Tree removal to help foster remnant prairie at Green Valley

Patrons of Green Valley State Park have witnessed an alarming sight this year — dozens of trees removed or even burned. Though the image is drastic, park operators are working to restore the natural balance of the land.

“The cedar tree, they are a native tree but highly invasive,” Green Valley Park Ranger Jason Hyde said. “Underneath the canopy of those trees is going to be some really good prairie grass. Looking at a lot of aerial photos from the 30s, we think this place was pasture ground in the past, and it might even have some remnant prairie.”

By simple definition, remnant prairie is true native prairie. Unlike restored or reconstructed prairies, which have been reestablished or returned to prairie, prairie remnants are fragments of the original, pre-settlement prairie landscape.

“Remnant prairie is extremely rare in Iowa,” Hyde said. “We’re trying to, number one, have the opportunity to have it. And if we’ve got it, we have to make sure it’s protected and safe. That’s what we are doing here.”

The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation estimates 80% of the state was once covered by prairie, the largest percentage in the nation. Today, less than 0.1% of Iowa’s native prairie remains, mostly existing in small, untouched parcels.

“Native prairie is overwhelmingly rare in Iowa,” INHF President Joe McGovern said. “We must do everything we can to preserve this important part of our natural history that is so fundamental to our future.”

Remnant prairies are home to a minimum of 100 species of prairie plants, some with roots known to reach depths of 20 feet. High quality prairie remnants can contain more than 300 species of prairie plants. Reconstructed prairies, on the other hand, typically have 20–100 plant species. Remnants also provide critical habitat for a wide variety of threatened and endangered wildlife including large and small mammals, birds, pollinators, reptiles and insects.

Other than cedar trees, the park has been continuing to remove dead ash trees. “Joe Berg has been mechanically removing those trees with a skid steer, and we’ve been piling them up,” Hyde said.

The Friends of Green Valley State Park at High Lakes Outdoor Alliance splits the wood from the ash trees, and it’s sold at the campground as firewood. The money is then used for walleye and other park improvements.

Meanwhile, the next phase is starting to help the native prairie flourish once again. The Iowa DNR Prairie Resource Center provides more that 65 species of Iowa-origin prairie grasses and wildflowers to public land managers across the state.

“They’re literally sending us thousands and thousands of seeds,” Hyde said. “We’ll be able to introduce seeds in areas that need some help. In other areas we’ll let it respond by itself and see how it does.”

Though the view and the areas of shade are different now than they were in previous years, park management is dedicated to helping the park be a bountiful habitat for plants and wildlife.

“You can’t have change without a little chaos,” Hyde said. “It looks pretty extreme right now, but give it a few months and it will be a whole different ball game.”