Fall & Winter 2012: Volume 33, Numbers 3 & 4 - Missouri Prairie ...

Fall/winter
2012
Volume 33
Numbers 3 & 4
Missouri Prairie Journal
The Missouri Prairie Foundation
Protecting Native Grasslands
MPF Prairie
Protection
and Outreach
Prairie-chicken
Translocation
30 Years for
Prairie State Park

Message from the President
To make a
prairie it takes
a clover and
one bee,
One clover,
and a bee,
And revery.
The revery
alone will do,
If bees are few.
Emily Dickinson, 1896
Don Kurz
People are fond of saying that life is becoming
more and more complex. Perhaps.
But in a fundamental sense life is getting
simpler. And that is not a good thing. Biological
systems are shedding complexity (diversity) at
an alarming rate. As individuals it is perplexing
to know what to do. I am encouraged when I
encounter a book like Doug Tallamy’s, Bringing
Nature Home, and was delighted to be among
the 300 people who came to hear him speak in
Jefferson City on August 30. His book is being
recommended to you by many. I simply want to
join the chorus.
As MPF members, you are slowing the loss
of biological diversity through your support of
MPF’s prairie protection efforts. MPF’s remnant
prairies—and our prairie reconstructions—harbor
incredible species richness. At home, you can also
do much to help a diversity of native life forms
by landscaping with natives. Native plants are
palatable to native insects (which are largely specialists),
and native insects create food for native
birds and small mammals. One trophic level
underpins the next. Give it a try. Grow Native!
This is my last letter to you as president of
MPF. This organization will select a new slate of
officers at the annual meeting on October 13. I
would like to take this opportunity to thank each
board member, Carol, Richard, and you for your
involvement in the important task of protecting
prairies in Missouri. For me it is a privilege to be
part of the effort. I’ll see you on the prairie.
Stan Parrish, President
Stan may have finished his term as president, but you’ll
still find him hard at work on MPF prairies.
Brian Edmond
The mission of the Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF)
is to protect and restore prairie and other
native grassland communities through
acquisition, management, education, and research.
Board roster as of September 21, 2012.
Officers
President Stanley M. Parrish, Walnut Grove, MO
Vice President Doris Sherrick, Peculiar, MO
Secretary Bruce Schuette, Troy, MO
Treasurer Laura Church, Kansas City, MO
Directors
Glenn Chambers, Columbia, MO
Page Hereford, St. Louis, MO
Wayne Morton, M.D., Osceola, MO
Steve Mowry, Trimble, MO
Rudi Roeslein, St. Louis, MO
Jan Sassmann, Bland, MO
Mike Skinner, Republic, MO
Bonnie Teel, Rich Hill, MO
Jon Wingo, Florrisant, MO
Van Wiskur, Pleasant Hill, MO
Vacancy
Vacancy
Presidential Appointees
Dale Blevins, Independence, MO
Margo Farnsworth, Smithville, MO
Galen Hasler, M.D., Madison, WI
Scott Lenharth, Nevada, MO
Emeritus
Bill Crawford, Columbia, MO
Bill Davit, Washington, MO
Clair Kucera, Columbia, MO
Lowell Pugh, Golden City, MO
Owen Sexton, St. Louis, MO
Technical Advisors
Max Alleger, Clinton, MO
Jeff Cantrell, Neosho, MO
Steve Clubine, Windsor, MO
Dennis Figg, Jefferson City, MO
Mike Leahy, Jefferson City, MO
Rick Thom, Jefferson City, MO
James Trager, Pacific, MO
Staff
Richard Datema, Prairie Operations Manager, Springfield, MO
Carol Davit, Executive Director and Missouri Prairie Journal Editor,
Jefferson City, MO
2 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

Contents
Fall/Winter
2012 Volume 33, Numbers 3 & 4
Editor: Carol Davit,
1311 Moreland Ave.
Jefferson City, MO 65101
phone: 573-356-7828
info@moprairie.com
Designer: Tracy Ritter
Technical Review: Mike Leahy,
Bruce Schuette
Proofing: Doris and Bob Sherrick,
Bill and Joyce Davit
The Missouri Prairie Journal
is mailed to Missouri Prairie
Foundation members as a benefit
of membership. Please contact the
editor if you have questions about
or ideas for content.
12
4
Regular membership dues to
MPF are $35 a year. To become a
member, to renew, or to give a
free gift membership when you
renew, send a check to
18
22
2 Message from the President
4 MPF Protection, Education, and Outreach Update
By Carol Davit
12 Five Years of Greater Prairie-Chicken Translocation
By Max Alleger
16 A Big Thank You to Smoky Hills Landowners
By Steve Clubine
18 30th Anniversary for Prairie State Park
By Brian Miller
22 Grow Native!
Achieving Balance with Native Landscaping
By Cindy Gilberg
24 Jeff Cantrell’s Education on the Prairie
25 Steve Clubine’s Native Warm-Season Grass News
29 Prairie Postings
Back cover Calendar of Events
membership address:
Missouri Prairie Foundation
c/o Martinsburg Bank
P.O. Box 856
Mexico, MO 65265-0856
or become a member on-line at
www.moprairie.org
General e-mail address
info@moprairie.com
Toll-free number
1-888-843-6739
www.moprairie.org
Questions about your membership
or donation? Contact Jane
Schaefer, who administers
MPF’s membership database at
janeschaefer@earthlink.net.
On the cover:
Noppadol Paothong
took the photo of this
booming male greater
prairie-chicken on
MPF’s Golden Prairie
a decade ago. The Mo.
Dept. of Conservation’s
translocation effort aims
to increase populations
of this grassland bird
(see page 12). Join fellow
prairie enthusiasts on
Oct. 27 to learn about
the making of Save the
Last Dance, Noppadol’s
and Joel Vance’s new
book on grassland
grouse (see back cover).
#8426
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 3

update
MPF p r a i r i e protection, education, and outreach
From left, MPF President
Stan Parrish stands
with Carol Davit, executive
director of MPF,
and Tim Ripperger,
assistant director of the
Missouri Department
of Conservation, at the
Grow Native! ceremony
“transplanting” the
ten-year old native
landscaping marketing
and education program
from the Department of
Conservation to MPF. The
ceremony was held after
the lecture by Bringing
Nature Home author
Dr. Douglas Tallamy,
organized by Lincoln
University’s Native Plant
Program in Jefferson
City. MPF was one of the
sponsors of the event.
Read more on page 8.
Robert Weaver
Taking a Stand for Prairie and Native Plants
The Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF) protects some of the most biologically diverse
and beautiful prairies in the state. We do this through ongoing management, and we
also take on major prairie restoration and reconstruction projects—such as our current
work at our Welsch Tract. We also encourage others to plant prairie species and assist
them with outreach activities like our recent Prairie Planting from Seed Workshop.
As the new home of the Grow Native! native landscaping marketing and education
program, MPF is expanding its conservation reach to home gardeners, landscape
professionals, and many others who want to make yards, corporate campuses, farms,
land owned by local governments, and school grounds more biologically diverse.
MPF is a leader in taking a stand for prairie. We advocate for robust conservation
programs in the Farm Bill and for secure funding for the federal State and Tribal Wildlife Grant
program. MPF works with partners including the Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative, Missouri
Department of Conservation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on initiatives ranging from
native plants as a biofuel source to landscape-scale conservation planning—we all work together
to broadcast the very important conservation message. By ensuring that the “prairie and
native plant voice” has a seat at the table, MPF contributes to statewide, regional, and national
conservation-friendly policies.
Through other outreach and educational activities—such as our third annual Prairie BioBlitz
held last June—MPF provides adults and children with in-depth nature exploration and one-onone
learning with specialists of many prairie species. I think everyone with MPF is moved and
inspired by the passion and hard work of MPF members and other supporters who volunteer
during cold winter prairie workdays and by those who donate their time, money, energy, and
talents to organize events like last June’s Prairie Paint Out (see page 6).
MPF has accomplished much this year. In addition to our prairie protection work and outreach
activities, the organization is continually improving its structure and governance. The Land
Trust Alliance Organizational Assessment we undertook this year is prioritizing tasks for board
members and staff to continue to move forward. As always, MPF remains lean—we have no office,
no debt, only two staff members who work out of their homes or in the field, the board adopts
only balanced budgets, and we conduct an independent annual audit. Your contributions to
MPF are carefully managed to maximize your investment in conservation. Thank you for your
continued support! MPF and its work to protect prairies could not exist without you.
—Carol Davit, executive director
bob ball
MPF at Butterfly Festival in Springfield
The Fourth Annual Friends of the Garden Butterfly Festival was held at
Springfield’s Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park on July 21. MPF was
there, along with 2,000 total visitors! Several people visiting the MPF booth
expressed interest in learning how to establish native plantings on their property.
One attendee came specifically to see the progress on the Kickapoo Edge
Prairie Garden within the park, the restoration of which is overseen by several
MPF members. Thanks go to MPF members and volunteers Ric and Jean Mayer
who organized everyone and set up the booth, Stan and Susan Parrish who took
it down, and Jeff Cantrell, Will Hardiman, and Jim Maggard who helped in
between.
Many thanks also to Stan and Susan Parrish who spent May 19 at an event
for children in the park called Young Sprouts In The Garden. Stan and Susan
demonstrated the power of prairie roots! Many thanks to Jeff Cantrell, Pat
Mann, and Jean Mayer for creative support and Merv Wallace who donated the
real roots from compass plant and little bluestem.
4 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

MPF’s Third Annual Prairie BioBlitz
Sara Scheill
Fisheries Biologist Tom Priesendorf and the aquatic group examine
fish from a stream on the prairie; below left, biologist Emily Imhoff
shows off a grassland crayfish; below right, insect enthusiasts
examine a beetle found by Dr. James Trager.
Carol Davit
Mervin Wallace Carol Davit
MPF’s Third Annual Prairie
BioBlitz was held June 9 and
10 at beautiful Schwartz
Prairie. More than 100 participants
explored the prairie,
documented plants and animals,
enjoyed a huge, fantastic potluck
dinner with jambalaya cooked
on-site, were treated to evening
astronomical interpretation
by members of the Kansas
City Astronomical Society, and
camped on the prairie. The plant
and animal species tally included
11 ants; 23 butterflies and
moths; five native bees; 40 other
insects, ranging from beetles to
crickets to true bugs and more;
16 amphibians and reptiles; 34
birds; six fish, including several
headwater stream species; 33
mosses, liverworts, and hornworts,
and 21 additional native
vascular plant species, bringing
the known total to date to 361
native vascular plants. Many
thanks to all the BioBlitz leaders
for their time and expertise!
Clockwise from top, dickcissel nest found by the bird group; Jessie gets a visit
from a hairstreak butterfly; Nels Holmberg, far right, and members of the
bryophyte group examine mosses; children and adults enjoying the prairie;
lepidopterans search for butterflies; night owls observe and document noctural
insects at a black light; and Dana Ripper and Ethan Duke of the Mo. River
Bird Observatory set up a mist nest with helpers.
Sara Scheill
Carol Davit
Brian Edmond
Brian Edmond
Save the Dates! MPF’s Fourth Annual Prairie BioBlitz will be held June 1 and 2, 2013
at Denison and Lattner Prairies in Barton and Vernon Counties.
Brian Edmond
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 5
Brian Edmond

