The Nature Conservancy Increases Conservation Influence in the Grand River Grasslands
St. Louis, Missouri—July 6, 2006—The Nature Conservancy recently acquired 159 acres for restoration and protection located within the Grand River Grasslands, a 70,000-acre prairie restoration landscape that straddles the Missouri-Iowa border. In exchange, Robin and Debra Frank received 335 acres of land, 225 of which is protected with a conservation easement. The Grand River Grasslands remains the only known opportunity to restore and conserve a functional tallgrass prairie system on deep loamy soils in the Central Tallgrass Ecoregion, a region spanning six Midwest states.
The Conservancy’s 3,680 acre Dunn Ranch anchors the 70,000 acre prairie restoration site. Within the 70,000 acres, The Conservancy works closely with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Iowa DNR and other partners and area landowners to restore a functional tallgrass prairie.
As part of the Grand River Grasslands, the 159-acre Frank tract is a core property that is surrounded by Dunn Ranch. This property will contain bison when they are reintroduced at Dunn Ranch in 2007. This essential area also serves as linkage for a suite of area-dependent grassland bird species such as, like the greater prairie chicken.
“The 335-acre tract is outside of Dunn Ranch and while critical to the Grand River Grasslands, is not essential for the continuity of the Ranch property. We want to continue our influence of good conservation land practices in the area but diminish our land ownership. This exchange with a conservation-minded land owner gave us an opportunity to implement our philosophy,” said Jim Wildman, land protection manager for The Nature Conservancy in Missouri.
This land is also part of a critical conservation corridor, which links the high-quality cores of Dunn Ranch/Pawnee Prairie in the south with Ringgold Wildlife area in the north, and eventually will extend to the Kellerton Wildlife area. This Grand River Grasslands provides necessary minimum area habitat requirements for grassland species.
The Frank tract features rolling hills with a heavily treed valley. The tract has a large number of native plants with a limited amount of diversity. This area is particularly well suited to prairie chicken “booming” or mating grounds and will help improve the amount of grassland necessary for upland bird habitat.
The Frank tract was purchased from Robin and Debra Frank. The Franks are ranchers with certified Angus and natural beef herds, own other property in the Grand River Grasslands area and have worked with the Conservancy is implementing conservation land management practices on these properties.
“I am pleased to be working with The Nature Conservancy,” said Robin Frank. “This exchange of property is an opportunity to benefit production agriculture and enhance conservation efforts by protecting almost 500 acres. This is the beginning of a number of projects that will serve both agriculture and conservation
The 335-acre exchange property that the Franks received will be used for cattle grazing or hay production. Of that property, 225 acres are protected by a conservation easement with the remaining 100 acres are unrestricted. Currently, approximately 190 acres of 335-acre is enrolled in CRP (conservation reserve program), which will support conservation and land-management values desired on the property.
The Franks are participating in the Conservancy’s private land initiative to develop, demonstrate, promote and increase adoption of conservation-appropriate private-land practices among landowners, farmers and ranchers within the Grand River Grasslands to meet conservation goals.
As part of prairie restoration, conservation management techniques, such as controlled burning, rotational grazing practices and tree removal, are being used on a large scale to stop the decline of habitat caused by invasive species, such as fescue and Osage orange trees and locust trees.
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