Nature Conservancy Acquires and Protects Additional 124 Acres in the Grand River Grasslands

Property considered one of the highest quality prairie in the area

DES MOINES, IA—March 30, 2006—On Thursday, the Nature Conservancy acquired 124 acres of high quality prairie to expand its protected area within the Grand River Grasslands, a prairie restoration landscape that straddles the Missouri-south central Iowa border. This tract features an 80-acre untilled prairie remnant. Combined with the 1,000 acres of remnant prairie in nearby Ringgold Wildlife Area – this area contains more untilled tallgrass prairie than any other site in Iowa.

In addition to being adjacent to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’(DNR) 1,950-acre Ringgold Wildlife Area, this tract is about one mile south of a 189-acre prairie purchased by the Conservancy in 2003. The Conservancy plans on transferring the recently acquired property to the Iowa DNR.
The Grand River Grasslands remains the only known opportunity to restore and conserve a functional tallgrass prairie system on deep loamy soils (black-soil prairies) in the Central Tallgrass Ecoregion, a region spanning six Midwest states.

The Ringgold Wildlife Area is particularly important because it serves as a corridor between the Iowa DNR’s 680-acre Kellerton Bird Conservation Area and the Conservancy’s Dunn Ranch.
The Conservancy’s 3,680 acre Dunn Ranch project forms the largest managed prairie in the project area. The Conservancy works closely with the Iowa DNR, Missouri Department of Conservation and other partners and area landowners to restore a functional tallgrass prairie.

As part of the Grand River Grasslands, this tract is an essential area and linkage for a suite of area-dependent grassland bird species that are critical conservation targets, like the greater prairie chicken.
“This land is part of a critical corridor, which allows us to link the high quality conservation cores of Dunn Ranch/Pawnee Prairie in the south with Ringgold Wildlife area in the north, and eventually extend to the Kellerton Wildlife area. This tract will also contribute to necessary minimum area habitat requirements for grassland species,” said Leslee Spraggins, state director for The Nature Conservancy in Iowa.
This tract features rolling hills with scattered oak savanna. Historically, it has been used for grazing operations and is currently all in grass.

As part of prairie restoration plans, the DNR intends to use conservation management techniques, such as controlled burning and tree removal to stop the decline of habitat caused by invasive species: cedar, Hawthorne and locust trees.

While larger tracts of prairie in Iowa exist, this is the largest tract of tallgrass prairie, which originally covered 25 million acres across parts of Iowa and Minnesota. Today, less than one percent remains; making it one of North America’s most endangered ecosystems.

Plant species that thrive in this area of tallgrass prairie include the compass plant, butterfly milkweed, pale purple cornflower and wild indigo. Grand River Grasslands represents the largest and best grassland bird conservation area, with Henslow’s sparrow, nesting Northern harriers, loggerhead shrike and bobwhite quail.