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/683373
62 NEBRASKAland • JUNE 2016 diverse plant communities are also more stable, and less likely to become dominated by a few grass species or by invasive plants over time. A number of conservation organizations across the state have been using seed mixes of between 100 and 200 plant species in restoration projects and have seen consistent success in terms of establishment and longevity of those plantings. Landowners can often find cost-share assistance from agencies such as Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to help pay the additional cost of high-diversity prairie restoration seedings. Within both restored and remnant (unplowed) prairies, it's critically important to maintain the species diversity and health of plant communities. Invasive species such as smooth brome, reed canarygrass, crown vetch, leafy spurge, sericea lespedeza and many others that can form near monocultures in prairie habitats are serious threats to plant diversity. Eastern red cedars and other trees can also destroy prairie habitat if they are left unchecked. However, while controlling these and other invasive species is imperative, it's also necessary to ensure that the cure isn't worse than the disease. Perhaps the greatest losses of prairie plant diversity in Nebraska have come from broadcast spraying of herbicides aimed at killing weeds. It is nearly impossible for prairies to recover from the loss of plant diversity that results from spraying of chemicals that wipe out a large proportion of the plant community. Herbicides are not the enemy, they are just a tool that has to be used judiciously. There are four key ways in which more strategic herbicide application can save plant diversity while still preventing invasives from taking over. The first of those is to be on the alert for invasions and prevent nasty species from gaining a strong foothold in the first place. Every part of Nebraska has its own set of nasty invaders, the names of which can be found at NEinvasives.com. Identifying and killing these invaders when they first appear is the absolute best defense against them. The second strategy is to be selective in both the chemicals used for invasive control and the application methods. Some invaders, including musk thistles and eastern red cedars, can be controlled without chemicals at all. Digging thistles has been a kind of rite of passage for many rural Nebraskans, and continues to be the most effective way to keep populations from reaching the point at which herbicides become necessary. While some herbicides can kill eastern red cedars, cutting big ones off at ground level and using prescribed fire to kill little ones has been shown to be much more cost effective. When herbicides are used, choosing chemicals that target only the species being controlled, or at least a narrow list of plants, helps keep preserve the strength and integrity of the plant community around the sprayed weeds. In addition, spot spraying individual plants or clumps may take a little more time than broadcast spraying big areas, but it is almost always the best choice in the long run. When large areas of grassland are sprayed, it is nearly impossible for the plant community to recover its lost diversity. Third, it's important to be sure that the weeds being controlled are truly invasive. Many species, including ragweeds, hoary vervain, buffalo bur, ironweed and many others are not aggressive, they are opportunistic. These species take advantage of situations in which dominant grasses have been weakened by grazing, drought or other factors. When grasses are allowed to recover their vigor, those opportunistic species give way fairly easily. Spraying those "weeds" tends to lead to more weeds, while letting the grasses recover their strength a j i a w t o n f o i f a f a i c S t c D o a w t n k o f t W c b l Prescribed fire is an important tool for prairie managers trying to maintain ecological resilience. Fire helps promote plant diversity, suppresses invasive species and can be used to manipulate habitat structure.