AgEBB-MU CAFNR Extension
Green Horizons
Volume 24, Number 3
Fall 2020
Prairie in Progress at Bluebird Meadow
How Great Rivers Greenway transformed a sod farm into a thriving
prairie along the Dardenne Greenway in St. Charles County
Anne Milford, Communications Coordinator, Great Rivers Greenway
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Great Rivers Greenway is the regional park and trails agency serving St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. Created by a vote of the people in 2000, they are tasked with connecting the St. Louis region with greenways. With 128 miles built to date, their work is guided by community and partner input to build, care for and bring to life a network of greenways. Whenever possible, they incorporate habitat restoration into their greenway projects.
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The agency's conservation work takes different forms depending upon the location and the project. One example is Bluebird Meadow, the 34-acre native wildflower meadow along the Dardenne Greenway: BaratHaven in St. Charles County. Formerly a sod farm, it's now a thriving prairie and natural floodplain for Dardenne Creek that offers valuable resources to pollinators, birds and wildlife. It's also a picturesque landscape enjoyed by neighbors and all the people who walk, run or ride bikes along the greenway.
Sod farm to Prairie Transformation Timeline
2017- Site Preparation and Planting
In 2017, Great Rivers Greenway took the first steps to transform the sod farm into a field of native flowers and grasses. Thanks to a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation facilitated by Missourians for Monarchs, all of the seeds for the new prairie were provided at no cost. The site was cleared of sod and weeds and seeded with warm season grasses and sedges at a rate of seven pounds of seed per acre. Crews maintained the site to promote root growth for the native grasses while preventing annual weeds from setting seeds.
2018-2019 Native wildflower seeding & maintenance
During the winter of 2018, the entire site was seeded with a mix of 25 different species of dry prairie forbs including Wild Bergamot, Purple Coneflower, Rattlesnake Master, Partridge Pea, Common Milkweed, Lead Plant, Tickseed Sunflower and Prairie Blazing Star. Like the warm season grasses and sedges, these seeds were also provided by Missourians for Monarchs. The team monitored the area throughout the growing season to make sure the native plants were taking root and invasive species and annual weeds were not establishing themselves across the site.
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2020-Controlled Burn
To help keep the prairie healthy and beautiful, they completed another important step in its continued growth and establishment - a prescribed burn. In February 2020, conditions were just right for the use of a controlled fire to remove dead vegetation and eliminate undesirable invasive plants. Because of their deep root systems, the native plants not only survived the burn but thrived thanks to the nutrients released into the ground by the burning process. They are also getting more sunlight than before since the covering vegetation was burned off during the fire. Great Rivers Greenway will continue to monitor and maintain the site to help keep the native plant communities in balance and invasive weeds out.
Learn more about Great Rivers Greenway's Conservation work here:
https://greatriversgreenway.org/conservation/
You can watch the prescribed burn at Bluebird Meadow here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biHeUOucMoE&t=9s
If you want to visit the "Prairie in Progress" in the Dardenne Greenway, you can plan your visit here:
https://greatriversgreenway.org/greenway/dardenne-greenwaybarathaven/