Talking Big: Lessons Learned from a 9000 Hectare Restoration in the Northern Tallgrass Prairie

Philip J. Gerla, Meredith W. Cornett, Jason D. Ekstein and Marissa A. Ahlering
Additional contact information
Philip J. Gerla: The Nature Conservancy and University of North Dakota, 81 Cornell Street Stop 8358, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA
Meredith W. Cornett: The Nature Conservancy, 394 Lake Avenue S., Suite 308, Duluth, MN 55802, USA
Jason D. Ekstein: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 31077 State Hwy 32 S., Mentor, MN 56736, USA
Marissa A. Ahlering: The Nature Conservancy, 414 E. Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA

Sustainability, 2012, vol. 4, issue 11, 1-22

Abstract: Large tracts (>1000 ha) of prairie are essential to the sustainability of grassland ecosystem services, yet in many ecoregions only small fragments remain. Glacial Ridge is among the largest prairie-wetland restorations ever attempted. Started in 2000, the 9000 ha project in northwest Minnesota, USA, was initiated to reconnect 14 small tallgrass prairie remnants. In all, 15,200 ha of contiguous habitat comprise the project's direct accomplishment. We created a partnership of more than 30 organizations, filled 177 km of drainage ditch, restored 1240 ha of wetland, and replanted 8100 ha. Flooding has been mitigated, water quality improved, and native vegetation reestablished. Animals not documented for decades have again occupied the site. Despite these accomplishments, the project would have been unnecessary if the land had been purchased in the 1970s, prior to conversion to agriculture, at one-tenth the restoration cost. Our challenges related to funding, differences in partners' restoration philosophy, community concerns about floods and tax losses, difficulties in obtaining seed, and follow-up management of invasive weeds. We summarize the restoration process and share basic principles that will help others to develop large-scale prairie restoration projects in the future.

Keywords: grassland; land-use management; conservation; landscape ecology; restoration; prairie (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/4/11/3066/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/4/11/3066/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:4:y:2012:i:11:p:3066-3087:d:21439

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().