DOT Project Number:  90-00-LRTF-903

Fiscal Year:  1999

Award:  $14,000

Principal Investigator:  Dave Williams, Department of Biology, University of Northern Iowa, dave.williams@uni.edu; Daryl Smith, Department of Biology, University of Northern Iowa

Summary Report:

SOD SALVAGE OF A RAILROAD PRAIRIE IN IOWA

In Iowa only a fraction of our original tallgrass prairie remains. Many of these occur along railroad rights-of-ways. Our project involves the salvage of a tallgrass prairie remnant that was to be destroyed by the addition of a new railroad line. This project demonstrates that as a means of last resort, removing the sod and transferring it to another location can save a threatened tallgrass prairie remnant.

Lakeside Lab in Northwest Iowa and North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) in Mason City were chosen as recipient sites. Prior to the prairie sod addition, vegetation at NIACC was sprayed with Roundup late summer in 1998 and 15 cm of topsoil removed a month later. The site at Lakeside Lab was shallowly disked.

Prior to the sod removal, a species survey was conducted at the donor site (on hwy. 9 in Armstrong, Iowa) in 1998. Prairie sod was dug from the donor site and spread at the recipient sites late November in 1998. Sod was dug at 7.5 cm and 15 cm depths and spread at the recipient sites at the same depths as removed. The goal of this project was to compare the recovery of the prairie Sod at these two depths in the recipient sites.

Permanent transects were established and the vegetation was sampled in September of 1999. A total of 123 species (102 native, 21 non-native) were found at NIACC and 116 species (95 native, 21 non-native) occurred at Lakeside Lab. Vegetation sampled in the 7.5 cm and 15 cm NIACC plots produced 83 species (69 native, 14 non-native) and 79 species (65 native, 14 non-native) respectively. Transect samples of 7.5 cm and 15 cm plots at Lakeside Lab produced 64 species (50 native, 14 non-native) and 91 species (73 native, 18 non-native) respectively. Spiranthes cernua (Nodding Ladies' Tresses) was the only species not found in any of the recipient sites that occurred at the donor site. Prairie sod salvaged at the two different depths in our experiment didn't appear to affect its recovery at the recipient sites.