MPF p r a i r i e protection, education, and outreach
Ready to cut the ribbon on
the farm’s new prairie garden
are, above from left, Deborah
Casolari, Chair, Board of
Trustees, Jones-Seelinger-
Johannes Family Foundation
(Poplar Heights Farm), Brian
Phillips, the farm’s executive
director, MPF Board Member
Dale Blevins, and MPF’s Vice
President Doris Sherrick.
Above right, MPF board
member Dale Blevins next to
the prairie garden. “It was
a beautiful day for tasting
heirloom veggies, sauces,
melons, and drinks” said Dale.
“After the tasting event, we
were given an ATV tour of the
farm and the site of future
prairie gardens.”
6 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4
Poplar Heights Farm
Poplar Heights Farm
Prairie Garden Ribbon Cutting
On September 8, Poplar Heights Farm in Bates County held a
ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the farm’s prairie and
other gardens during its Heirloom Tomato Festival. The farm
was the recipient of MPF’s first Prairie Gardens Grant in 2012.
Poplar Heights Farm is an 1890s-era living history farm of
640 acres. Part is farmed, with heirloom vegetables in visitorfriendly
gardens. The farm also has an unplowed prairie remnant
of about 20 acres and uses prescribed fire to help maintain it.
The farm wanted to create prairie gardens to highlight the prairie
heritage of the area. “I was impressed by the prairie garden and
the signage,” said Dale. “The folks who run Poplar Heights Farm
are very enthused about their living history farm and the prairie
gardens.”
Congratulations, Poplar Heights Farm! MPF’s Prairie
Gardens Small Grants program is made possible by a permanent
fund established in 2011 thanks to generous contributions from
MPF supporters. See page 31 for details on the 2013 grant.
Prairie Planting with
Seed Workshop
Sixty members and other prairie
enthusiasts registered for MPF’s Prairie
Planting from Seed Workshop, held
September 8 at Prairie Star Restoration
Farm. MPF board member Jon Wingo,
president of DJM Ecological Services,
and MPF member Frank Oberle,
of Pure Air Native Seed, donated
their time to give the workshop
presentations, covering many aspects of
establishing prairie plantings from seed, from eradication of tall fescue and other undesirable
vegetation to seeding methods and on-going maintenance.
MPF board member Jan Sassmann and her husband Bruce hosted the event at their
restored 1926 barn and property featuring prairie plantings and restored woodlands. Jan
even prepared lunch—including homemade soups—for the crowd. Bruce and Jan provided
tours of their property following the morning presentations and lunch. Seth Barrioz, private
land conservationist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, also provided cost-share
information and management advice. Thank you Jan, Bruce, Jon, Frank, and Seth!
Frank Oberle
Marla Blevins
Prairie Paint Out at
Bethany Springs
Farm Nearly 400 prairie
and art lovers enjoyed a
delightful weekend of art,
botany walks, and marionette
shows, with artists donating
30 percent of sale proceeds to
benefit MPF’s prairie conservation
work.
MPF would not be where it is
today without the generosity of
its members and their passion
for prairie—and the first “Prairie
Paint Out,” organized by MPF
members Theresa and Joe Long
and Jan Trager, is a shining
example of this spirit. The event
raised nearly $2,000 for MPF,
introduced many people to the
organization for the first time,
and educated event-goers about
the ecological importance of tallgrass
prairie.
“A ‘paint out’ is an art event
with artists painting throughout
the day and also selling works
of art,” explained Theresa, who
along with her husband Joe
hosted the event at their Bethany
Springs Farm near Hermann,
Mo. The farm’s 1874 stone house
is centered on 165 acres where
the couple and their son, botanist
Dr. Quinn Long, have been
encouraging native flora since
1995 by tending and reconstructing
woodland, prairie, and stream
habitats. The natural diversity
and beauty of the farm inspires
Theresa’s nature-themed art.
Theresa’s passion for and
commitment to conservation
of the natural world led her,
together with artist Jan Trager, to
organize Bethany Springs Farm’s

Carol Davit
Carol Davit
carol davit
Carol davit
first “Prairie Paint-Out” event, with ten exceptional artists exhibiting and selling paintings and
other works of art, and donating 30% of sale proceeds to MPF.
Theresa, who has been teaching art for 27 years, said, “I enjoy creating art, and am dedicated
to preservation of the natural world. Art with a purpose—specifically the purpose of benefiting
conservation efforts inspires me to contribute to MPF through my work. Knowing that
other artists feel the same, Jan and I worked to organize this event with the hopes that it would
promote greater awareness of the work of MPF while offering visitors a chance to experience
the prairie, enjoy botany walks, and learn about artists’ commitment to the work of MPF.”
Artists showing and selling their art at the Prairie Paint Out were Marty Coulter, Billyo
O’Donnell, Theresa Long, Jan Trager, Julie Wiegand, Martha Younkin, Karen Kelly, Pat
Sheppard, Christine Torlina, and Annie Green. Margie Manne sold her local honey in handblown
glass vases and Gail Young sold her locally grown produce and flowers.
“Many people who came to see the art also took guided hikes through the reconstructed
prairie at the farm,” said Jan, “and some who came for the prairie hikes stayed to shop for art.
I was thrilled to sell several of my paintings and make a donation to MPF.” Jan’s husband Dr.
James Trager, an MPF technical advisor and biologist at Shaw Nature Reserve, led hike after
hike through prairie and woodland, together with Dr. Quinn Long of the Missouri Botanical
Garden. “It was wonderful to see so many people interested in prairie, and who wanted to
establish a prairie planting of their own,” said James.
In addition to the botany walks and art, MPF members Gary Schimmelpfenig and
Christine Torlina led Earth Walks for families at the event, and Gary performed a charming
show with marionettes he and Christine created. The Hidden Garden, written by the couple,
told the story of John Feugh, an African-American gardener who worked for Henry Shaw at
the Missouri Botanical Garden, which was established on former prairie. Also starring were
George Washington Carver, prairie plants, and an elderbery bush. “What a joy to be part of
such a meaningful event to benefit the prairie,” said Gary. “It was fulfilling to let my marionettes
tell their story at such a wonderful venue.”
Save the Dates! Don’t miss the Second Annual Prairie Paint Out
at Bethany Springs Farm June 22 and 23, 2013.
carol davit
Clockwise from top left: Theresa Long,
left, with her paintings on the porch of the
farm’s 1874 stone house; one of the many
guided tours of the farm’s prairie planting;
Jan Trager, who organized the event with
Theresa, with her paintings; handmade
marionettes in the show created by Gary
Schimmelphenig and Christine Torlina;
guests relaxing at the farm in front of
Christine Torlina’s handpainted tote bags;
and Dr. James Trager and Dr. Quinn Long,
who led hike after hike through the prairie
planting. Below, Martha Yonkin with her
baskets made from bark, leaves, and plant
fibers. “Exploring creative new ways to
help the environment is both important
and rewarding,” said Christine.
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 7
Carol davit Theresa Long

MPF p r a i r i e protection, education, and outreach
Dr. Tallamy’s lecture was followed by a
book signing, tour of Lincoln University’s
Native Plant Outdoor Laboratory and
reception with an impressive variety of
appetizers made with native plant ingredients,
including honey and mountain
mint ice cream, persimmon cookies, and
stinging nettle cornbread. Pictured above
are from left, Mervin Wallace, owner of
Missouri Wildflowers Nursery, and Carol
Davit with MPF, two sponsors of the event,
with Dr. Nadia Navarette-Tindall, director
of Lincoln’s Native Plant Program, and
Dr. Douglas Tallamy. Top, native plant
enthusiasts admire Lincoln’s Native Plant
Outdoor Laboratory as they line up to
have their books signed by the author.
Congratulations, Dr. Navarette-Tindall and
Lincoln University!
8 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4
An enthusiastic audience of 300
attended Lincoln University’s
event with Dr. Douglas Tallamy,
author of Bringing Nature Home—
How You Can Sustain Wildlife in
your Backyard, on August 30 in
Jefferson City. MPF was a sponsor
of the event organized by
Lincoln’s Native Plants Program
in the Cooperative Extension
Department.
Dr. Tallamy, professor
and chair of the Department of
Entomology and Wildlife Ecology
at the University of Delaware,
studies plant and insect interactions
and how these interactions
determine the diversity of animal
communities. Dr. Tallamy’s factfilled
and entertaining presentation
elucidated the crucial role we have
in choosing native plants, which
are food for native insects, and which are in turn vital food for birds and
other wildlife, for landscaping projects.
Following the lecture, MPF President Stan Parrish, Missouri
Department of Conservation Assistant Director Tim Ripperger, and MPF
Executive Director Carol Davit announced the transfer of the Grow Native!
native landscaping marketing and education program from the Department
of Conservation to MPF, complete with a native plant transplanting ceremony
to symbolically give the program a new home.
Grow Native! committee members and Grow Native! professional
members were recognized during the announcement, and Lincoln hosted a
Grow Native! committee meeting following the program. The Grow Native!
committee, made up of native landscaping professionals and MPF board
members, is hard at work to carry out the program. Learn more at www.
grownative.org.
Corey Hale
Bringing Nature Home
Event a Great Success!
Randy Tindall
Prairie Protection
Highlights of June–August
Prairie Management Work
MPF’s Prairie Operations Manager Richard
Datema controlled sericea lespedeza, tall fescue,
and Johnson grass this past summer, searching
for these invasive, non-native plants on more
than 1,600 acres of prairie. This acreage included
MPF’s Friendly, Drovers, Gayfeather, Schwartz,
Golden, Denison, and Lattner Prairies, as well
as land owned by several partners: the Missouri
Department of Conservation’s Grandfather
Prairie and Saeger Woods Conservation Area,
Powell Gardens, Jerry Smith Park owned by
Kansas City Parks and Recreation, and two private
prairie landowners. Richard also controlled
woody growth on Grandfather Prairie and along a
mile of fence line at MPF’s Stilwell Prairie.
From January through August 2012, Richard
controlled invading trees from a total of 9,580
feet along fence lines and drainage draws on MPF
prairies and private land neighboring MPF’s
Golden Prairie. Also in 2012, Richard prepared
fire lines and he and volunteers applied prescribed
fire at MPF’s Coyne, Denison, Lattner,
Pennsylvania, and Golden Prairies, as well as at
the Ozark Regional Land Trust’s Woods Prairie
and two tracts owned by private individuals.
At Stilwell Prairie, Richard oversaw the
clearing of approximately 25 acres of trees by a
private contractor, making way for more prairiedependent
plants and animals. Richard also cut
the large elm tree from Friendly Prairie, which
recently died, eliminating this ground-nesting
bird predator perch.
Besides his on-the-ground work, Richard
does much work that no one sees: he removes
internal fencing from various tracts and has the
wire recycled, maintains equipment, mixes herbi-
Richard Datema
Blue dye
marks
sericea
lespedeza
that has
been
sprayed.

Brian Edmond
ATCHISON
HOLT
NODAWAY
ANDREW
BUCHANAN
PLATTE
BARTON
WORTH
GENTRY
DEKALB
CASS
BATES
NEWTON
VERNON
JASPER
MCDONALD
HARRISON
DAVIESS
CALDWELL LIVINGSTON
CLINTON
RALLS
CHARITON
MONROE
CARROLL
RANDOLPH
PIKE
RAY
CLAY
AUDRAIN
HOWARD BOONE
SALINE
JACKSON LAFAYETTE LINCOLN
CALLAWAY MONT
GOMERY
HENRY
CEDAR
DADE
LAWRENCE
BARRY
MAP DATA PROVIDED BY CHRIS WIEBERG, MDC.
JOHNSON
ST CLAIR
MERCER
GRUNDY
POLK
STONE
PETTIS
BENTON
HICKORY
GREENE
PUTNAM
SULLIVAN
LINN
DALLAS
CHRISTIAN
TANEY
COOPER
MORGAN
CAMDEN
WEBSTER
MACON
SCHUYLER
SCOTLAND
ADAIR
MONITEAU
LACLEDE
MILLER
WRIGHT
DOUGLAS
OZARK
COLE
PULASKI
HOWELL
SHANNON
OREGON
These prairies by MPF and later sold to
the Missouri Department of Conservation
Presettlement Prairie. Of these original 15 million acres, fewer than 90,000 acres remain.
KNOX
SHELBY
MARIES
TEXAS
CLARK
OSAGE
LEWIS
MARION
GASCONADE
Throughout its 46 years,
MPF has acquired more
than 3,300 acres of prairie
for permanent protection.
With the conveyance of more
than 700 of these acres to
the Missouri Department of
Conservation, MPF currently
ST CHARLES
WARREN owns more than 2,600 acres in
15 tracts of land, clears trees
ST LOUIS
FRANKLIN
on properties neighboring
JEFFERSON
MPF land to expand grassland
habitat, and provides
CRAWFORD WASHINGTON
PHELPS
STE GENEVIEVE
management services for
ST FRANCOIS
PERRY
IRON
thousands of additional
DENT
MADISON
CAPE
acres REYNOLDS owned by other GIRARDEAUprairie
partners.
CARTER
RIPLEY
WAYNE
BUTLER
BOLLINGER
DUNKLIN
STODDARD
NEW
MADRID
PEMISCOT
SCOTT
MISSISSIPPI
Ecologists rank temperate grasslands—which include Missouri’s tallgrass prairies—as
the least conserved, most threatened major habitat type on earth. Prairie protection
efforts in Missouri, therefore, are not only essential to preserving our state’s natural
heritage, but also are significant to national and even global conservation work.
MPF is the only organization in the state dedicated exclusively to the conservation of
prairie and other native grasslands.
MPF’s Friendly Prairie
cide to the proper concentration, documents
his work, and many other important tasks.
Funding for our prairie protection work
in 2012 was provided by you, our valued
members, grants from the Audubon Society
of Missouri, the National Wild Turkey
Federation, the Missouri Bird Conservation
Initiative grant program, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service Partners for Wildlife
Program, the Wildlife Diversity Fund grant
program, and cost-share funds from the
Missouri Department of Conservation.
Bruce Schuette
Illustration of lark sparrow by Kristen Williams, published in Birds in Missouri
by Brad Jacobs, 2001 Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri
Lark sparrows are uncommon
summer residents in Missouri,
where they can be seen foraging
on the ground for insects and
seeds in open farmland, prairies,
roadsides and woodland edges.
MPF Technical Advisor documented
two breeding pairs of the birds at
MPF’s Stilwell Prairie in June, as
well as two fledglings.
MPF Bird Survey
Reveals Lark Sparrows
and More!
Last June, MPF Technical Advisor Jeff
Cantrell conducted bird surveys on
nine MPF prairies, private land next to
MPF’s Golden Prairie, and Prairie State
Park. The survey, part of MPF’s Fiscal
Year 2012 Missouri Bird Conservation
Initiative grant obligation, provided helpful
data on the presence and abundance
of grassland bird species.
Jeff documented 45 total bird species,
including lark sparrows, northern
bobwhites, and grasshopper sparrows. Jeff
will conduct similar surveys on the same
prairies this winter to document bird
presence and abundance. Many thanks
to Jeff, who took vacation time from his
work to conduct the surveys.
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 9

