Webinars
During PRI webinars, experts share important information about emerging issues in prairie reconstruction and management, present research results, provide training on new methods and tools, and much more.
"Using grass selective herbicide to improve pollinator value in prairie reconstruction"
Justin Meissen, Research and Restoration Program Manager, Tallgrass Prairie Center, University of Northern Iowa
Many prairie reconstructions become grass dominated and lose forb abundance over time, limiting their utility to provide habitat for pollinators. This talk will cover an experiment assessing the effects of grass-selective herbicide on plant community composition in existing prairie research plots with stands varying in grass to forb seeding ratio (grass dominated, grass/forb balanced, forb dominated). Learn how grass-selective herbicide (Clethodim) has potential to temporarily increase flower and forb abundance the year following treatment, and how herbicide effects vary depending on stand composition.
February 2024
"Quit herbiciding thistles in natural areas restorations"
Julianne Mason, Restoration Program Coordinator, Forest Preserve District of Will County, Illinois
Juli Mason will recount the differing trajectories of two thistle-infested prairie restorations, where opposite thistle management strategies were used. In conjunction with the results of a soil herbicide residual experiment, she makes the case that thistles in natural areas are a symptom of a problem--usually, a lack of enough native perennials--and why applying herbicide to kill thistles may be counterproductive. Juli has been professionally doing prairie and wetland restoration for the past 25 years, and perhaps like many of you, her previous self would have been skeptical of this presentation's content and take-home message. However, it's humbling and exciting at the same time to be reminded of the complexity of our natural systems, and to continue to learn and grow as restoration practitioners and natural resource managers.
February 2024
“Investigating the scale of local adaptation and rate of adaptive evolution in Minnesota tallgrass prairies”
Anna Peschel, Healthy Prairies Postdoc, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
In this presentation Anna Peschel will talk about one of the aims of the Healthy Prairies project, which is to evaluate the geographic and environmental distance over which seeds from six tallgrass prairie perennial plants can be translocated into prairie reconstructions without severely compromising survival and reproduction. Dr. Peschel will also present research evaluating the capacity for adaptive evolution of the annual prairie legume Chamaecrista fasciculata when planted into prairie reconstructions along an aridity gradient representing climate change.
February 2023
“Long-term data and outcomes from the Nachusa Grasslands restoration”
Elizabeth Bach, Ecosystem Restoration Scientist with The Nature Conservancy at Nachusa Grasslands
Ecosystem restoration provides potential to reverse losses in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Long-term monitoring is essential to understanding if restoration projects deliver on this potential. Such datasets also provide important insights into ecological mechanisms. In this talk, Elizabeth Bach will present long-term, multi-trophic data collected across the 35-year history of the Nachusa Grasslands preserve in north-central Illinois.
February 2023
“How management decisions affect ecological outcomes in agroecosystem revegetation projects: Planting time, first-year mowing, and seed mix design make a difference”
Justin Meissen, Research and Restoration Program Manager, Tallgrass Prairie Center, University of Northern Iowa
Successful restoration of ecosystem services could depend on management decisions applied during revegetation projects. In this talk Justin Meissen discusses the effects of three management decisions (seed mix design, planting time, and first-year mowing) on targeted ecosystem services (erosion control, weed resistance, and pollinator resources). Dr. Meissen tested three seed mixes of varying diversity and grass-to-forb seeding ratios and established plots at two planting times with or without first-year mowing. Find out how these management decisions influenced outcomes, and how a comparison to a previous study revealed these effects to be robust to variation in site and climatic conditions.
February 2023
“Monitoring Effectiveness of Prairie Restorations for Grassland Birds”
Mike Worland, Regional Nongame Wildlife Biologist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Mike will review work studying bird communities in prairie restorations of southwest Minnesota spanning three years and two projects, including a pilot project to evaluate effectiveness of the Minnesota Prairie Conservation Plan. Mike will present early findings of bird community differences among low-diversity grasslands, remnant prairie, and restorations, and he will provide insights and lessons learned that can be applied to effectiveness monitoring for a variety of ecological responses.
