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Dominant Prairie Plant Species

Click the link to access the Iowa Prairie Plants guide. The guide enables you to search or browse by classification, scientific name, and common name. Read more about Dominant Prairie Plant Species

Challenge #3: Poor Biodiversity and Wildlife Habitat

A decline in biodiversity, or the variety of life in an area or ecosystem, is the third challenge identified by scientist Lisa Schulte Moore. Read more about Challenge #3: Poor Biodiversity and Wildlife Habitat

Challenge #1 How can Prairie Strips reduce Soil Erosion?

The flumes pictured below are used to measure runoff from the STRIPS watersheds. Note the difference in the amount of sediment displaced between pictures 1, 2 and 3. Picture 1 represents a 100% no-till crop field with corn and soybean rotation compared to just 10% prairie treatment in picture 2 and 100% prairie in picture 3. Read more about How Prairie Strips Address Midwestern Farmer Challenges

Installation and Establishment

Prairie strips are most easily established in fields which have previously been used for tilled annual row crop production (Jarchow and Liebman, 2011). Seeding following soybeans is especially favored for prairie strip establishment because the tilled field will have a reduced seed bank of annual weed seed and the soybean stubble will decompose readily (Jarchow and Liebman, 2011).

Nonetheless, if the correct procedures are followed prairie can be easily established following any crop or land cover. Read more about Prairie Strip Installation and Establishment

Al-Kaisi, M. (2000). Soil erosion: An agricultural production challenge. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. (Accessed 27 August 2017).

Brady, N. C. & Weil, R. R. (2008). The nature and properties of soils. (14th ed.). United States: Pearson. 

Crop Data Management Systems (CDMS). (2017). Label database. (Accessed 27 August 2017). Read more about Chapter 7: References