EMPACTS: Expand the Tall Grass Prairie. Survey of the Plant Kingdom Fall Semester

Transcription

1 EMPACTS: Expand the Tall Grass Prairie Survey of the Plant Kingdom Fall Semester

2 Team Members Mike Willard- Labor, Team Leader, Researcher, Writer Tommy Parmain- Labor, Researcher, Writer, Computer Expert Laurie Scott-Morris- Labor, Time Keeper, Communication Leader, Researcher, Organization Expert, Writer Brooke Monhollen-Labor, Computer Expert, Researcher, Writer

3 Proposal

4 Introduction As a team we worked to expand our planter box with hopes of re-establishing the Tall Grass Prairie. We hope to set the groundwork for future expanding the Tall Grass Prairie EMPACTS projects

5 Description Planter box #2, formerly planter box #3

6 Overview Our goal is to expand the natural ecosystem of the Tall Grass Prairie by surveying and plotting the planter box Establish baseline project for future EMPACTS teams by removing non native species, seeding, planting, and retrieve data from current habitat We used tools such as a Tiller, Cultivator, Rakes, shovels, Ph Testing Kit, Gloves, Timbers, Trowels, hoes, Sphagnum Moss, Manual Labor, Cameras, Computers, FrontPage, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Teamwork to complete our EMPACTS project.

7 Native Plant Species Before we broke ground and expanded our box we first took a sample of the natural plant species already present around our box. This is what we found:

8 First Sample 3 South of S. W. corner of original planter Box. Foxtail Grass-70% Carpet Weed-25% Oxalis-Notched End-5% Bare Ground-7%

9 Second Sample The Second survey of Natural Species, 8 3 E. of N. E. corner of original frame. Foxtail Grass-50% Oxalis Corniculata-25% Crab Grass-1% Carpet Weed-3.5% Dead Ground 20% Unknown-.5%

10 Soil Testing Before we could begin to expand our box we took four samples Sample 1: West Side N.W. Corner ph of 6.1, Clay like Sample 2: Front of the plot by old bed, East Side ph of 6.0, appears to contain more organic contents Sample 3: West Side of plot ph of 6.1 Sample 4: East Side of plot ph of 6.0

11 GPS Coordinates NE Corner -N Elevation 1320 (1317 ) SE Corner- N W Middle of Plot -N W Elevation 1321 SW Corner- N W Elevation 1322 NW Corner -N W Elevation 1321

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13 Objectives To educate the community on native plants, the importance of ecosystem preservation, and to add aesthetic beauty to the public walking trails To expand our knowledge of the Tall Grass Prairies and to retrieve data on sustainable plant populations To familiarize ourselves with the technology used to create, document, and produce our EMPACTS project. Ex: Tiller, Shovels, Rakes, ph Testing Meter, GPS, Camera, GIMP, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel

14 Methodology

15 Steps 1) Laid out Markers for the expansion of Planter Box #2, formerly Box #3. 2) Baseline Plant Samples 3) Tilled plot approximately 3.5 deep, removed non-native species that were already present in current box, and the expansion area. 4) Plot was re-measured to accommodate 8 sections of the landscape timbers. 5) The timbers were secured with rebar. This part of the project was completed by Mike Willard and Robert Bogart-Intern.

16 6) Initial planting of Tall Grass Prairie Plants, east side of plot. 7) Water the newly planted TGP plants. Mike Willard 8) Additional planting on 10/29 9) Cultivation of West side of plot, and additional planting of TGP plants. List from plant inventory. 10) TGP seeds (List from Mike). Cover crop of oats included into the seed mix, Birds don t prefer oat seed and the oats keep down the competition of Non-Native Species.

17 11) Research the TGP plants that we planted, give brief description of each. 12) Soil information, such as the type of soil in the Planter Box, The Ph of the soil. 13) Geographical information such as GPS coordinates, the Aerial view of the plot, and Plat maps of the plot,

18 Before

19 After

20 Works Cited Denison, Edgar. Missouri Wildflowers. Jefferson City Missouri: Missouri Department of Conservation, , 60, 62, 210. Print. Hunter, Carl G. Wildflowers of Arkansas. Published by Ozark Society Foundation, , 52. Print. Kurz, Don. Ozark Wildflowers, A Field Guide to Common Ozark Wildflowers. Missouri Book Publishing, LLC, Print. Owsley, Mike. USDA, National Resources Conservation Services, USDA Plant Database. Feb. 10, plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs.

21 Special Thanks and Acknowledgement The following people were instrumental in helping gather and prepare information for the expansion of the Tall Grass Prairie Plot #2. Paul Lowrey, GIS Instructor: provided GPS units with a more accurate coordinate than those that we retrieved. Joe Woolbright, Director of Ozark Ecological Restoration Inc. This company is a registered 501 (C) (3) non-profit corporation. The college purchased the Tall Grass Prairie Wildflower Seed Mix from company. Joe also provided a Seed List describing the types of seed that were included in our mix. Robert Bogart, Intern for the Environmental Regulatory Science Program, did an enormous amount of the physical labor for our class. He aided Mike Willard in constructing the Planter Box, as well as spreading Mulch to provide a weed and herbicide barrier around the Planter Box. Tommy Li, Student, Plant Biology, helped to rake and remove invasive species of grasses and plants from our Planter Box. Diane Phillips, EAST Lab, assisted in placing our project on the NWACC Website, so future students can have a reference for any future projects that may be done with Planter Box 2. this