add new species using seed and transplants (see Invasive Species and Seeds and Propagation for more details). We currently have approximately 216 plant species in the prairie, of which 179 are native to Missouri. We have recorded 98 species of birds in the prairie and woodland at LREC, 18 species of mammals, 10 species of amphibians, and 23 species of reptiles. We are currently researching the pollinator community of the prairie. (See Research for detailed species lists.)

We are in the process of restoring prairie in a ¼ acre area between the strip of prairie and the Pasture Prairie, the "Between Prairie." We sprayed Roundup^® on the area in November 2004, burned the dead grass in February 2005, and broadcast native prairie seed onto the soil following the burn. We transplanted more plants into the area in May 2005 and mowed the area in summer 2005 to discourage the growth of fast-growing annual weeds and provide more sunlight to tiny prairie seedlings.  We burned the area again in December 2005, and spread more seed not in the original mix. In 2006, we have seen many characteristic prairie plants in the area including Indian grass, big bluestem, Canada wild rye, false aster, tickseed trefoil, willow-leaved aster, and lance-leaved coreopsis.  We will continue to expand this prairie area in 2007 by planting seed in the section east of the prairie between the prairie and the road.