Returning What Once Was

Restoring and rebuilding native prairies

By Kristin Bryant
Photos: St. Louis County Parks

One quarter—or 15-million acres—of Missouri was considered a prairie prior to European settlement. To narrow the focus even further, nearly 50,000 acres, or 17 percent, of St. Louis County was covered with tall-grass prairie during that same time period.* Today, only 4 percent of the original prairies in Missouri have survived, and all of the prairies in the county have disappeared. You may be asking, “How could we allow this to happen?” and more importantly, “How can we reverse the effects of colonization and urbanization to bring back prairies?” In order to restore and rebuild prairies, it is necessary to understand their importance and history. 

Prairie History 

St. Louis County was a major crossroads of natural biomes found in the state of Missouri. Prairies, savannas, wetlands, and woodlands made up four dominant natural communities with prairies located in the east-central and northern portion of the county. Native Americans had settled in this area for thousands of years prior to Europeans, due to  the land’s rich, natural assortment of buffalo, prairie chickens, ducks and geese, deer, and fish. As a tool to clear the land for farming, drive game, protection and ease of travel, Native Americans set fire to the land. As settlers began to move into the area, land fires became restricted, and the prairies and savanna that once occupied the areas were slowly taken over by woodlands. As time went by and more people made their way west, land became scarce as new dwellings were built. The last prairie in the county survived until the 1980s. “St. Louis County has lost all of its historical thousands of acres of prairie, but that does not mean we can’t re-construct this beautiful landscape and regain some of the lost diversity,” said Dennis Hogan, Environmental Resource Specialist for St. Louis County Parks. “We will never witness the dance of the prairie chicken in St. Louis County; we are 170 years too late. But we can provide essential habitat for other grassland birds, pollinators, and the migrating monarch butterflies.” 

First Steps To Rebuild

In 1985, St. Louis County Parks planted 25 acres of prairie on the agricultural fields along the Meramec River in West Tyson County Park. This was the first prairie planting the county parks had ever conducted. The original planting consisted of Indian grass, big bluestem, switchgrass, and six species of wildflowers. Through the years, the county parks have increased the variety of wildflowers to a total of 40 species.

The process to rebuild a prairie takes much patience and strategy. Once a location has been chosen, the first step is to get rid of existing plants in order to expose the soil. This can be done by spraying an herbicide. Once completed, it is time to broadcast or drill seed into the ground. This step is the most time-sensitive, as it is imperative for seed to be planted just before winter’s cold months arrive. After the seed has been planted, it is time to wait for germination to occur. There is no direct timeframe for this stage, as seeds will grow naturally. After the first year, it is important to keep the weeds to a minimum by mowing the planted area as well as monitoring and removing invasive species. 

In 2020, steps were initiated to control the severe infestation of woody encroachment and invasive species from the prairies in West Tyson. Crews brought in a forestry bull hog to shred the encroachment and blackberry briars. Prairies were then chemically treated twice to control two invasive species—lespedeza and Johnson grass. By the end of the 2020 growing season, Indian grass and big bluestem had made a dramatic return to the prairies. These same procedures were completed during the 2021growing season in another prairie in the park with the addition of a prescribed burn.  

Prescribed Burns

In order to rejuvenate the soil’s nutrients and kill the unwanted woody vegetation, fires must be set to the land. Without fires, as mentioned above, prairies and savannas would be taken over by woodlands. The first prescribed burn with the county parks took place in 1988 at Greensfelder Park.

This is one of the county’s most unique parks as it plays host to a diverse group of animals and plants. With such a unique landscape, it was and still is important to maintain the natural diversity of the park while continuing to expand the restoration of the savanna communities.

The first steps of Greensfelder Park savanna restoration began in 1986 and ended in 1987. It began with the removal of encroaching and unwanted trees found within the savanna. Trees that remained (ones that belonged or had characteristics of a glade tree species, such as chinkapin oak) were left on the site. After two years of removing unwanted trees and vegetation, it was time to start the prescribed burns. The first prescribed burn took place in March 1988 and was restricted to the open area and not the traditional areas of the woodlands surrounding the glade. Each year, as restoration efforts grew, the size of each burn expanded.

Before starting a prescribed burn program, it is absolutely imperative to obtain the proper training, personal protective gear, equipment, and tools. St. Louis County Parks Forestry and Environmental crews were all trained under Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Internal Level 1 Fire Management program. The Burn Boss, or prescribed fire operations director, is a Level 3 Certified, as well as Missouri State Certified prescribed burn manager with MDC. Check with your state’s conservation or natural-resources department for fire-management programs and certifications. If you need assistance purchasing protective gear, equipment and tools, apply for grants. In 2019 and recently in 2022, St. Louis County Parks applied for and received a cooperative grant with MDC to assist in purchasing crucial fire-protective gear for fire-line staff members as well as better equipment and tools. This partnership with MDC, in addition to partnerships with other organizations, such as Forest Re-Leaf of Missouri and National Weather Service, allowed for crews to grow the prescribed burn program exponentially. 

Where It Stands Today

The county parks department is one of the largest land agencies in the county, overseeing nearly 13,000 acres of park land. Within that acreage, nearly 400 acres of prairie have been re-constructed, over 70 acres of savanna are currently being restored, and over 550 acres of one of the largest remaining wetland complexes in the county is being returned to a natural state. “The scattered prairie re-construction sites from North County to South County are a historical landscape, a window to what once was,” said Hogan.

Although county parks have made a lot of progress in restoring and rebuilding the prairies that so elegantly graced the land many years ago, there is still much work to be done. However, with the help of partners from MDC, Great Rivers Greenway, Missouri Prairie Foundation, and US Fish and Wildlife, we look forward to restoring and rebuilding the native prairies.

Re-creating and restoring natural environments may take a great deal of work, but the reward certainly outweighs the consequences. If we don’t continue down this path of restoration, the biological diversity and wildlife population will all be threatened, as we’ve seen before. 

Kristin Bryant is the Communications Specialist with St. Louis County Parks in St. Louis, Mo. Reach her at (314) 615-7786 or kbryant@stlouiscountymo.gov.