February 2022
“Pollinator Friendly Solar and Prairie Reconstruction”
Megan Benage, Regional Ecologist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Dan Shaw, Senior Ecologist and Vegetation Specialist, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources
The Minnesota solar energy industry is growing by leaps and bounds. With that growth is an opportunity to find stackable benefits (e.g. lower cost energy production, water retention, improved soil health, habitat creation) and to build back better for pollinators and other wildlife. Megan and Dan will define pollinator-friendly solar and how clean energy development can provide important connections on the landscape.
February 2022
“Pollination Ecology, Conservation, and Restoration”
Dr. Alex Harmon-Threatt, Associate Professor, Entomology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Harmon-Threatt’s work focuses on identifying and understanding patterns in natural environments to help conserve and restore pollinator diversity. With a particular focus on bees, she investigates how factors at both the local and landscape scale, including plant diversity, isolation, and bee characteristics, affect bee diversity in local communities.
February 2022
“The Causes and Consequences of Year Effects During Prairie Reconstruction”
Dr. Lars Brudvig, Michigan State University
Do we see a signature of year effects on planted prairies? What mechanism(s) contribute to year effects (interannual variation in precipitation and other factors)? What are the consequences of year effects for restoration outcomes (e.g., native plant diversity, invasion, other aspects of ecosystem structure and functions)?
March 2021
"Unraveling Prairie Riddles Using the PRI Monitoring Protocol"
Pauline Drobney, PRI Science Coordinator, USFWS, and Amanda McColpin, PRI Coordinator, USFWS Contractor
Using the PRI monitoring protocol is an investment in your prairie reconstruction. Learn how using the PRI monitoring protocol and sharing your results in the PRI Database is an investment in the prairie landscape and builds our collective skill faster so that we all improve our success. Join PRI and contribute to the bigger picture as we learn together!
March 2021
"Designing Seed Mixes with Pollinators in Mind"
Megan Benage, MN Dept. of Natural Resources and Karin Jokela, Xerces Society
This talk will cover the lessons learned from the tallgrass prairie landscape that can be applied in our seed mix design today. We’ve learned identifying your target community and goals, site considerations, species selection, and seeding rates are key components to successful seed mix design. We’ll walk you through those steps and hopefully arm you with the tools to feel more confident in building an awesome prairie.
February 2021
“Pollinator Conservation in Prairie Restorations: Defining Success and Understanding the Drivers”
Ian Lane, University of Minnesota
Conserving pollinators has quickly become one the primary goals of prairie restoration. With over 450 species of bees in Minnesota, how we set goals and define success can be a challenge. Ian’s talk will focus on pollinator conservation benchmarks and the factors that influence them in prairie restorations.
February 2021
Related information for Aldrich-Wolfe and Larson webinar.docxPlease note that we could not record this webinar but the document above contains related information
“Mycorrhizal Fungal Communities Depend on Plant Host and Differ Between Prairie Reconstructions and Remnants for Five Sites in Minnesota and Iowa”
Dr. Diane Larson, U.S. Geological Survey, Dr. Laura Aldrich-Wolfe, North Dakota State University
It is notoriously difficult to achieve high native plant diversity in reconstructed prairies. Often only a fraction of the species in a seed mix establish and persist. As we compare the communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in remnant versus reconstructed prairies, we are beginning to understand some of the interactions between plant species and the fungal communities that inhabit their rhizospheres and help the plants to thrive. In this presentation, we will illustrate some of the ways in which a healthy fungal community may help foster the plant species diversity we desire in prairie reconstructions.
February 2021
"Apps to make your life easier"
Emily Helms, Range Management Specialist, USDA-NRCS
There are a number of apps for your phone that can increase efficiency and effectiveness, and there are new ones being introduced all the time. Join us as Emily demonstrates several apps that she has found to be particularly useful and time saving.