MPF p r a i r i e protection, education, and outreach
New
Species of
Conservation
Concern
Found on
MPF Prairies
10 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4
The Arkansas darter is among the recently documented
species of conservation concern found on MPF prairies.
MPF properties had been known to provide habitat for at least 12 species of
conservation concern, including the state-listed regal fritillary butterfly and
northern crawfish frog, and the federally threatened Mead’s milkweed and
the tiny wildflower Geocarpon minimum, known from only 50 locations on
the planet. Recently, biologists have documented additional species of conservation
concern on MPF prairies.
During the 2010 BioBlitz held at Penn-Sylvania Prairie, Justin Thomas,
with the Institute for Botanical Training, documented Juncus debilis, a statelisted
rush, growing on the prairie. Its official rank is “critically imperiled” in
the state. During the Golden Prairie BioBlitz held last year, fisheries biologists
Tom Preisendorf and Kara Tvedt found Arkansas darters (Etheostoma
cragini), ranked “vulnerable” in Missouri and a candidate for federal listing.
During the BioBlitz held this past June at Schwartz Prairie, John Atwood
and Nels Holmberg found a moss, Pohlia annotina, state-listed as “SU,”
meaning so little is known about the species that it can not be ranked. Also
at Schwartz, Justin Thomas documented Eleocharis lanceolata, a state-listed
spike rush.
MPF’s careful management and aggressive control of invasive species
maintains vital habitat for these species of conservation concern and thousands
of other plants and invertebrate and vertebrate animals that depend on
high quality prairie.
New Signage at MPF’s
La Petite Gemme Prairie
At 37 acres, La Petite Gemme is truly a
small gem of a prairie. The Frisco Highline
Trail—a national recreation trail—runs
through this designated Missouri Natural
Area in Polk County. New signs developed
by Ozark Greenways, with content input and partial funding provided by
MPF, help interpret the prairie landscape to trail users. The 35-mile trail
connects Springfield and Bolivar. For more information visit www.friscohighlinetrail.org.
Susan Parrish
Gary House
Private Land Conservation
Focus of 2012 MOBCI
Conference
To date, 62 organizations—including MPF
and other private conservation groups and public
land management agencies—have signed a
Memorandum of Agreement to participate in the
Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative. The purpose
of the group, also known as MOBCI, is to
combine efforts to conserve bird populations and
their habitats.
MOBCI held its annual conference August
17 and 18, the theme being “This Land is Your
Land; This Land is my Land: The importance of
Private Land Management and the Development
of a Strong Land Ethic.” Among the many talks
was a presentation by MPF’s Carol Davit on
MPF’s prairie conservation.
Lisa Potter, who coordinates Farm Bill
information for the Missouri Department of
Conservation, gave a presentation on the status
of the 2012 Farm Bill, and the conservation measures
at stake in this legislation that will affect the
future of conservation. Lisa explained that the
2008 Farm Bill expires September 30, 2012, and
authorized $23 billion for conservation programs
nationwide over five years. The Farm Bill is the
single largest source of conservation funding
available to assist private landowners in restoring,
protecting, and enhancing soil quality, water
quality, and wildlife habitat.
Lisa also explained that the 2012 Farm Bill
may not be passed until after the November
election. The draft of the new bill cuts $23 to
$35 billion in total spending, with a $6 billion
cut (10%) in conservation programs. Other
proposed changes include a nationwide reduction
of the total acreage allowed in the Conservation
Reserve Program from 32 million acres to 25
million acres; consolidation of the EQIP and
WHIP programs, with recreational landowners
becoming potentially ineligible to enroll; and
the requirement of a third party easement holder
that provides a 50:50 funding match with
USDA grassland (GRP) and farmland (FRPP)
easements.
As of September 24, the fate of the 2012
Farm Bill and its conservation programs is uncertain.
By contacting your elected officials, you can
let them know how important robust conservation
programs in the next Farm Bill are to you.

2012
Campaign for Prairies
Please keep the natural wealth of our prairies in mind when you
consider your end-of-year charitable giving. With no office and only
two staff members, the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s (MPF’s) overhead is low, and directs all
contributions to fulfilling our on-the-ground conservation, education, and outreach work.
MPF’s 2012 fundraising goal to cover all expenses is $250,000. With your help, we have
accomplished an impressive amount of work this year—including on-going prairie
protection, advocacy for native grassland-friendly conservation policies, and expansion
of native plant promotion through the Grow Native! program.
We hope you can support our conservation
work with a tax-deductible donation.
Please mail your gift to
Missouri Prairie Foundation
c/o Martinsburg Bank
P.O. Box 856
Mexico, MO 65265-0856
To make a gift of securities, please contact
MPF at 888-843-6739.
Thank you for your continued support
of Missouri’s prairies. We can’t do our
work without you.
Allen Woodliffe
“I am so impressed by what the
Missouri Prairie Foundation
accomplishes with such a small
budget and so little staff. You
should get some kind of efficiency
award—you are raising the bar
for charity efficiency. Keep up the
good work.”
—Francine Cantor, MPF member, St. Louis, MO
“I’ve enjoyed reading several recent
issues of the Missouri Prairie
Journal more than any other
magazine in recent memory. And
I subscribe to The Economist,
Bird Watchers Digest, National
Geographic, Environmental
History and a half dozen others
that are pretty good reading. Not
only is the content interesting and
readable, but the design is also
excellent.”
—Dr. Rupert Cutler, MPF member, Roanoke, VA.
(former editor of Virginia Wildlife, managing editor of
National Wildlife, president of Defenders of Wildlife,
and assistant secretary of agriculture in charge of the
USDA Forest Service in the Carter Administration)
Noppadol Paothong/MDC
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 11

Five Years of Greater
Prairie-Chicken Translocation
This year caps the end of the Missouri Department of Conservation’s greater prairie-chicken
translocation project, an effort to increase populations of these magnificent grassland birds in Missouri.
By Max Alleger
One of the walk-in trap arrays used for greater
prairie-chicken trapping in Kansas. The
translocation team constructed the traps on
leks; as the birds walked onto or across the
booming ground, they encountered the lead
wire, which led them into the trap boxes.
Being trapped didn’t deter males from
booming, which sometimes attracted hens to
the tops of the trap boxes.
NOPPADOL PAOTHONG/MDC
NOPPADOL PAOTHONG/MDC
Over the past five years, the Missouri Department of
Conservation (MDC) has conducted an experimental
greater prairie-chicken translocation project to determine if
reintroduction is an effective part of ongoing recovery efforts.
Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie, a 3,030-acre tract jointly owned by The Nature Conservancy
of Missouri and MDC, was selected as the release site due to the tract’s extent of well
managed native prairie and other grasslands, its proximity to native greater prairiechickens
at Taberville Prairie, the expertise of local managers, and a history of interest
in prairie and grassland conservation among local landowners.
Greater prairie-chickens disappeared from Wah’Kon-Tah by 2000. This was prior
to the implementation of intensive grassland management efforts, thus providing an
opportunity in 2008 to reintroduce the birds to an uninhabited landscape and monitor
their habitat use preferences and determine their site fidelity, survival, and productivity
under modern Missouri conditions.
How to Catch a Prairie-Chicken
A team of MDC biologists and supervised volunteers conducted trapping in a
580-square-mile area of Kansas’ Smoky Hills Region from 2008 to 2012. The team
trapped greater prairie-chickens from 46 of 86 known booming grounds, also called
leks, which were closely monitored throughout the project. Most leks were located on
privately owned land, which required close coordination with more than 60 Kansas
ranchers and farmers.
For the first three years of the project, biologists conducted translocation in a
two-stage process. During spring, the translocation team captured greater prairiechickens
on leks using walk-in traps, which were linked by sometimes elaborate arrays
of chicken-wire leads. Upon arrival at a new site, trapping teams looked more like
fence construction crews than wildlife biologists. The configuration and construction
of trap arrays was more art than science, and tweaking the arrangement of traps and
lead wires was often necessary.
Team members transported males to Missouri for release at Wah’Kon-Tah within
six to eight hours of capture. Females were radio-marked and immediately released at
the capture site to nest in their native landscape.
Trappers returned to Kansas in late July to recapture radio-marked hens and their
broods as they roosted in grazed pasture and weedy Conservation Reserve Program
(CRP) fields. Summer capture teams included an experienced telemetry technician
and four to six net-wielding biologists whose nightly excursions entailed walking miles
of native rangeland in the pitch dark. We worked quietly, except for the occasional
exclamation when someone stepped in a badger hole, sarcastic ribbing when a team
member missed a bird, and incessant whining when the wind laid down enough to
12 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

allow mosquitoes to swarm. We used
glow-sticks and an ever-evolving series
of hand signals to communicate as
we made our final capture approach.
Roughly a third of hens captured in
spring were recaptured during summer
night-lighting annually; about a third of
all capture attempts was successful.
In 2010, small, glue-on transmitters
were placed on summer-captured
juveniles for the first time. Due to
higher-than expected mortality among
translocated juveniles following their
release, the two-phase translocation
process was discontinued. During 2011
and 2012, all birds were brought to
Missouri during spring. Overall, 435
birds were translocated between 2008
and 2012. Greater prairie-chickens are
relatively short-lived; even on good habitat
most do not survive past two years.
As a result, the offspring of translocated
birds, not the Kansas birds themselves,
comprise the bulk of the population
now residing at and around Wah’Kon-
Tah Prairie.
We took a very conservative
approach to trapping individual leks.
No more than 20 percent of males were
removed from a lek in any year, and
we avoided removing dominant males
to help maintain the established social
order on the lek. This required trappers
to tear down and rebuild trap arrays
nearly every day, but this labor-intensive
approach helped assure that counts on
Kansas leks remained stable throughout
the project. We also spread trapping
across a larger area each year to minimize
potential negative impacts to the
Kansas population.
Monitoring Translocated
Birds in Missouri
Dispersal: Results of translocation projects
conducted by other organizations in
other states indicate that greater prairiechickens
are more likely to disperse from
sites where habitat is dissimilar to that
of their origin, and from sites not occupied
by native birds. We expected some
translocated birds to disperse from the
Wah’Kon-Tah release site.
Greater prairie-chickens translocated by year, sex, and age class.
Year Adult Males Adult Females Juveniles Total
2008 52 24 27 103
2009 50 25 26 101
2010 41 29 18 88
2011 28 53 - 81
2012 18 44 - 62
Total 189 175 71 435
NOPPADOL PAOTHONG/MDC
One of six grassland grouse species in
North America, greater prairie-chickens
(Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) once ranged
throughout native prairies of central
North America from southern Canada to
Texas. Historically, they probably occurred
in 20 states and four Canadian provinces.
However, their distribution has changed
drastically over the past 200 years. Today,
greater prairie-chickens are plentiful
enough to be a game species in Kansas,
Nebraska, and South Dakota, but the birds
are absent from Canada, and only small
populations remain in Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Illinois, Oklahoma, and Missouri, where
fewer than 100 individuals native to the
state still survive.
Greater prairie-chicken trapping locations in
the Smoky Hills Region of Kansas. New leks
were trapped each year to assure a conservative
approach. Trapped birds were transported
to Wah’Kon-Tah within six to eight
hours of capture.
Kansas Leks Trapped &
Hen/Chick Capture Locations 2009
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 13

