Hello everyone! Taylor here at Prairie Restorations.
This is the beginning of a series of blog posts about our wonderful native plant communities in Minnesota – starting with our namesake plant community: prairies!
You may have driven by a patch of tall native grasses without realizing that you are witnessing the rarest native plant community left in Minnesota – the prairie. Prairies aren’t just beautiful fields of flowers and grasses, they’re vital for pollinators, wildlife, and soil health. Let’s explore why prairies matter and how you can help bring this native plant community back to life.
Envision an open landscape dominated by grasses, sedges, and wildflowers with no trees (or very few trees): you’re picturing the infamous prairie. Prairies have deep, rich soils with native plant species that layer together to support wildlife, capture carbon, and hold water in the landscape. Minnesota has a few types of prairies, including dry sand prairies, mesic prairies, and wet prairies, each with unique species suited to the moisture and soil conditions of their sites.
Before European settlement in the 1800s, Minnesota’s land was roughly one-third prairie (about 18 million acres), stretching across the southern and western parts of the state. These vibrant grasslands used to support bison, elk, prairie chickens, and countless pollinators while enriching the soil beneath them. Because of the rich soil, settlers found this to be the perfect place to build their farmland for food crops. Today, less than 1% of Minnesota’s original prairie remains due to plowing, development, and invasive species, making it one of the most endangered native plant communities left in the state.
Countless species of plants, animals and insects find their home in the prairie. In fact, prairies can support over 200-300 species of native flora including grasses, sedges, and herbaceous flowers. These plant species are host plants for many pollinators, such as the endangered Dakota skipper butterfly. Due to the hundreds of species of plants, the bloom window stretches from early spring to late fall, providing food and habitat for insects, birds, mammals and reptiles, supporting a rich web of life above and below ground.
Native plants tend to have roots that reach 5 to 15 feet deep, boasting much deeper root systems than turfgrass or non-native ornamental plants. In a dry prairie, these plants are drought resistant due to those extensive root systems and their ability to find water deeper in the soil. The deep roots help break up compacted soils and increase water infiltration which reduces runoff and erosion. As these native plants end their life cycle, the decomposing roots, leaves, and stems turn into organic matter that is added back into the soil. This organic matter feeds beneficial soil organisms, improves soil structure, and enhances the soils ability to hold moisture and nutrients.
Native plants have the unique ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere during their growth. All those roots shown above are made of carbon – which was removed from the air during the growing process. According to the University of Minnesota, one acre of prairie can store 1 ton of carbon per year in their roots and the soil. All this carbon capturing helps mitigate the effects of our warming climate.
We can all do our part to help save this endangered native plant community. Whether that be planting a small patch of native grasses and flowers in your urban front yard or restoring acres of your old farm land to prairie, every act helps keep prairies, and the species they support, alive.
If you’re ready to jump-start your conservation efforts of bringing prairies back to life, Presto is the perfect tool to get you started. Presto makes it easy to find the right native prairie plants for your site based on sunlight, moisture, and soil type. Have more questions? Feel free to stop by our retail locations to talk about your restoration goals. Let’s bring Minnesota’s prairie heritage back together!
