Glades
Prairies and Glades
One third of Missouri, more than 15 million acres, was once tallgrass prairie. Because the fertile soils are ideal for growing corn and wheat, 99 percent of the habitat has been plowed and developed, leaving islands of prairie in a sea of cropland. The Conservation Department preserves prairie remnants and restores grassland habitat. Protecting the grassland community not only helps endangered species, such as greater prairie-chickens and Mead's milkweed, but also Henslow's sparrows, upland sandpipers and prairie mole crickets.
Unlike prairies, glades were always natural island communities, usually surrounded by woods. Confined mostly to the Ozark region, glade communities are determined by the type of rock below, such as limestone, igneous or sandstone. Distinguished by shallow, rocky, dry soil conditions, glades support many species adapted to a desert-like existence, including prickly pear cacti, scorpions, tarantulas, collared lizards and the Missouri bladderpod, a plant restricted to the Ozarks.
Bluestem, Indian grass and Indian paintbrush are three of the plant species common to both prairies and glades. Both natural communities need periodic fire to keep trees from establishing themselves and to rejuvenate native plants.
Fire Management
In 1996, The Conservation Department conducted 451 prescribed fires on 23,594 acres of public prairies and glades and 38 burns on 1,823 acres of private land. Fire kills invasive trees and shrubs, and the ash fertilizes the soil and absorbs warmth from spring sunlight, speeding the emergence of prairie plants. Managers monitor wind and humidity levels, place fire lanes and set backfires. They time the burns to protect prairie animals during their breeding seasons.
Glade Restoration
Igneous glades like this one at Ketcherside Mountain Conservation Area have massive boulder outcrops dotted with acid soil-loving mosses and lichens. Common plants are little bluestem, buttonweed and flower-of-the hour, with Indian grass growing on deeper soils. The Conservation Department uses prescribed burns to rejuvenate this 600-acre glade. Fire stimulates the diversity of glade-loving plants by clearing the overstory and allowing more sunlight to strike the soil.
Surveys & Inventories
Missouri was once the heart of greater prairie-chicken country, but populations have plummeted from hundreds of thousands in the 1800s to fewer than 2,000 today. Because 97 percent of the remaining birds inhabit private property, the prairie-chicken's future in the state rests in the hands of landowners. The Conservation Department, in cooperation with the University of Missouri, has initiated a program to offer prairie owners management assistance and to purchase quality prairie remnants from willing sellers.
Once a common prairie flower across Missouri, the prairie fringed orchid is now confined to three locations in the northwest corner of the state. The plant's luminous flowers and powerful night fragrance attract its primary pollinator, a nocturnal hawk moth. The Conservation Department cooperates with Missouri Western State College to research and monitor the prairie fringed orchid.
