The importance of native habitat

One of the major characteristics of civilizations is the ability of a society to urbanize. The first societies to be considered civilizations specialized labor and utilized resources so that they began to use nature to fill any of their needs - and eventually any of their desires – rather than living sustainably with the environment. Due to so-called civilizations, much of the biosphere’s natural state has been warped to fit human industrial, societal, and economic needs. In the state of Iowa, little of the state’s natural habitat – tall grass prairie – remains. Instead the land has been converted into urbanized districts and acres of industrialized agriculture.

While most of the original tall-grass prairies have been eliminated, a small portion of the native habitat has been recreated at the Valley High School Prairie. The Valley Prairie provides a variety of ecosystem services. The grassland ecosystem has prairie plants that sink roots deep into the soil, fixing the soil in place and providing it with nitrifying bacteria that give the soil nutrients. The decomposition of these prairie plants, along with the deposits from fires that scour the prairies, adds layers of organic matter to the soil. When the prairie grasses hold soil in place, it can hold more water which prevents runoff and the soil can hold nutrients better for other plants. Over the years, continuous farming has stripped away the organic matter and has left the soil loose which leads to decreased agricultural productivity and an increase in chemical runoff into the Mississippi.

Besides providing these ecosystem services, tall grass prairies also have a range of biodiversity that benefits the ecosystem in general. High biodiversity indicates that an ecosystem is healthy and can function properly. A species-rich ecosystem is more resilient and adaptable to disturbances. In ecosystems with fewer species, the loss of a single species could affect the balance of that system and make it difficult for other species to thrive in that environment. Biodiversity also ensures the future of plants. Agriculture has led to a great decrease in biodiversity as one crop is mass produced on land that used to sustain hundreds of different plants. When the genetic pool has become limited, a disease or another external stress could wipe out that entire species if there were no genetic barriers and one of the major crops we rely on would be gone, jeopardizing human health as well as ecosystem health. Genetic diversity in prairies also allows scientists to research the effects of different plants and find new medicines and other necessary items for survival.

Finally, prairie systems provide educational opportunities for future generations. Human societies have become disconnected from nature as they urbanize; they’ve lost sight of what it means to use a resource. Modern societies would think more about the environmental impact they had if they had to care for their own resources. By studying prairie ecosystems, people can learn how the environment functions and the importance of restoring more parts of the earth to its natural state. They can study plants and animals that are losing population density as their habitats are slowly destroyed in the quest to control nature. In studying a diverse ecosystem such as Valley’s tall grass prairie, it’s possible to learn about the order of the world and what can be done to protect such areas for the future.

by Kat Novak
first image by Matt Johnson

What a City Girl Learned in Valley’s Prairie

When I found out that we (my APES class) were going to spend the last weeks of AP Environmental Science in Valley High Schools prairie I was not impressed. People assume that because Iowa doesn’t have big cities that it must be full of nature. False, it is full of cornfields. Us kids in West Des Moines don’t live on farms though. We like to consider ourselves “city kids” though really we are “suburban kids”. Nature outside of our backyards is not a part of our daily lives. Mr. Reif decided to try and change this though through population sampling of the Valley Prairie. In order to sample the plants in the prairie we had to get down on our hands and knees and actually look at the plants. Apparently one green leafy thing is different from the next green leafy thing.

So out we went to identify the plants in our randomly thrown hula hoops like wilderness explorers. The first few samples were rough… really rough. Mr. Reif definitely got his exercise in as he ran between groups to essentially identify all of their plants for them. If it wasn’t a Black-Eyed Susan we struggled with identification.  As we worked through our 17 samples we started to get the hang of it though. We recognized the common plants and gave them our own names like “the soft stem one” and “the purple outline one”. The groups started to go through their samples faster and no longer relied on Mr. Reif to identify each and every plant.

As my group gained confidence with the plants in the prairie we also started to notice other little nature details too. We noticed the baby trees that grew in the shade of the mature ones and how different plants liked to live closer to the center or perimeter of the prairie. Though in a few weeks we will have forgotten this knowledge our observations impressed upon us the idea that nature isn’t just one big blob of green. I at least, started to understand why Mr. Reif taught us to care about all parts of the environment not just the cool parts like rainforests and coral reefs. I didn’t learn much about prairie plants but I gained a greater appreciation for conservation and the little ecosystems all around me.

by Abigail Austin
photos by Matt Johnson

Identified plants as of spring 2013

In the second year of the planting (spring of 2013) the following native species have been identified in the prairie.

Agastache foeniculum

Artemisia ludoviciana

Aster laevis

Aster novea-angliae

Astragalus canadensis

Avena sativa

Cassia fasciculata

Coreopsis lanceolata

Coreopsis palmata

Desmanthus illinoensis

Desmodium canadense

Echinacea pallida

Echinacea purpurea

Elymus canadensis

Heliopsis helianthoides

Lupinus perennis

Monarda fistulosa

Monarda punctata

Penstemon digitalis

Penstemon grandiflorus

Petulostemum candidum

Petulostemum purpurea

Ratibida pinnata

Rudbeckia hirta

Rudbeckia triloba

Silphium lacinatum

Silphium perfoliatum

Solidago rigida

Verbena stricta

Zizia aurea