Pride in Our Prairies

One hot sunny May morning, Josie Meyer ’24 and a few friends were out on Luther’s Jewell Prairie with a truck full of seedlings and a water tank. It was the last stage of Meyer’s yearlong honors research project, part of her environmental studies major.

“We’re planting New England aster, swamp milkweed, common milkweed, blazing star, and joe pye weed,” Meyer said. Her research, which looked into 12 years of prairie restoration efforts on this reclaimed farmland on campus, had led to this particular selection of plants.

Josie Meyer ’24 plants native species in Jewell Prairie. 

“Being in Iowa, a state that’s so dominated by agriculture, it’s important to recognize that there are these beautiful, valuable ecosystems that are worth protecting and restoring,” Meyer says. “It’s the sense of place, having pride in the natural resources around you.”

Meyer’s project is part of the rich crop of knowledge that Luther students have helped uncover about Iowa’s original environment—the tallgrass prairie—and its plants, pollinators, and effect on water and soil erosion.

Why Plant a Prairie?

Because of conversion into farmland, tallgrass prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 99 percent of tallgrass prairie has been lost.

Luther has been working to restore several former farm sites along the Upper Iowa River. The college farmed on the land, much of which it purchased from the Jewell family nearly a century ago, until 2011. In 2008, however, a major flood inundated the area, which made the crop fields eligible for the Emergency Watershed Protection Program, a federal program that helps communities recover after natural disasters. Jewell Prairie was seeded in the fall of 2011 and had its first growing season in 2012.

Molly McNicoll, professor of biology and Luther’s natural areas land manager, has been overseeing the Jewell Prairie restoration. “Planting prairies and woodlands allows us to meet several goals at once, including improving habitat,” she says. “Prairies are particularly great for soil-erosion prevention, because they build soil and hold it.” The deep root systems of the prairies’ grasses, sedges, and wildflowers mitigate flooding by abosorbing river sediment into the soil instead of eroding, McNicoll explains.

In addition, prairies support beneficial native insects and other wildlife. “As soon as you start adding native species of plants, especially flowers, and increase the diversity of plants, they provide a ton of resources to pollinators and other native species for a healthy and functioning ecosystem,” says biology professor Kirk Larsen. “These species would not be found in Luther’s Jewell Prairie, Anderson Prairie, or Gateway Prairie if they were corn or soybean fields.”

Students help restore Jewell Prairie.

Studying Burn Regimes

As part of her project, Meyer studied the relationship between prairie burn regimes and plant species, an area about which researchers are still learning.

“We burn in a rotation—only a third of the prairie at a time,” McNicoll said. “We can manipulate how we use fire to promote or suppress certain species.” Burning reduces woody vegetation and creates bare spots for plants to germinate. Prairie plants have evolved around the nutrient cycles sparked by burns. Burning in sections also protects animal and insect species living in the prairie.

A planned burn regime allowed Meyer to study plant populations in each section separately. She looked at plant community change between 2015 and 2023 for each section of the prairie, and how these changes might be correlated with the amount of time between initial prairie seeding and the first prescribed burn.

In all sections of the prairie, Meyer discovered increases in species diversity, warm season grasses, and highly valued “conservative” species, like golden alexander and pale purple coneflower. These species are more likely to be found at higher-quality sites. Meyer discovered no significant differences based on the year of initial burn.

“This finding adds to our understanding of prairie restoration, indicating that the initial seeding was well established at four years old,” McNicoll says. “Burning at four, five, or six years old did not alter the early years of development.”

Students play a critical role in researching and restoring Luther's prairies.

What Happens Next?

While Jewell Prairie has not yet reached “remnant-like diversity,” a model used for prairie restoration, the land is returning to its native ecosystem, which can prevent soil erosion.

“You can’t just restore a prairie in one seeding event,” McNicoll says. “It’s a continual process. Part of that is the research the students have been doing.”

Meyer has set recommendations for the management of specific plant species, and her research will guide the prairie’s development into the future. Some species will need to be monitored for overabundance, some controlled or reduced, and others will need to be added, such as milkweed, blazing star, and legumes.

“It’s really special that we have this prairie restoration that’s really high quality,” Meyer says. “Looking at it 12 years later, you can see that all the things that were done over the past 12 years were worth it.”