NOPPADOL PAOTHONG/MDC
MDC’s Aimee Coy
set up decoys and
played recordings
of prairie-chicken
booming on Wah’Kon-
Tah to simulate a
lek and help draw
translocated males to
the historic lek site.
Dispersal of translocated greater prairiechickens
in Missouri from 2008 to 2012.
Although most birds remained
on or very near Wah’Kon-Tah, telemetry
confirmed that some did disperse
beyond the release landscape. Dispersing
individuals moved up to 30 miles or
more, across rivers, roads, and woodlands.
Their ability to navigate across the
countryside and their choices to settle in
at places that had held prairie-chickens
in decades past was uncanny. Notable
case studies of individual dispersal
include:
• A male translocated in 2010 flew to
Taberville Prairie and, within days of
release, became the dominant cock on
the established lek of native birds.
• A hen flew to Walker, nine miles west
of Wah’Kon-Tah, and successfully
hatched a brood on private land in
2011. She remained in the Walker
area until 2012, when she returned to
Wah’Kon-Tah and hatched a successful
brood.
• A hen flew to Taberville Prairie,
then to Niawathe Prairie during the
same month in the winter of 2011.
She spent the winter on and around
Niawathe, mated with the lone male
on nearby Horse Creek Prairie, then
nested and hatched a brood of 14
chicks on Shelton Prairie during the
spring of 2012.
• A hen translocated during 2012 flew to
the Walker vicinity in late April, disappeared
for two weeks, and was then
located via helicopter telemetry north
of Fort Scott, Kansas.
• A hen translocated during 2012 flew
to Butler, Mo. and then returned to
Wah’Kon-Tah to mingle with the
newly established flock.
Lek Establishment: Prior to our initial
2008 release, three simulated leks were
established to mimic habitat occupancy,
a cue that released birds often use to
determine initial habitat suitability.
Simulated leks consisted of silhouette
decoys of displaying males and broadcast
calls of booming and cackling. Eight
recently released males displayed on two
of the three simulated leks during 2008.
Four males released in 2008 also
established a lek at Wah’Kon-Tah
and continued their courtship display.
During spring 2009, 13 males established
a lek 700 meters southeast of a
simulated lek; this time with a female
audience. In 2010, as many as 22 males
displayed on three booming grounds
at Wah’Kon-Tah. The peak lek count
in 2011 was 20, although lek location
shifted as compared to 2010. During
2012, 27 males used the same three leks
established in 2011.
Nest Site Selection: Patterns of nest
site selection among radio-marked hens
are emerging. However, analysis of
telemetry data is ongoing and definitive
statements related to habitat preferences
cannot yet be made. It appears that
management treatments such as patchburn
grazing and high-clipping, which
reduce the height and density of herbaceous
vegetation, do influence nest site
selection. Documenting how the juxtaposition
of areas receiving such management,
and time elapsed since treatment,
impact nest site selection remains an
important monitoring objective that will
guide future management.
Anecdotal observation indicates
that a majority of nests are located
near an herbaceous edge (soft edge), as
defined by a visually significant change
in herbaceous vegetation structure. Soft
edge is often associated with cattle or
vehicle trails or firelines, as well as where
boundaries of differently managed units
meet. Observations thus far suggest that
management history and vegetation
height influence nest site selection.
Nest Fate: During 2009, apparent nest
success among translocated females was
comparable to that reported by studies
of resident birds. Apparent nest success
from 2010–2012 was higher than that
expected among native greater prairiechickens.
Fewer nests were monitored
during 2012 than in 2011 because fewer
females were translocated during 2012
(44) than in 2011 (60).
14 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

Fate of 67 nests of radio-collared hens monitored from 2009 to 2012.
Area
# 2009
Nests
# 2009
Successful
# 2010
Nests
# 2010
Successful
# 2011
Nests
# 2011
Successful
# 2012
Nests
Wah’Kon-Tah 4 3 6 5 22 15 11 9
Taberville 4 2 4 3 8 5 6 6
Walker 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Shelton 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Totals 8 5 10 8 31 21 18 16
# 2012
Successful
Telemetry Monitoring Observations:
Tracking radio-marked females and the
fate of their nests and broods has added
to our understanding of the vegetative
cover that greater-prairie chickens prefer
for nesting, raising broods, feeding, and
evading predators. Although additional
monitoring is needed for statistical confirmation,
observations to date indicate
the importance of maintaining a patchwork
of varying herbaceous vegetation
types across large, unfragmented grasslands
of at least several hundred acres.
Prescribed fire, patch-burn grazing, and
high-clipping relatively small, 40- to
80-acre units within larger grassland
landscapes all appear important to create
and maintain this variety of herbaceous
cover heights and densities. Additional
telemetry monitoring observations
include:
• Given comparatively poor survival
among translocated juveniles, spring
translocation is recommended over the
two-phase approach, which included
summer recapture of previously radiomarked
females and their broods.
• Translocation efforts proved successful
in terms of lek establishment, site fidelity,
and production at Wah’Kon-Tah
and interaction with native birds at
Taberville Prairie (Jamison and Alleger
2009).
• Dispersal rates are higher and survival
is lower among first-year translocated
birds compared to resident birds
(Kemink 2012).
• The acclimation period over which
translocated birds experience depressed
survival is approximately six months
(Kemink 2012).
• Increasing winter flock numbers at
Taberville Prairie indicate an increase
in bird recruitment from local subpopulations.
It is not known whether
this is a direct result of translocation.
• Winter trapping documented successful
brood-rearing at Wah’Kon-Tah, as
juvenile birds lacking transmitters and
leg bands have been observed and/or
trapped.
• With regard to the Partners in Flight
Grassland Bird habitat model (PIF
Model), birds prefer Departmentmanaged
“core” habitat, and survival
is lower on smaller, privately owned,
“satellite” tracts (Kemink 2012).
• The presence of fences and trees
reduces the amount of usable space
(Kemink 2012).
• Future translocation efforts should
consider releasing larger numbers of
birds, biased toward females (Kemink
2012).
MDC staff will continue monitoring
this re-established population at
Wah’Kon-Tah to evaluate the long-term
effectiveness of translocation as a greater
prairie-chicken recovery tool. Winter
trapping will continue at Wah’Kon-Tah
and Taberville prairies over the next
four years to further document individual
survival, nest site selection and
success, and brood survival, with special
emphasis on understanding habitat
While habitat preference data are still being
analyzed, it appears that management
treatments such as patch-burn grazing and
high-clipping, shown above, which reduces
the height and density of vegetation, influence
prairie-chicken nest site selection.
selection patterns. This documentation
will inform future management methods
and priorities. Lek counts will help
determine post-translocation population
stability.
Thinking Forward
This translocation project has succeeded
in reestablishing a functional greater
prairie-chicken population at Wah’Kon-
Tah. The long-term stability of that
population hinges on the continuation
of intensive grassland management on
MDC-managed lands, as well as upon
further efforts to reduce fragmentation
and add viable nesting and brood-rearing
cover on nearby private lands.
Each time I’ve returned home
from greater prairie-chicken trapping
I’ve been struck by the daunting difference
in scale between our grasslands
and those in Kansas’ Smoky Hills. Do
we have enough unfragmented prairie
Steve CLubine
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 15

and other grasslands to sustain greater
prairie-chickens in Missouri? Can we
expand what we do have, and manage it
to provide the mix of vegetation types
and structures needed by greater prairiechickens
and other grassland birds?
Can we engage farmers and ranchers
to improve grassland bird habitat in an
era when high commodity prices drive
private land management relentlessly
toward maximum production? Will current
recovery efforts someday be viewed
as a positive turning point, or as the last
dash in a long but futile race? I remain
hopeful for positive outcomes, but see
a clear need for open minds and new
approaches.
The issues represented by the need
for a greater prairie-chicken recovery
effort—and the importance of evaluating
translocation as a strategy within
that larger effort—go well beyond the
needs of the species, as many grassland
birds and other grassland plants and
animals are in peril. Those of us closely
linked to this project recognized early
on that success would require striking
a sustainable balance between strictly
preservationist ideals and reckless exploitation;
neither of those extremes can
maintain the integrity of inherently
dynamic grassland systems. Finding this
balance will require a more purposeful
cross-pollination of the ideas and ideals
that drive conservationists and the farmers
and ranchers who control a majority
of our grasslands.
Engaging the consumers who drive
our economic system seems an essential
step as well. If current greater prairiechicken
recovery efforts are to succeed,
more farmers must begin to see longterm,
intrinsic value in the species and
natural processes that share their land as
surely as more prairie enthusiasts must
come to value the fact that healthy calves
and positive balance sheets support
stable land tenure, which is essential to
an ability to plan and manage land for
long-term benefits. Our ability to grapple
with issues like these will determine
whether our grandchildren, and theirs,
will see prairie-chickens in Missouri.
Citations
Jamison, B.E. and M.R. Alleger. 2009. Status of
Missouri greater prairie-chicken populations
and preliminary observations from ongoing
translocations and telemetry. Grouse News.
13 pages.
Kemink, K. M. 2012. Survival, habitat use, and
movement of resident and translocated
greater prairie-chickens. Master’s Thesis,
University of Missouri, Columbia, USA.
Max Alleger is the grassland bird
coordinator for the Mo. Dept. of
Conservation and an MPF technical advisor.
A Big Thank You to Smoky Hills Landowners
Public agency staff and private landowners in the Smoky
Hills of Kansas made the translocation project possible.
By Steve Clubine
From left are members of the 2008 trapping
crew (Monte McQuillen, Matt Hill, with MDC;
volunteer and MPF member Donnie Nichols;
Max Alleger, with MDC), Kansas landowner
Gordon McClure, who helped the Missouri
crew contact landowners with greater
prairie-chicken leks, and Steve Clubine.
Max ALleger
Before I retired from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) in
2010, I had the honor of overseeing the translocation portion of MDC’s
2005 Prairie-Chicken Recovery Plan. In 2008, Max Alleger and I began
talking to state agency representatives in Kansas and Nebraska about translocating
birds from those states.
After considering impacts to populations of the birds, travel time, land management
practices in these states, and several other factors, we settled on the northern
Flint Hills and the Smoky Hills regions of Kansas. We obtained permission to trap
birds at the U.S. Army’s Fort Riley and the Air National Guard’s Smoky Hill Range
near Salina. Fort Riley is 106,000 acres in the Flint Hills, but access to much of it
became so limited due to training maneuvers that we abandoned trapping efforts after
the first spring.
The Air National Guard Range is 34,000 acres of tall to mid-grass prairie, about
half moderately grazed, a fourth annually hayed, and a fourth, the central impact
zone, annually burned. Air National Guard officials initially allowed us to have up to
30 birds annually. However, after the first year, our quota was cut to 15 birds for the
second and third year and none for the fourth and fifth years.
16 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

Max ALleger
For the rest of our annual 100-bird
quota, I began searching land west and
north of the Air National Guard Range.
Native rangeland in the Smoky Hills
doesn’t get as much rain (about 25 inches
annually) and burning is not as widespread
or as frequent—about once every
4 to 10 years. Also, cropland enrolled
in the Conservation Reserve Program
(CRP) was planted to a native mix of
grasses and forbs or to smooth bromegrass.
In average or above average rainfall
years, native plantings may be too
tall for chickens, but are a much more
appropriate height in dry years when
nearby rangeland may be grazed too
short. Thus CRP may help keep Smoky
Hills’ greater prairie-chicken populations
from declining during dry years.
While driving a Saline County road
looking and listening for booming, I met
Brent Laas, a local farmer and stockman,
who asked me if I was lost. I said, “I
know where I am, but I’m looking for
folks like you who could help me find
prairie-chicken booming grounds.” He
said he knew of a large lek by a house he
owned and I was welcome to take some
of those birds if his brother, daughter,
some other relatives, friends, and he
could watch how the heck I intended
to catch the birds. Our efforts provided
several hours of entertainment for them.
Satisfied we knew what we were
doing, Brent said he thought there was
a large lek north of I-70 in Glendale
Township where he cut prairie hay. That
was the beginning of a series of events
that literally opened the doors to other
Smoky Hills ranches. I went to Glendale
Township the next morning and found a
lek of 33 males on a wheat field, which,
ironically, was owned by St. Louis attorney
Maurice Springer. Further searching
revealed several smaller leks. I began
contacting landowners and they told me
other places to look. Two landowners
in particular, Gordon McClure and Hal
Berkley, owned a lot of land and knew
a lot of landowners. If I found a place I
wanted to look, I was to tell the owners
I was working with them. Further, if I
needed a phone number they usually
had it on their cells. One of the ranchers
Gordon suggested we talk to Dick
Dietrich who owned or leased thousands
of acres of rangeland north of Tescott.
Gordon also provided his farm headquarters
for temporary storage of traps,
wire, and equipment, and loaned me a
fence charger to put a hotwire around
leks where cattle were present.
I also contacted Sandy Walker,
manager of Rolling Hills Wildlife
Adventures west of Salina, about a lek
on her land. Sandy asked if we needed
health inspections on the birds. While
we didn’t have to, we did take Sandy
up on her offer of the services of her
resident vet, Danelle Okeson. Danelle
had done Ph.D. work on Attwater’s
prairie-chickens near Houston so was
very familiar with prairie-chicken health.
Danelle was a great trooper, even meeting
me at a Salina truck stop between
2:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. in the summer
when we were transporting hens and
chicks.
Max ALleger
Dr. Danelle Okeson, a vet from the Smoky Hills,
volunteered to conduct health inspections of the
birds to be translocated to Missouri. Dr. Okeson was
a trooper, even meeting the crew at a truck stop at
2:00 a.m. to examine trapped birds.
Greater prairie-chickens fly above the wide open
landscape of Kansas’ Smoky Hills Region of tall and
mid-grass prairie.
We provided every landowner on
whose land we worked written documentation
of exactly what we caught,
took back, and released. We entered no
land without landowners’ knowledge
and we reported anything out of the
ordinary, a calf out or down, broken
fence wire, etc., and every gate was shut
unless we found it open in which case
we checked with them to make sure it
was to be left open.
Our trapping experience resulted
in an extraordinarily good working relationship
with landowners and Danelle.
Over 60 landowners or their ranch
managers trusted us and our word, giving
us access to their land day and night.
We were turned down only a handful
of times and those by landowners who
wanted to make sure the birds remained
in good numbers where they were. Most
landowners were happy that they could
contribute to restoring a new population
elsewhere and wanted to know how
they were doing and how we planned to
make sure they didn’t die out again. The
latter may be our biggest challenge.
Steve Clubine served as the grassland
biologist for the Missouri Department of
Conservation until retiring in 2010. His
“Native Warm-Season Grass News”
(see page 25) is a regular feature
of the Missouri Prairie Journal.
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 17

