LAS News

Two hundred years ago, the land to the east of the main Iowa State campus (directly across from the women’s soccer fields) was a native prairie.

The settlement of the West and Ames changed all that. The prairie was converted into a horse pasture with non-native pasture grasses and until the early 1980s, the area had almost a park-like appearance.

"The horses kept everything down," said Jim Colbert, associate professor of botany.

But when the horses were taken off the property and no fire maintenance occurred, the land reverted to a wooded area. These days, a bike/walking trail winds its way through a portion of the land.

Soon however, thanks to the efforts of Colbert, Jim Pease, assistant professor of animal ecology, and numerous student, faculty and community volunteers, this patch of land will hopefully be restored back to something closer to its natural state.

Colbert says the group hopes to recreate a savannah, complete with native prairie grasses and plants with a few large trees.

"These types of prairie areas are very rare. There are few left in North America," he said.

Before that can be accomplished however, the area to the east of Elwood Drive needs to be cleared out. That's exactly what the volunteers have been doing. Several times over the past year and a half volunteers have gotten together and cleared out a portion of the site.

The unseasonably mild winter weather has enabled the group to get a head start on work this spring. The first workday was held Sunday, Feb. 17, with another date scheduled for Sunday, March 3.

The volunteers are clearing out numerous small trees that are not natural to prairies. Iowa State's Department of Facilities Planning and Management is chipping the brush and using the resulting mulch on campus.

While the whole area is approximately 20 acres, Colbert hopes to develop a classroom area of two to four acres in preparation for the spring planting season.

"We plan on planting the native grasses and plants this spring," he said, "with the hope we can use this as an outdoor classroom next fall.

"And as time goes on, this area will continue to get better and better."

The biological sciences in both the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture plan to use the area for a variety of classes.

"The outdoor classroom will be valuable for Biology 201 (Principles of Biology I) or Biology 312 (Ecology), as well as other classes," Colbert said. "Students will be able to come to this site and see a prairie, woodlands and a stream (Squaw Creek) in a small, easily accessible area."

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