Tallgrass Prairie Restoration in the 21 Century
September 13-14, 2012
The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois, USA
The Tallgrass Prairie Restoration symposium occurred Sept 13 - 14, 2012. It was a wonderful two day, with over 170 attendees from around the region. Thanks to all who participated! Information about the seminar is below.
In recognition of the 50 year anniversary of the Schulenberg Prairie Restoration, The Morton Arboretum convened a symposium on September 13-14, 2012 at The Morton Arboretum near Chicago, IL. This meeting brought together leading researchers and practitioners to discuss the current state of prairie restoration knowledge, with a special focus on diversity and processes in prairie vegetation, and to propose future directions. On September 13, the program included a full day of talks while September 14 was a day of field trips to notable regional prairies and prairie restorations.
The following technical report on the Schulenberg Prairie was generated for this symposium:
The Schulenberg Prairie: A Benchmark in Ecological Restoration
This symposium was dedicated to the memory of Dr. Robert F. Betz (1923-2007), Pioneer in prairie preservation and restoration
Click here to see: Publications by and about R. F. Betz
Program
Thursday, September 13th, 2012
8:00 Registration and Check-in
8:30 The Schulenberg Prairie: A Milestone in Ecological Restoration
Nicole Cavender, Vice President of Science and Conservation, The Morton Arboretum
9:00 History and Progress of Prairie Restoration
Roger Anderson, Illinois State University
9:30 Long-term Studies of Secondary Succession, Grassland Community Assembly and Prairie Restoration
Bryan Foster, University of Kansas
10:00 Break
10:30 Community and Phylogenetic Change in Tallgrass Prairie Remnants
Daniel Larkin, Chicago Botanic Garden
11:00 Chromosome Re-arrangements and Gene Flow in a Prairie Sedge
Andrew Hipp, The Morton Arboretum
11:30 Buffet Lunch
1:00 Restoration Roundtable: What Methods Work and Why (or Why Not)?
Richard Henderson, Wisconsin DNR
Bill Glass, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
Don Gardner, Gardner Prairie Project
2:00 Comparing Diversity Among Restorations and Remnants
William Sluis, Trine University
2:30 Praire Restoration Below Ground: Rebuilding our Soil Resource
Julie Jastrow, Argonne National Laboratory
3:00 Break
3:30 Restoring Diversity Despite Strong Dominance by Productive Species
James M. Doherty, University of Wisconsin-Madison
4:00 Impacts of Climate Change in the Chicago Region and Methods for Collaborative Innovation about Adaptation
Jessica Hellmann, University of Notre Dame
4:30 Keynote: Perennial Agriculture and Prairie Restoration
Wes Jackson, The Land Institute
6:00 Reception
For more information about this program, please contact our Registrar's Office:
Email:
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Call: 630-719-2468 (8:00 a.m.–4 p.m., Monday–Friday)
Friday, September 14th, 2012
The second day of the symposium included several prairie tours lead by experts on prairie restoration.
SCHULENBERG PRAIRIE
The Morton Arboretum's Schulenberg Prairie is a 100-acre tallgrass prairie restoration—one of the largest planted tallgrass prairies in the United States—that now contains over 200 native plant species. The restoration began in 1962 on land that had suffered severe soil erosion from over 100 years of intensive farming. The result has been a largely self-sustaining (though still actively managed) prairie and oak savanna community that supports populations of several state-endangered forbs including white lady-slipper orchid, sand milkweed, and prairie bush clover. Kurt Dreisilker, Manger of Natural Resources at The Morton Arboretum, will explain the site's management, and the intenstive methods used by Ray Schulenberg to re-establish native species in this pioneering planted prairie.
S512A. Friday, Sept 14; 9 am – 12 pm. Prairie Visitor Station. Fee: $30, $20 Student. Limit 30.
FERMILAB TALLGRASS PRAIRIE RESTORATION TOUR
Since 1975, local area volunteer have been working with Fermilab, using different methods to restore native tallgrass prairie on the Fermilab site. Spearheaded by Midwest prairie expert Dr. Robert Betz, and gradually increased by Fermilab, the large prairie restorations at Fermilab are an excellent example of a successional strategy to restoring prairie vegetation. Today, the 1000 acre prairie is home to over 150 native species, including characteristic prairie species such as big bluestem, Indian grass, prairie dropseed, compass plant, prairie dock, shooting star, gayfeather, false indigo, wild quinine, golden alexander, yellow and purple coneflowers, rosinweed, wild bergamot, lead plant, rattlesnake master and butterfly weed. Join Mike Becker, a Fermilab staff member, on the Margaret Pearson Interpretive Trail to explore these tallgrass restoration areas and hear about the restoration and management work that is currently taking place. Transportation to and from Fermilab is included in the fee
S512B. Friday, Sept 14; 1 pm – 4 pm. Meet the vans in Parking Lot 21. Fee: $30, $20 Student. Limit 30.
NORTH SHORE PRAIRIE REMNANTS AND SAVANNA RESTORATION TOUR
Join Steve Packard of the National Audubon Society and Marlin Bowles of The Morton Arboretum, to tour high-quality remnant and restored prairie and savanna at the Somme Prairie and Lake Forest Open Lands’ Skokie River Nature Preserves. See the results of differing approaches to management and restoration in various parts of these important sites.
The 160-acre Somme Prairie and Grove is maintained by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. This site contains very high quality tallgrass prairie as well as successional vegetation and Vestal Grove, one of the oldest and most diverse savanna and bur oak woodland restorations of the Chicago region.
The Skokie River preserve is maintained by the Lake Forest Open Lands Association. It also contains late-successional prairie, as well as various stages of successional prairie vegetation. Both sites have a history of fire management. Long-term monitoring has revealed that frequent burns have maintained high floristic diversity in remnants and advanced succession in restored areas.
A boxed lunch and transportation are included in the fee.
S512C. Friday, Sept 14; 9 am – 4 pm. Meet the bus in Parking Lot 21. Fee: $65, $35 Student. Limit 30.
MIDEWIN NATIONAL TALLGRASS PRAIRIE
Join Midewin staff ecologist, Bill Glass, to get a tour covering the past, present, and future of the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie restoration as well as a behind the scenes look at the propagation aspect of the restoration.
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie is the first national tallgrass prairie and, at 19,000 acres, the largest piece of contiguous open space in northeastern Illinois. Midewin was established in 1996 on the former Joliet Arsenal. It is currently a "prairie under construction" as staff and volunteers restore the land from war plants to prairie plants.
A boxed lunch and transportation to and from Midewin is included in the fee.
S512D. Friday, Sept 14; 9 am – 2 pm. Meet the vans in Parking Lot 21. Fee: $55, $30 Student. Limit 30.
Call for Posters
Researchers and professionals were invited to submit poster presentations for inclusion in the symposium.
Click to view the Call for Posters
Click to download the brochure for the symposium
Note: prints on legal sized paper
Sponsors
The James and Andree Cavender Foundation