30th Anniversary for
Prairie State Park
Prairie advocates, including Missouri Prairie Foundation members,
made the establishment of Prairie State Park a reality.
By Brian Miller
The winds once howled across the unbroken prairies of the
Osage Plains, and rain and snowstorms brought water that
met with prairie soil, roots, crawfish burrows, badger holes,
and trickled through crevices of underlying sandstone and limestone.
For millennia, the seasons brought drought and wet periods, and
vegetation cycled through lush growth and dormancy. Fires roared
across the tall grass like steaming locomotives, sucking every ounce
of fuel that they were fed. Ashes gave way to succulent blades of
grass, and a storehouse of flowers displayed their “here I am” color,
nectar, and pollen to passing insects. Massive bison with their heads
and shoulders covered in woolly fur once rolled in the dusty wallows
and filled their rumens with the fresh grass. Their wallow patches
were used by a host of ground-nesting birds that flitted from sumac
branch to waving seedheads of big bluestem.
PRAIRIE STATE PARK
More than 45 years ago, Missourians
from different organizations and walks
of life gathered together, saddened and
concerned as they watched some of the
last few large expanses of this landscape
in the Osage Plains, Glaciated Plains,
and elsewhere in the state get turned
under by the plow. Others may have
thought them ridiculous for wanting to
save “old grassy pastures,” but these folks
knew that Missouri’s biologically rich
prairies could quite possibly be lost forever
if immediate action were not taken.
Some of these prairie lovers may
have grown up telling stories of how
they would watch huge flocks of prairiechickens
booming on the leks of yesteryear
or how they had hunted jack rabbits
as children with their grandfathers. All
of their emotions, worries, and fears
were rolled up like hay into one big bale
that ultimately led to the protection of
numerous prairie remnants in Missouri,
including the purchase and protection of
the largest publicly owned prairie landscape
remaining in Missouri—Prairie
State Park.
A Prairie Park for Missouri
The establishment of this 3,942-acre
prairie in Barton County came about
due to the advocacy of the Missouri
Prairie Foundation and other instrumental
organizations including The
Nature Conservancy’s “Project 76,” the
18 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

“The purpose of the park
is to maintain and restore
JUSTIN JOHNSON
Missouri Department of Conservation,
and the Missouri Department of Natural
Resources. According to William D.
Blair, Jr., in his book Katharine Ordway,
The Lady Who Saved the Prairies, “the
Missouri effort was capped in 1978–79,
after the Bicentennial, by the acquisition
of land for a 2,000-acre Missouri Prairie
State Park.”
On June 3, 1980, the Missouri
Department of Natural Resources
received the title to 1,520 acres
acquired at $719,000 from The Nature
Conservancy for the development of
Prairie State Park. The land was 91
percent original prairie—nine percent
had previously been plowed. Of the
original prairie, 59 percent had been
grazed and 41 percent had been hayed.
Thirty years ago, on June 27, 1982, the
park was dedicated, and then Governor
Christopher Bond proclaimed Prairie
Day in Missouri, “to praise those preservation
and conservation organizations
and individuals who have worked so
hard to protect Missouri prairie.”
From the moment the master plan
for Prairie State Park was written in
1979 to the present, Missouri State
Parks has kept its mission in focus. The
master plan stated the following: “The
purpose of the park is to maintain and
restore the native tallgrass prairie ecosystem
as it was in the 1840s when the
first permanent settlers came to Barton
County, and to interpret this heritage
for the people of Missouri.” It goes on
to say “the objectives of Prairie State
Park are twofold: Restoration and preservation
of the original native prairie
environment and provision of public
enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation
of the prairie” and “All planning
and development will focus on creating
a feeling and perception of prairie landscape
character as it was prior to settlement.”
Every plan that has been written
and every decision that has been made
has gone through this prism of maintaining,
restoring, and interpreting the
tallgrass prairie.
The park has grown dramatically
over the years from its original size of
the native tallgrass prairie
ecosystem as it was in the
1840s when the first permanent
settlers came to Barton
County, and to interpret
this heritage for the people
of Missouri.”
— Prairie State Park Master Plan
When the first 1,520 acres of Prairie State
Park were purchased in 1982, the land
was 91 percent original prairie and nine
percent had previously been plowed.
Currently the park is 3,942 acres, with 81
percent original prairie. Regal Tallgrass
Prairie (3,646 acres of the park) was designated
a State Natural Area in 2008.
NOPPADOL PAOTHONG/MDC
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 19

PRAIRIE STATE PARK
MDC
The park is composed of several specific prairie natural communities, including prairie swale,
which borders the park’s East Drywood Creek, at right. The park’s visitor center, above, helps
guests learn about prairie ecology, management, and wildlife, such as the Henslow’s sparrow,
top right.
PRAIRIE STATE PARK
1,520 acres when it first opened, and
included a picnic area, primitive campground,
and three trails. Now, the park
is 3,942 acres and in addition to picnic
and camping areas has a nature center,
five trails with one additional trail under
development, a backpack camp, and
parking lots at each trail head. Outside
of these facilities, development has
been kept to a minimum so that guests
have the opportunity to experience the
tallgrass prairie with very little intrusion.
There are still many tracts of land
(totalling 1,840 acres) surrounding the
park that Missouri State Parks would
like to own and protect, should the land
become available for sale and if funding
can be secured.
Park Management
Integrating natural disturbance drives
the restoration and preservation of the
park’s prairie resources; managing the
whole for its parts is the overarching
strategy. Fire was reintroduced for the
first time in 1983, and the park has varied
the season and pattern of burns to
attempt to duplicate what occurred historically
throughout the landscape.
Grazers are another part of the
prairie ecosystem, and they were reintroduced
for the first time in 1985 with
nine bison; today, the herd has a stable
current population of 130 head. Elk
also roamed the prairie and were reintroduced
in 1993 to provide a different
set of grazing patterns. While the elk are
elusive, park guests can get a glimpse of
them and their tree-like antlers dodging
in and out of sumac shrubs. Other
grazers like grasshoppers still function
as they have for eons, leaping with their
slingshot legs and chewing away at every
opportunity.
The Missouri Prairie Foundation
has been most instrumental in assisting
the park with prairie restoration and
management through administering several
grants over the years on which the
park has been a partner. Most recently,
a Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative
grant to the Missouri Prairie Foundation
has helped the park build sprayer units
to pull behind ATV’s or tractors, which
will be used to fight the continual battle
with exotic, invasive species. The units
will also be very useful as the park continues
to expand on its ever-growing
prescribed burn program.
20 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

DNR FILE
PRAIRIE STATE PARK
JUSTIN JOHNSON
Prairie Jubilee is the park’s premier event, first held in 1991 (top photo) and hosted by the
park most recently on September 29, 2012. The biennial event provides park guests with an
in-depth prairie experience with natural history booths and activities, history re-enactors,
guided prairie hikes, bison burgers, music, and more.
Welcoming Park Guests
When it comes to interpreting such a
complex ecosystem to guests, park staff
members foster excitement and true
appreciation for the intricate functions
of prairie by developing programming
that integrates both natural history and
human culture. In November of 1987,
the park naturalist held the park’s first
Prairie Day for 7 th and 8 th grade students
from Liberal Middle School. Today,
those same students would be around
39 years old with school-aged children.
Occasionally adults bring their children
to the park and tell of how they came
to the park when they were kids. Often
this generates great memories of old and
questions of whether we still do this or
that program.
Interpretation was stepped up to
a whole new level in 1988 when the
visitor center was built in a valley with
large windows providing an eastern view
of the prairie through which an early
morning guest can watch the sun rise.
The visitor center has provided a focal
point where guests gather information to
start them on their exploration, school
groups huddle around a bison robe and
listen to Native American prairie stories,
and many special events draw in people
from miles around.
The park’s premier event is the
biannual Prairie Jubilee first held in
1991 and most recently this year on
September 29. In 2007, we introduced
the park’s electronic newsletter, the
Tallgrass Tribune, which was awarded
the 2008 Outstanding Interpretive Site
Publication Award by the National
Association for Interpretation Region
6. Most recently, the park has started
its own Facebook page, which has 337
“likes” and counting.
After more than 30 years of hard
work, Prairie State Park is a jewel in
the state park system, providing 45,000
guests a year with a prairie experience
in a nearly 4,000-acre landscape. It is
thanks to prairie advocates that the
park came into being, and it is up to
present and future prairie supporters to
ensure that remnants of original prairie
landscapes always remains available to
Missourians.
Brian Miller is natural resource steward at
Prairie State Park, where he has overseen
park operations since 2003.
To learn more about Prairie State Park, call 417-843-6711, visit www.mostateparks.com, or “Like” the park’s
Facebook Page. If you would like to receive the park’s electronic newsletter, the Tallgrass Tribune, send an e-mail
message to prairie.state.park@dnr.mo.gov.
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 21

Achieving Balance with
Native Landscaping
By Cindy Gilberg
Acres of mowed turf, clipped evergreens, and predominantly nonnative
plants have been the suburban norm for decades. Drive down
a street where a homeowner has chosen to “plant outside the box,”
using native plants in a naturalistic design, and you will see a very
different, diverse landscape. Visually exciting? Yes, to those of us
acquainted with native plants and natural habitats. But this landscape
style challenges the sensibilities of many who are unfamiliar with
naturalistic landscapes and ecological processes.
Create a positive
perception and meld
the “wild” and the
“tame” by including
cues of intention that
provide a framework
for others to view your
native landscaping.
SCOTT WOODBURY
Balancing “Wild” and “Tame”
Using native plants for landscaping is
a logical way to promote environmental
stewardship through sensible use
of resources, to replace habitat, and to
increase biodiversity. This year’s heat
and drought illustrate the need for
native plants: they are well adapted to
endure climatic extremes. The question
of using native plants is not about why,
but about the challenges of how to effectively
incorporate native plants into our
landscapes.
The primary challenge is about
achieving a balance in the public’s
perception of “tame” versus “wild,”
of what is beautiful and what is not.
Native landscaping represents a shift
in our relationship with nature as we
establish that balance. Author Michael
Pollan remarked that “As a nation, we’ve
never been sure whether to dominate
nature, in the name of civilization, or
worship it untouched, as an escape from
civilization.” The middle ground exists
in our gardens as an intermediate place
between wilderness and total control
over nature.
Neat and tidy has typified much of
traditional landscape design. Create a
positive perception and meld the “wild”
and the “tame” by including cues of
intention that provide a framework for
others to view the landscape. These are
as simple as clean edges, a bench, paths,
etc. A sign signifying the garden as a
habitat garden or butterfly garden, for
example, helps to educate the public
about the function and reason for native
gardens.
Design Styles
One approach is to incorporate native
plants into an existing, non-native traditional
design. Beneath widely spaced
shade trees, understory trees such as
dogwood, serviceberry, and redbud can
be planted. Well defined beds around
the house and trees can include native
flowering shrubs, perennials, grasses,
and sedges. As non-native plants die
out from drought, heat or other issues,
replace them with native plants. This
design style typically uses plants (rather
than seeds) so specific planting locations
can be controlled to fit the design. The
landscape is more mature and finished-
22 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

