NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/644631
are so dominant they prevent establishment of wildflowers. Also the life cycles of many insects and other wildlife are synchronized with the emergence, flowering and seed production of local plants, and not synchronized with cultivars because these often originate in far off regions." Though local ecotype prairie seed is rather easily obtained for restorations in states east of Nebraska, there are no providers in western Nebraska and only a few in the eastern part of our state. The largest is the Prairie Plains Resource Institute located in Aurora. They annually collect seed for and plant about a thousand acres of restorations. Minnesota's Bowen emphasized that prairie restoration is still in the "horse and buggy stage of development and its practitioners still have much to learn. We need money to advance the science of restoration, but first society must value what we do. As our professionalism increases and the environment continues to degrade, the money will come." Glacial Ridge The second day we visited the sprawling Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge located about 90 miles northeast of Moorhead. The Refuge had its origins in 2000 when TNC purchased a 24,000-acre farm and then began restoring 20,000 acres of its crop fields, gravel quarries and overgrazed sheep and cattle pastures using local ecotype seed of over 200 species. For comparison, Nebraska's largest high-diversity prairie restorations to date, located at Ponca State Park and TNC's Platte River Preserve, are several hundred acres in size. Though TNC transferred the Preserve to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 2004, they continued to lead the $9 million dollar restoration project completed in 2011. The project included restoring over 3,000 acres of wetlands by filling 118 miles of ditches, some 30 feet deep, originally dug to drain the landscape for farming. "I claim it is the largest prairie restoration in the nation [which it is], and no one has argued with me yet," said a smiling Jason Ekstein, a native of Juniata, Nebraska, who headed the endeavor for TNC. "A major challenge was getting our 30 conservation partners [ranging from water conservation districts, nearby towns, and state and federal agencies] to share a common vision," said Ekstein. "Some wanted to restore deep ponds and forego more natural shallow marshes, while others argued against plugging the ditches at all. Several were leery of using local ecotype seed, preferring the cheaper seed of cultivars. In the end it all worked out." A primary benefit, the restoration connects over 5,000 acres of formerly isolated prairie remnants and 17 existing conservation lands. The Preserve now supports healthy populations of prairie chickens and other wildlife species that require large prairie landscapes with diverse habitats. Glacial Ridge is among 12 prairie core areas identified in Minnesota's recent Prairie Conservation Plan, a 25-year strategy to accelerate conservation in the state's western prairie region. By far the Midwest's most ambitious prairie conservation plan, it calls for permanent protection of over 850,000 acres of prairies, wetlands and other habitats through fee title acquisition from willing sellers or conservation easements within the core areas and six-mile wide corridors connecting them. The core areas range in size from 4,500 to 300,000 acres, and must have at least 15 percent of their area remaining in grassland, the majority being native prairie. The plan calls for extensive restoration in both core areas and corridors, the latter allowing for species movement. All conserved lands will remain working lands with active livestock grazing, haying and other economic uses. The Minnesota plan comes with a daunting $3.6 billion price tag, which may not be as overly ambitious as it seems. In 2011, the state's legislature established the progressive Outdoor Heritage Fund that provides over $100 million annually in sales tax revenues "to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests and other habitat for fish, game and wildlife." The Fund is the envy of Midwestern conservationists. Minnesota's prairie restoration and conservation efforts were an eye opener for me – a worthy model for challenging times. ■ Showy milkweed is a native wildflower commonly seeded in prairie restorations. Showy milkweed is a native wildflower commonly seeded in PHOTOS BY GERRY STEINAUER MARCH 2016 • NEBRASKAland 39