March 2020
Pdf of apps discussed in the webinar:
Apps to Make your Life Easier.pdf"Working Towards Climate-Adapted Grassland Reconstruction"
Marissa Ahlering, Lead Prairie Ecologist and Nina Hill, Science Fellow, The Nature Conservancy, MN, ND, SD
Climate change is significantly impacting grasslands, and the northern Great Plains have been especially hard hit due to other extreme pressures such as habitat loss and invasive species. Floral diversity is the backbone of grassland diversity and ecosystem function. The goal of this project was to enhance native forb species diversity and genetic diversity in the northern prairies to increase resilience of the grasslands in the face of climate change. Specifically, our adaptation strategy for this project was twofold: 1) increase the overall native forb diversity and stability of low diversity and restored prairies and 2) mix multiple seed source populations to increase the adaptability of the native forbs in the system. To support this effort we built a geodatabase to map and track potential seed sources across western MN and the eastern Dakotas, and this database is shareable with partners. We will discuss the implementation of 600 acres of multi-source restoration, the tools we built to support this implementation and the science we have set up to evaluate success.
November 2020
"Bison-mediated seed dispersal: restoring ecosystem functions in tallgrass prairie"
Pete Eyheralde PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology, William Penn University
Bison are considered a keystone species in grassland ecosystems. We’ll explore the natural history of bison in the eastern tallgrass prairie and see how the loss of these mega-herbivores has impacted the ecology of our remaining tallgrass prairies. We'll discuss findings from research being done in Iowa and how this information may lead to new techniques for grassland management, increasing biodiversity in our prairie reconstructions.
March 2019
"The PRI Monitoring Protocol"
Pauline Drobney, PRI Science Coordinator, USFWS and Amanda McColpin, PRI Coordinator, USFWS
How do prairie reconstructions work? Are our planting methods and management techniques getting us consistently good results? What nudges plantings toward or away from our goals through time? To answer questions like these, the Prairie Reconstruction Initiative developed a monitoring protocol designed to work in tandem with a management database. Join us as we preview the new monitoring protocol for you.
March 2019
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2060820539730611970 (Go to link to access recorded webinar; requires registration)
“Information is power to get from seeds to successful prairie every time!”
Presented by Pauline Drobney, PRI Science Coordinator, Prairie and Savanna Zone Biologist, USFWS for the Interagency Ecological Restoration Quality Committee webinar series.
Prairie reconstruction (establishing prairie from seed) is essential to meet conservation goals where prairie once dominated the landscape. To bridge knowledge gaps and cultivate ecological restoration connections, a network of researchers and practitioners from over 30 conservation organizations has joined forces in a group called the Prairie Reconstruction Initiative (PRI). This webinar will describe how PRI uses tools including the newly-released monitoring protocol and the reconstruction and management database to improve collective learning and inform future decisions.
April 2019
"Evaluating risks and sustainable practices"
Justin Meissen, Research and Restoration Program Manager, University of Northern Iowa, Tallgrass Prairie Center
Seed supply limits large-scale restorations, which often rely on seed collection from remnant ecosystems. Overharvesting seed may deplete native plant populations, exacerbate seed limitation, and jeopardize ecosystem integrity. In this webinar, Justin Meissen will discuss how life history traits provide a useful framework to address the risks of seed harvest.
January 2018
"The PRI Database"
Pauline Drobney and Ben Walker, US Fish and Wildlife Service
The PRI Database is a powerful tool for improving our success at reconstructing prairies. Documentation of what occurred on a site is crucial to understanding and evaluating the outcome of that reconstruction. By analyzing the results of multiple reconstructions across multiple contexts, we can better understand which factors have the greatest impact on the effectiveness of prairie reconstruction techniques and management strategies.
February 2018
“To burn or to graze: effects on Minnesota remnant prairie plants and pollinators”
Julia Leone, University of Minnesota, Conservation Biology Graduate Program
Patrick Pennarola, University of Minnesota, Department of Entomology
Diane Larson, U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
This webinar describes how conservation grazing and prescribed burning differ in their effects on prairie plants, bees and butterflies.
Funding provided by the Environment & Natural Resources Trust Fund
March 2018
"A look back 80+ years of restoration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum's Curtis Prairie"
Brad Herrick and Michael Hansen, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Arboretum
February 2017