SCOTT WOODBURY
Carol Davit
SCOTT WOODBURY
Clean edges, borders, and choosing the right plants for the landscaped space are all design elements and considerations that help create a positive
perception of native landscapes.
looking within a year. This easily
accepted style blends in with the more
traditional landscapes characteristic of
many neighborhoods.
Another approach is to create a
planting that mimics a natural habitat,
such as prairie, woodland, wetland,
etc. This style, sometimes referred to as
a “natural style,” is typically a seeded
landscape. The design consists of outlining
the area and compiling a list of
plant species and ratios to be used in the
seed mix. The area is prepared (existing
vegetation removed/killed) in late summer
to fall and seeding is done in early
winter. This type of project takes three
years to begin to mature—for two years
the area is mowed high to keep weeds
down and allow young seedlings to
become established. “Wild” landscapes
such as these are a contrast to many
“tidy” landscapes and may raise concern
with neighbors and weed ordinance
officials. In this instance the cues play a
key role—the wilder the look, the more
important are the structural elements
(paths, mowed areas, benches, etc.) and
strong, clean borders (mowed grass strip,
edging, etc.).
The intermediate style can be fun
and playful without causing concern
amongst neighbors. In this instance,
the design sets up a structural framework—strong
lines, repetition of plant
species, etc. Within this framework, the
plantings can be more natural. Another
method is to formalize the outer “public
view” edge (along the road and sidewalk)
with a more natural design inside.
Right Plants, Right Place
Where to begin? Settle on a design style.
While your design may be environmentally
friendly, your neighbors may not
understand that aspect of it. Have a
conversation with neighbors about your
intentions and reasons for a more natural
landscape.
The next step is to put a layout
of your property on paper. Include an
assessment of conditions—sun versus
shade, wet versus dry, and problem areas
that need addressing such as erosion,
need for screening, and replacing invasive
species. Refer to native plant field
guides and compare your situations to
habitats where native plants naturally
grow. Use the “right plant, right place”
philosophy to ensure success. Double
check plant cultural requirements at
the nursery where you plan to purchase
your plants and/or seeds. Consult the
extensive native plant database at www.
grownative.org. Landscaping with Native
Plants: A Gardeners Guide for Missouri,
a publication of Shaw Nature Reserve
(www.shawnature.org), is an additional
resource.
Another major challenge with native
landscapes is in the maintenance phase.
Many great designs fall apart because of
little or no maintenance. The first few
years are particularly crucial as plants
become established. This translates into
a tendency for nature to foil our plans of
a picturesque and bountiful landscape.
Weeds take advantage of open spaces, so
be vigilant. By year three, plant canopies
should adequately cover the ground
and out-compete weeds. Maintenance
eases up, but still be watchful of weeds.
Watering is essential in the first year to
give young plants a healthy start. Once
established, native plants require less irrigation
than most non-native plants.
Talk with other native plant gardeners
and visit native plant gardens. Most
importantly, start small and build on
your successes.
Horticulturist Cindy Gilberg owns Gilberg
Design and Consulting, has worked in the
Whitmire Wildflower Garden and Native
Plant School at Shaw Nature Reserve for
many years, and writes about native landscaping
for several publications. Cindy’s
article is made possible thanks to funding
from Shaw Nature Reserve.
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 23

Education on the Prairie with Jeff Cantrell
cyndi cogbill
The Milkweed Connection
Advancing the Conservation Efforts of a Species with an Outdoor
Learning Station. PART THREE
Favoring
many open
and semi-open
habitats, the
monarch butterfly
(Danaus plexippus)
is probably
America’s most
recognizable butterfly.
Always a
delight to see in
the wild, monarchs
are also a
welcome find in
the home garden
or a school outdoor learning station.
An outdoor learning station landscaped
with natives that provide both
nectar sources attractive to monarch
butterflies, as well as specific milkweed
host plants for their larvae, will entice
these impressive migrators. As discussed
in detail in Part One in the spring issue,
ideal nectar sources include stiff-leaved
aster (Aster linariifolius), southern prairie
aster (A. paludosus), goldenrods, and
other early summer to early fall-blooming
prairie plants. The caterpillars feed
exclusively on milkweed species.
While children can learn much by
observing monarchs that visit outdoor
learning stations, the stations also help
Randy Haas
the butterflies during their migration in
spring and fall. In fall, scores of adults
spin off from the huge, loose flocks of
hundreds and often thousands of migrators
heading toward only ten—now
extensively logged—mountain areas of
central Mexico, their winter habitat.
As native sources of nectar and host
plants become scarce due to land conversion
for human uses, remnant natural
communities, “idle” land, and outdoor
learning stations become progressively
vital to the population’s existence.
Learning stations have the potential of
making a major contribution to conservation,
by serving as an example for
educating the public and also directly
aiding butterfly populations.
If you don’t have a “milkweed connection”
of your own, this fall is a great
time to plan and plant.
Becky Wylie; inset CYNDi COGBILL
Monarch Facts
Monarch Life Cycle:
• Egg: 3–4 days
• Larva/Caterpillar: 10–14 days
• Pupa/Chrysalis: 11–14 days
• Life Span: 2–4 weeks for adult summer
generations. These butterflies will mate and
lay eggs, sometimes several times until late
summer.
• Adults emerging in late summer/early fall
won’t mate or lay eggs until the following
spring. Instead, they prepare for migration.
These adults will live up to 8 months.
Behavior and life history:
• Females may lay eggs directly after the first
mating.
• The female may lay eggs in areas well
distanced apart, sometimes on different
plants.
• Adults remain the same body size after
emerging from the chrysalis.
• Compound eyes help them find the native
asters and other nectar sources, and the
proboscis draws it in, but it is the monarch’s
feet that taste the sweet nectar.
Recommended resources:
The Life Cycles of Butterflies
by Judy Burris & Wayne Richards
ISBN 978—1-58017-617-0
Monarch Magic,
Butterfly Activities & Nature Discoveries
by Lynn Rosenblatt ISBN 1-885593-23-6
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
http://www.monarchlab.org/
http://www.monarchwatch.org/
Monarch butterflies have long captured people’s attention with their slow flap and gliding
flight, easy-to-observe life cycle, and stunning fall migration. Their range spans throughout
the United States and parts of Canada and Mexico. They travel much farther than all other
tropical butterflies—as much as three thousand miles—and they are the only butterflies to
make such a long, two-way migration every year. Flying in masses to the same winter roosts,
often to the exact same trees, individual monarchs make the round trip from Canada or the
United States to wintering grounds in Mexico only once. (Some western monarchs also winter
in a small part of California.) Five generations of monarchs can live in a year, and somehow,
the great-great-grandchildren of butterflies that left the previous spring find their way to the
same wintering habitat in fall.
Missouri Grade Level Expectations: Living Organisms: 1.A.1.a., 1.A.6.a., Ecology: 1.B.6.a., 2.A.3.b., 2.A.3.d., 3.C.4.b., 3.C.4.c, 3.C.4.d., 3.C.6.a., 3.C.6.b., Inquiry: 1.B.4.a., 1.B.4.b., 1.B.5.a.
24 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

Susan Hilty
Moving Forward
from the Drought
The Drought of 2012 was the big
news this past summer. How long
will it last? Previous droughts have
been multiple years more often than
single years. The 1810s drought lasted six years, the 1860s drought lasted
seven years, the 1930s drought was eight years, the 1950s and the 1980s
droughts lasted five years. Wet years often occur during droughts; for
example the worst years of 1934 and 1936 were separated by a wet 1935.
Likewise, 1982 was exceptionally wet, breaking a string of dry years. There
have been several two-year and single-year droughts; the most recent
were 1988 and 2006. So, which will this one be? It already is two years
if you include the southwest last year. Even if it’s a short-term drought,
don’t expect any appreciable moisture until at least March.
Throughout the summer, Missouri has had the worst pasture condition
of any Midwestern state, rated 99% poor or very poor. It isn’t that we
have been that much hotter or drier, but the state of our pastures is in part
a reflection of decisions to convert 99.9 % of the tallgrass prairie to coolseason
pasture, trees, or cropland. Isn’t fescue great?! Remember all that
money made on fescue seed went to pay for fertilizer to ensure high seed
and hay yields. Not much left over to buy hay now.
As happened during previous droughts or dry summers, I received
a lot of inquiries this past summer about planting native warm-season
grasses for forage that would perform substantially better during dry
weather than tall fescue. I also heard from past cooperators with native
grasses who swore the grasses saved their farm or cow herd. You’d think
more producers would take note, but many are willing to wait for a
government handout. I’ve even seen some mowing their pastures even
though there’s nothing but a couple goldenrods to clip off. Habits are hard
to break, even in difficult economic times.
The following article from Don McKenzie, Director of the National
Bobwhite Conservation Initiative, sums up the opportunity to improve not
only habitat for grassland wildlife, but improve the future for livestock
producers throughout the Midwest. Don drafted a letter to the USDA,
signed by a number of conservation organizations and agencies, that suggests
a longer-term approach be taken following this drought that encourages
producers to plant drought-resistant native grasses on part of their
acreages.
Encouraging for the future of native grasses is an article on cattlegrazing
behavior by cattle producer and independent writer Heather Smith
Thomas in the July, 2012 issue of Stockman Grass Farmer. Heather quotes
Holly T. Boland, Ph.D., (Associate Research and Extension Professor, MAFES
Prairie Research Unit, Mississippi State University) on Boland’s grazing
studies in Virginia and Mississippi. “A lot of [New Zealand] focus is also on
forage-finishing beef animals without grain. Here we’re studying pastures
Native Warm-Season Grass News
A Landowner’s Guide To Wildlife-Friendly Grasslands
we’ve renovated back to native warm-season grasses such as indiangrass,
[native] bluestems, etc., that were common years ago, before non-native
species such as bermudagrass were introduced,” says Boland. In recent
years many stockman planted or sprigged monocultures of introduced forages
and many native species died out. Yet when cattle have a variety of
plants from which to select, they eat a mixed diet rather than eat only one
type of forage.
“The first year we did this, native grass pastures out-performed the
bermudagrass and the cattle looked good,” Boland says. We are taking a
multi-disciplinary approach with wildlife personnel monitoring nests of
different grassland birds, insect populations, and effects on different pollinator
species. We’re trying to look at it as an ecosystem service as well as
optimizing cattle-growing conditions,” says Boland.
Boland also said it really didn’t matter what proportion of grass or
legume was in the pasture, animals “... consistently ate about 70% of their
diet as legume and 30% as grass.” Even if grass was predominant, they
sought legumes to balance the diet. Planting monocultures or bicultures,
using aggressive introduced grasses and legumes, spraying broadleaf
herbicides, and some grazing systems can jeopardize animal health and
performance, soil health, and wildlife habitat values.
Range conservationists know that animals eat a variety of forbs
in native rangeland, not just legumes. This makes herbicides to control
broadleaves, including legumes, counter-productive as well as expensive
for producers. Given the opportunity, grazing animals will select for a
high quality, healthy diet. While it is true that some native forbs as well
as introduced weeds have toxic properties, animals seldom eat them or
enough to make them sick; or if they do, they will dilute their diet with
other nutritious plants. Drought does cause concerns, however, because
forbs and shrubs may be the only thing still green in many pastures and
starving cattle may eat plants they would not ordinarily eat. Best not to
starve them.
Yours for better grasslands,
Steve Clubine
MDC
Mike Gaskins with the
Missouri Department
of Conservation standing
between two hay
fields this past July
in Shannon County:
native prairie grasses
and wildflowers on the
left and non-native
cool-season grasses
on the right. Both had
been hayed earlier in
the year.
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 25

Native Warm-Season Grass News
Teachable Moment:
Time for “Naturally Drought-
Resistant Pastures” to Reconnect
Cows and Quail
By Don McKenzie, NBCI Director
“This is a chance to make things better.”
—Hardware-store wisdom following a tornado touch-down near
Ward, AR, February, 2001
Extreme droughts
offer a head start in
overcoming the three
biggest impediments
to reconnecting cows
and quail on eastern
grazing lands: lack of
motivation, lack of
money, and difficulty
of eradication.
Landscape-scale habitat restoration as envisioned by the
North American Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI)
generally is a slow-moving, long-term slog. But occasional
opportunities for a leap forward pop up; some are foreseeable, a
few are even actionable in advance. The inevitable government
response to the current drought presents just such an opportunity
to help cattle producers and restore quail habitat on a large
scale.
Since the mid 20th century, some 120 million acres of
grazing lands across bobwhite range have been “improved”
by conversion—usually with USDA subsidies and encouragement—from
native grasses and forbs to aggressive, introduced
grasses that provide poor wildlife habitat. Prior to this landscape
conversion, cows and quail shared the land—but not
afterward. The nearly complete conversion of native grazing
lands in the eastern US coincides with the long-term decline of
many grassland birds.
Reconnecting cows and quail is a major goal of the NBCI.
On native rangelands of west Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas,
that goal is relatively simple, by improved management of the
existing forage base, the cattle and the brush. For the rest of
the U.S. grazing lands across the humid majority of bobwhite
range, much more exertion and cost are needed to return a
portion of the “improved” pasture back to native forages with
quail habitat potential. The NBCI [and other conservation
partners] has been working many years with only modest success
to begin changing USDA’s
deeply ingrained reliance on exotic
vegetation.
History repeats itself. We
know, for example, that Congress
and USDA miss few chances to provide
taxpayer-funded relief to producers
following drought, typically
helping replant ravaged pastures
with more of the same droughtsusceptible,
introduced forages.
While all parties (except maybe the
taxpaying public and the quail) are temporarily satisfied with
that habit, the reality is that producers are merely set up, once
again, to fall victim to the next drought.
On a drive through the Arkansas Ozarks last week, observing
many thousands of acres of brown, bare “improved”
pastures inhabited by cows apparently eating dirt and rocks,
it became evident that a major window of opportunity is opening.
Conservationists, producers and resource managers face
what educators refer to as a “teachable moment.”
Extreme droughts offer a head start in overcoming the
three biggest impediments to reconnecting cows and quail on
eastern grazing lands: lack of motivation, lack of money, and
difficulty of eradication. Producers are motivated to immediate
action by their ravaged pastures; the problematic aggressive
introduced forages already are weakened and diminished; and
federal money for replanting seems inevitable.
The predictable historic cycle already has begun. The only way
to prevent history from repeating itself is to learn from it, and
apply what we learn. From past experience and research we
have learned that:
1. Tens of millions of acres of aggressive, introduced forages:
- are susceptible to drought; and
- provide very poor habitat for quail and most other grassland
birds;
2. Native, warm-season forage grasses:
- are very drought-tolerant;
- provide quality forages for cows; and
- provide suitable habitat for quail and other grassland birds
of conservation concern
MDC
26 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

Cattle producers can benefit
both cattle and quail by
eradicating tall fescue on
part of their land and establishing
native warm-season
grasses and forbs. Native
prairie plants are nutritious
for livestock and create ideal
structure for quail and other
grassland, ground-nesting
bird species.
Conservationists, producers, resource managers, USDA, and
Congress have a clear choice:
1. Repeat history—continue the cyclic pattern of drought
disaster/public aid/drought disaster/public aid/etc., with
public money thrown at short-term band-aids that set producers
up to fail again, while providing sub-par public benefits;
OR
2. Learn from history and apply those lessons—use public
money to provide meaningful, long-term assistance to cattle
producers, in a way that helps insulate them from future
droughts while providing multiple public benefits, including
suitable quail and grassland bird habitats.
In other words, we have a chance right now for solutions
rather than bandages.
The NBCI has already begun promoting our ideas for
a native plant policy for USDA that we call “Natives First.”
Maybe it’s time to take the idea another step, with a new
disaster relief program for “Naturally Drought-proof Pastures”
(idea borrowed from Chuck Kowaleski), that would cost-share
the replacement of a portion of vulnerable introduced-grass
pastures with drought-proof native forage grasses, which would
become an integral part of producers’ risk management plans.
We know Congress and USDA likely will act soon to
provide public aid to cattle producers. What we don’t know
is whether the public’s money actually will provide real, longterm
benefits to the producers, the public and the public’s
wildlife resources … or if it will be just another band-aid.
Reprinted with permission from Don McKenzie’s NBCI-In the News, July 24, 2012
Frank Oberle
Steve CLubine
Ask Steve
Question: I read that nitrates can build up in
grasses, like sudangrass, and hurt or kill cattle. Is this
true for warm-season grasses like big bluestem and
Indiangrass? Also, how should native warm-season
grasses be cared for in a drought? I am considering
haying the fields even though everything is stunted,
but I hate to do that if it would permanently damage
the grasses.
—Jeanne Heuser, Jamestown.
Answer: An article recently made the rounds about cattle
dying in Texas from nitrate poisoning on bermudagrass. It is
uncommon in bermudagrass, but when it is heavily fertilized
with chemical fertilizer or chicken litter, there is potential for
nitrate poisoning. The risk is significantly greater for corn, forage
sorghum, sudangrass, and Johnson grass because of heavy
nitrogen fertilization especially when coupled with drought.
Prairies and native warm-season grasses aren’t normally
fertilized with nitrogen, but if so, with no more than 30–50 lb/
acre, I’ve never heard of anyone ever experiencing nitrate or
prussic acid poisoning on native grasses. Monocultures pose a
greater risk than mixtures of grasses and forbs, which allow the
grazing animal to mix the diet and dilute any negative compounds
and avoid toxic plants.
Whether you fertilize your native grass may depend on
whether you’re haying or grazing it. Haying mines soil nutrients,
particularly phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), gradually
depleting the soil. A 1,000-pound bale removes 8 pounds of
P and 22 lb of K whereas grazing only removes about .04 lb.
of either. You should replace the P and K removed by haying,
but hay rarely pays for the P and K it removes. Nitrogen (N)
is produced naturally by legumes and soil micro-organisms.
Adding N will increase production, but you can’t store it in the
soil, and removing it in a hay bale doesn’t deplete the nutrient
in the soil. Nitrogen will usually pay for itself in increased hay
production or increased animal gain or gain/acre by allowing a
higher stocking rate. Remember, however, adding N acidifies
the soil so watch the soil pH and lime every few years.
J.E Weaver, University of Nebraska professor who studied
prairies extensively, especially during the 1930s drought,
and author of North American Prairie, addressed the effect of
drought on prairie plants. He wrote that prairies that were
hayed or grazed during the drought recovered more quickly
when rains returned than those that were idle. Removing
the leaves reduces moisture loss from the roots and soil. The
plants merely go into dormancy or semi-dormancy until conditions
improve later in the growing season or the next season.
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 27

Native Warm-Season Grass News
Deciduous plants like forbs, shrubs, and trees shed leaves to
reduce moisture loss while grasses curl their leaves to avoid
direct sunlight. Warm-season grasses, called C4 plants, can
also partially close their stomata while cool-season grasses,
C3 plants, can’t. Thus cool-season grasses like tall fescue will
transpire three times as much soil moisture even while semidormant
in the summer than warm-season grasses.
Prairie plants evolved with drought, fire, and herbivory
for over 10,000 years so they are well adapted to survive and
recover from practically everything except the plow and maybe
continuous short grazing and mowing.
Question: “Can tall fescue be eradicated by first
plowing and then discing, maybe even once in
spring and another turn in the fall prior to warm
season grass planting? I have also heard that it may
be good to plant a cover crop to stunt the seedling
fescue that germinates after the spring plowing.”
—Jim Foley, Chesterfield
Answer: There have been a lot of attempts to kill fescue by
tillage. The result has almost always been a more vigorous stand
of fescue a couple years later. I don’t think tillage will work
unless it is continuous for several years.
The nearest success was in the early 1980s when the
U.S. Forest Service Cedar Creek Ranger District plowed in
August so the roots would be exposed to maximum drying.
They worked the fields through the winter and planted native
warm-season grasses in the spring. They got good native grass
and forb stands, but fescue regeneration was severe. Perhaps
continued tillage through the next summer and fall would have
eliminated more fescue, but I think there would still be unacceptable
regeneration.
The University of Missouri experimented with a burndown
herbicide, gramoxone, followed by an annual summer
“smother” crop such as sudangrass or forage sorghum, then
another chemical treatment. They felt like they got adequate
kill for conversion to other cool-season grasses, fungus-free
fescue, or native warm-season grasses. There was no follow-up
to determine if fescue re-invaded. Even with the best methods,
you should monitor the field and spot treat new or missed fescue
plants.
A lot of readers may not like using chemicals to get rid of
fescue or other invasive species to reconstruct prairie or replant
native grasses and forbs. Unfortunately, plants like fescue leave
little option. I recommend glyphosate (Roundup or one of the
many generics), ammonium sulfate, imazapic, and metholated
seed oil applied in fall and again in spring. You can either
plant in native grasses in spring or
plant an annual cover crop such as
sorghum-sudangrass or pearl millet,
cut for hay in summer, spray a
pint to a quart/acre of glyphosate in
October to kill annuals and plant
a native grass and forb mix after
the soil has cooled, usually after
November 1.
Another option is to kill the sod with glyphosate, plant
Roundup Ready soybeans, spray again the next summer, then
after harvest plant the grass and forb mix in winter or spring.
If you have a question about establishing prairie plantings or
managing native prairie or prairie plantings for pasture that
is wildlife-friendly, ask Steve. Contact him at steveclubine@
embarqmail.com. Steve also will share some questions and
replies in “Native Warm-Season Grass News.”
MDC
Using herbicide in fall
and again in spring is
the most effective way
to eradicate tall fescue.
An intermediate annual
crop can be planted
after fescue has been
killed, or native grasses
and forbs can be broadcast
directly. Herbicide
sprayers can be mounted
to ATVs, as shown here.
At top is fescue after
herbicide application,
and the same area
planted with native
grasses and forbs.
Jon Wingo Jon Wingo
Jon Wingo
28 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

Prairie Postings
Cécile Lagandré MDC
News from Feaster Glade
Cécile’s husband Dave, harnessed
like a mule, dragging a red cedar
log out of Feaster Glade.
red-eared slider like the
A one pictured here—usually
unseen, but often heard
at a nearby slough timidly
plunging from her basking log
by the sound of footsteps—
climbed 250 feet up to our
Feaster Glade in late May
2012. Despite our intrusion
upon her private occupations,
she dug several nests on terrain
that converts solar energy
like a south-facing, 23° tilt,
dirty solar panel. In addition
to certainly providing incubating
warmth, the slope might
ensure water’s gravitational
pull on the glade-roasted, disorientated
hatchlings if ever
and whenever they emerged.
I believe Feaster Glade restoration is already having an impact
on the functioning of our small corner of Benton County.
How did this restoration begin? Our local Missouri
Department of Conservation Private Land Services biologist
handed us a document titled “Glade Restoration.” As we were
attempting to digest its ecological concepts, we tackled our
own human problems about living on rock: how to dispose of
the other digested, undisclosed disposable. Construction of a
practical compost area and outdoor loo required the use of red
cedar logs; Feaster Glade restoration started out of necessity!
At this point, we still had to brave the unknown of
what was still a dark red cedar forest: intertwined dead lower
branches formed impassable barriers where Feaster-monsters
lurked at each breath. The layout of our own land remained a
mystery and we were still wrestling with the obscure notion of
a “glade.”
I declared a stalemate when all that dictionaries and encyclopedias
would offer as an explanation was an “opening in
the forest.” Further research led me to understand that each
forested region of the world possesses barren areas of thin soil
where both flora and fauna evolved into highly specialized species.
Missouri’s glades harbor many dry prairie species as well as
glade-restricted plants and animals. Being the stewards of this
flaggy Ozark dolomite glade is indeed an awesome responsibility
and discovering its many facets a weekly wonder.
—MPF member Cécile Lagandré and her husband Dave Van Dyne
have the privilege of calling Feaster Glade their own; Cécile shares
tales of its restoration in the Missouri Prairie Journal.
Prairie State Park’s Brian Miller
Receives State Award
Brian Miller, fourth from left, with Governor Nixon, family members,
and colleagues at the Missouri State Award ceremony in May, where
he received the State Employee of the Month Award. See Brian’s
article on Prairie State Park on page 18.
This year, Natural Resource Steward Brian Miller received
three awards, including Missouri State Employee of the
Month for May. First, Brian received the Missouri Department
of Natural Resources Employee of the Month for April, and
shortly after, the Missouri Parks Association Facility Manager
of the Year Award. In May, Brian was selected for the Missouri
State Employee of the Month (there are approximately 57,000
state employees).
Brian was nominated for all three awards by his supervisor,
Justin Adams, for his work to assemble and supervise a crew of
State Parks Youth Corps workers in response to the devastating
Joplin tornado of May 11, 2011. Included in the incredible
physical damage Joplin endured was the devastation of several
of its city parks. From August through November 2011, Brian
recruited a seven-person crew and developed a work plan for
keeping the crew in the right places at the right times, always
mobile and responsive.
The tasks were difficult and required much manual labor
to clear large amounts of tornado debris. The team hauled in
tons of topsoil to fill and level ground from uprooted trees,
cleaned out drainage ditches, removed dead shrubs, planted
flowers, and laid sod.
“Throughout the process, Brian continued all of his regular
responsibilities at Prairie State Park, for which he is responsible,”
said Justin. “For that time of year, the work included
organizing the bison and elk round-up and vaccinations,
organizing and holding the annual bison auction, eradicating
exotic, invasive species, and conducting prescribed fires on the
park’s nearly 4,000 acres,” Justin said.
As a special thank you, Brian arranged for the crew to
visit Prairie State Park, providing them with lunch and an
opportunity to see bison and elk in their native habitat.
Congratulations, Brian!
MDNR
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 29

Prairie Postings
“We are all good at
squandering money.
Wasting money
happens in spite of
good intentions. I’ve
been blessed with
having everything I
want and need. I don’t
need any more stuff!
The more material
things that collect
around me, the more
suffocated I feel. It
actually limits my sense
of freedom and peace.
What’s most precious to
me is keeping the Earth
intact and preserving
our flora and fauna.
Now that’s a cause
worthy of every dollar
left at the end of my life.
—Missouri Prairie Foundation
(MPF) member Leslie
Limberg, who has established
a charitable remainder trust
to benefit MPF.
Lee Phillion
Planned Giving for Prairies
Your annual membership and other gifts to
the Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF) are vital
to our ongoing prairie conservation work. By
establishing a planned gift to MPF, you can also ensure
that we can continue our work well into the future.
Below are several ways to make a planned gift to MPF:
• Create a charitable remainder trust. By
establishing a charitable remainder trust, you will
receive fixed payments for the rest of your life and
have a charitable deduction. Charitable remainder
trusts offer payment rates that are more attractive
than many other investments, with the rate amount
determined by your age. In addition, you have the
satisfaction of knowing that the remainder of your
gift will benefit MPF.
• Give appreciated stock or bonds held for
more than one year. You will provide a larger gift
to MPF—and avoid capital gains liability.
• Put a bequest in your will or trust (cash,
specific property, or a share of the residual estate).
You will make a gift for MPF’s future that doesn’t
affect your cash flow or portfolio now, but will
provide an eventual estate tax deduction.
Those wishing to make a bequest to MPF may find the
suggested wording helpful:
I bequeath ___% of my residuary estate (or $___) to the
Missouri Prairie Foundation, a not-for-profit conservation
organization, with its address at P.O. Box 200, Columbia,
MO 65205 for its ongoing programs in prairie acquisitions,
stewardship, and education.
For more information contact the Missouri Prairie
Foundation, P.O. Box 200, Columbia, MO 65205,
by toll-free phone: 1-888-843-6739, or email at
info@moprairie.com.
Bruce schuette
Missouri Prairie Founda
Please consider adding your name
to the growing list of MPF lifetime
members. Lifetime membership is
available for a gift of $1,000 or more,
and has no expiration. Thank you,
lifetime members, for your generous
contributions to MPF.
Arthur Benson
Audubon Society of Missouri
Joan and Bert Berkley
Ronald and Suzanne Berry
Jerry Brown
Lester Buch
National Wild Turkey Federation Inc
Dan Cardwell
Karen Chionio
Community Foundation of the Ozarks
Karen and Paul Cox
Steve Cox
Stan Crader
Bill Crawford
Gail Cross
Elnora Datema
Mrs. Henry Day
Lorna and Henry Domke
Leo and Kay Drey
Caleb C. and Julia W. Dula
Educational and Charitable Foundation
Ann Earley and Bob Siemer
Robert Elworth
Lori Feek
Judith Felder
Michael Fields
Curtis Finley
Howard and Sara Fleming
Marian Goodding
Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Foundation
Walter Groth
Robert and Cathleen Hansen
Jack and Pat Harris
Loline Hathaway
Carl Hathcock
Bonnie Heidy
Marilyn and Clarence Heller
Page and Fonda Hereford
Margaret Holyfield and Maurice Meslans
Hulston Family Foundation
James and Charlene Jackson
Harold John
Pat Jones
Margaret Kobusch
Marilyn Krukowski
Cécile Lagandré and Dave Van Dyne
Laurence and Dorothy Lambert
Warren and Susan Lammert
Scott and Donna Lenharth
John and Nancy Lewis
Leslie Limberg
Theresa and Joseph Long
Maurice Lonsway
Andrew Love
Ann Lovell
30 Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4

tion Lifetime Members
Don Lowry
Kay MacNeil
Steve Maritz
Todd and Shana Marsh
Don McClure
Carson and Janice McCormack
John and Constance McPheeters
David Mesker and Dorothy Haase
Gina Miller
Isabel Moore
Wayne Morton
Steve Mowry
B. Mueller
Maxwell Munson
Payton Munson
Shea Munson
Norcross Foundation
Aureta and Vanda O’Conner
Barbara Oelke
Jerry Overton
Stanley and Susan Parrish
Mike and Debbie Peaslee
Vincent and Jane Perna
Barbara and William Pickard
Emily Pulitzer
Stan and Audrey Putthoff
Terence Raterman
Richard Rhodes
Gordon and Barbara Risk
Anna Roeslein
Nathan Roeslein
Rudi Roeslein
James and Joan Sample
Caroline and William Sant
Bruce and Jan Sassmann
Dustin Schaaf
Edgar Schmidt
Walter and Marie Schmitz
Bruce and Ann Schuette
Leda Sears Memorial
Arlene Segal
Owen and Mildred Sexton
Dorris and Bob Sherrick
Mary and Mike Skinner
Tom and Anne Smith
Amber Sneed
Brenden J. Sneed
Cali Sneed
Jason and Lisa Spangler
Kenneth Spieckerman
Dorothy and John Stade
W. Staley
Bruce Stebbings
Peter Stevens
Anukriti Sud and Alexander Hittle
W. Randall Washburn
Edna Weinel
James Wells
Clifford and Margaret Welsch
Blanton Whitmire
Orrin Wightman III
Mark Williams
William Wischmeyer
Your Membership Matters!
Member support is crucial to MPF’s work.
If you are not a member, please send
your membership dues today. If you are
a current member, please note that your
expiration date is printed above your
name on the back cover. Prompt renewal
helps our conservation work. If you are
able, please consider increasing your
membership level.
Membership Levels
(individual, family, or organization)
Regular and gift memberships: $35
Friend: $50
Supporting: $100
Contributing: $250
Sustaining: $500
Life (no membership expiration): $1,000
To become a new member, renew your
membership, give a gift membership,
or make an additional donation outside
of annual membership, please send
payment and address information to
Missouri Prairie Foundation
c/o Martinsburg Bank
P.O. Box 856
Mexico, MO 65265-0856
(Please use MPF’s Columbia, Missouri address
only for general correspondence.)
You may also contribute on-line via PayPal
at www.moprairie.com/Contribute.html.
If you have any questions about your
membership, please contact Jane Schaefer,
who administers MPF’s membership
database, at janeschaefer@earthlink.net or
call 1-888-843-6739.
MPF Welcomes New
Members Who Joined
Between May 16 and August
31, 2012:
Becky Ash and Sue Dyle, WOLF Program
Springfield, MO
Debra Jo and Barry Baker, Mountain Grove, MO
Paige and Gerry Banet, St. Louis, MO
Dennis Brewer, Smithville, MO
Norma Covington, St. Joseph, MO
Theresa Enderle, Independence, MO
Carl Hathcock, Bois D’Arc, MO
Roger Helling, New Haven, MO
Carl and Jan Hermann, Chesterfield, MO
Keith Kretzmer, Eureka, MO
Wayne and Marilyn Langston, Belle, MO
Mike Mihalik and Pam Murray Springfield, MO
June Newman, Carrollton, MO
Marsha Nyberg and Gary Leabman, Hermann, MO
Bill Roberts, Elkland, MO
Amy Salveter, Columbia, MO
James and Paula Shannon, Boonville, MO
Terri Teel, Denver, CO
Michael Trial, Columbia, MO
Fred and Jan Weisenborn, Phillipsburg, MO
Dalton Wright, Conway, MO
MPF also recognizes and thanks the 137
members who renewed their membership
during this time.
Call for proposals for MPF’s 2013 Prairie Gardens Grant
Gardening and conservation groups, parks, schools, and other entities are
invited to submit proposals to MPF’s Prairie Gardens Small Grants Program.
In 2013, MPF would like to award $500 to help fund the establishment of a prairie garden
or planting. Gardens must be available to the public and must incorporate native prairie
species. Matching funds are not required, but proposals with secured matching funds may be
evaluated higher than others.
Proposals should address explanation of purpose, include a budget and time frame for
completion, and design, maintenance, and interpretation plans. Please limit proposals—
including any diagrams or other graphics—to two typewritten pages. Letters of support
are also welcome. Proposals should be submitted no later than March 1, 2013 and grant
award will be announced April 2, 2013. Proposals should include contact information. Send
proposals to info@moprairie.com. Questions? Call 888-843-6739.
Vol. 33 Nos. 3 & 4 Missouri Prairie Journal 31

MISSOURI
PRAIRIE
FOUNDATION
Protecting Native Grasslands
Missouri Prairie Foundation
P.O. Box 200
Columbia, MO 65205
info@moprairie.com • 1-888-843-6739 • www.moprairie.org
Nonprofit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Columbia, MO
Permit No. 286
Please note that your
MPF membership expiration date
is now printed with your address.
Renewing promptly will save MPF costs
of mailing renewal reminder letters.
To renew, see page 31.
Calendar of Prairie-Related Events
Missouri Prairie Foundation Events
2013
MPF Board
Meetings
Save the Dates!
Members are encouraged to attend
these meetings, all of which will be
held at 10:00 a.m. unless otherwise
noted.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
St. Louis. Danforth Plant Science Center.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Kansas City. Posty Cards.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Denison and Lattner Prairies, Vernon/
Barton Counties. MPF’s 4th Annual
Prairie BioBlitz will follow the meeting
and carry over to June 2.
Sunday, October 12, 2013
9:00 a.m. Dr. Wayne Morton’s prairie
outside of Cole Camp, to follow Prairie
Day events the day before.
More details about these
meetings and associated
activities will be provided in future
issues of this magazine, at www.
moprairie.org, and via MPF’s e-news.
Questions? Call 888-843-6739.
Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012
Grow Native! Professional
Member meeting, Runge Nature
Center, Jefferson City. See www.
grownative.org for details.
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012 at
Prairie Star Restoration Farm
Don’t Miss this special evening with acclaimed
photographer Noppadol Paothong and award-winning writer
Joel Vance to benefit the Missouri Prairie Foundation: North
American Grassland Grouse and the making of the Save the Last Dance book.
Ten years in the making, Noppadol and Joel’s book documents the story of North American grassland
grouse, including the greater prairie-chicken. Learn about the making of the book and the story of these
magnificent birds and the grassland habitat they share with thousands of other prairie species.
Enjoy wagon tours of Prairie Star Restoration Farm’s restored woodlands and prairie plantings, social,
drinks, dinner, and fine wildlife prints and books for auction. Save the Last Dance books will be available for
purchase and signing. After-dinner presentation by Joel Vance and Noppadol Paothong.
Tickets per person: $45 for MPF members; $55 for nonmembers. RSVP by mailing check to Missouri Prairie
Foundation, P.O. Box 200, Columbia, MO 65205 by October 20, 2012. Space is limited—we look forward to
receiving your response. Questions? Call 888-843-6739.
Address: Prairie Star Restoration Farm, 117 Osage Country Road 741. Directions: From Hwy. 28, turn north
on State Road NN. Travel 2 miles. Turn right on County Road 741. Travel 0.2 miles to first gate on left.
ies of Heartland: The Photographs
of Terry Evans, which is on exhibit
Oct. 20, 2012 to Jan. 20, 2013.
Our Lands/Our Lives presents an
array of perspectives about our
shared natural and cultural environments
to compliment Evans’
stunning photographs. For more
information visit www.nelsonatkins.org.
Winter Birding with Jeff
Cantrell—All three programs
below are free of charge. Dress for
the weather. Further instructions
will be given prior to the events.
Register by calling 417-629-3423.
Questions can be referred to
Jeff Cantrell at 417-629-3423 or
swampcandle1@yahoo.com or
jeff.cantrell@mdc.mo.gov.
Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012
Crepuscular Birding 4:00 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012—MPF
will present at the Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art in Kansas City as
part of the Our Lands/Our Lives
program series, within the galleruntil
dark—Meet at Casey’s Store
in Lockwood and bird until dusk
on nearby MPF prairies. Last stop is
MPF’s Coyne Prairie to watch shorteared
owls and northern harriers.
Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013 and
Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013 Little
Mouse on the Prairie 4:00 p.m. until
dark—This program is all about
the short-eared owl and their prey.
Meet at Prairie State Park.
Grow Native! workshops
Friday’s workshop will be geared
to landscaping professionals and
Saturday’s to home gardeners and
others wishing to landscape with
natives. Details forthcoming at
www.moprairie.org, www.grownative.org,
and e-news.
Feb. 8, 9, 2013 in Lawrence, Kansas;
Feb. 22, 23, 2013 in Joplin, Missouri
area
January 26, 2013—MPF Work
Day at Stilwell Prairie. 10:00 a.m.
to 3:00 p.m. Volunteers are
needed to cut brush from a draw.
Please bring gloves, hand saws,
chain saws, protective gear, and
a sack lunch. RSVP to info@
moprairie.com or 888-843-6739.
February 9, 2013—MPF Work
Day at Coyne Prairie. 10:00 a.m. to
3:00 p.m. Volunteers are needed
to clear and pile brush from a
draw. Please bring gloves, handsaws,
chain saws, protective gear
and a sack lunch. RSVP to info@
moprairie.com or 888-843-6739.
April 20 and 27, 2013–MPF
Annual Native Plant Sale at the
City Market in Kansas City, MO.
Both dates: 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
E-news alerts provide MPF members with news about more events. Send your e-mail address
to info@moprairie.com to be added to the e-news list. MPF does not share e-mail addresses with other groups.
Events are also posted at www.moprairie.org.