{"id":732,"date":"2021-06-16T21:27:28","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T21:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=732"},"modified":"2023-04-04T18:03:04","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T18:03:04","slug":"prairies-progres","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/prairies-progres\/","title":{"rendered":"Prairie\u2019s Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"
A snowy seed-sowing session ushers in a prairie\u2019s revival.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prairie Restoration Project, a multi-year effort aimed at transforming a plot of now fallow Eastern-owned farmland back into its original native Palouse prairie state, got a big boost earlier this winter after a team of faculty, staff and students braved the elements to complete a critical early step in site development \u2014 planting native seeds.<\/p>\n

Spreading seed in the middle of an Inland Northwest winter sounds a little crazy. But, according to Erik Budsberg, sustainability coordinator at EWU and prairie project manager, snow is a prairie plant\u2019s best friend. Native-plant seeds, he says, need to be \u201cbroadcast\u201d on top of a fresh layer of snow so that they can gradually seep into the ground as the snow melts. If all goes well, more snow falls after the seed distribution is complete, shielding the vulnerable seeds from hungry birds and other small animals.<\/p>\n

\"Eastern's
Students sowing seeds this winter as part of Eastern’s Prairie Restoration Project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re out here today doing a bunch of hand broadcasting, which is basically taking the seeds in our hands and throwing them out,\u201d Budsberg says. \u201cWe\u2019re setting up research plots to look at aspects of the different seed mixes we plant, which will help us determine how we manage those in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The on-site work started with a small pilot plot located just southwest of Roos Field. Budsberg says project organizers originally hoped to create a 15-acre pilot site last fall, but the weather didn\u2019t cooperate: Too much rain saturated the soil, which meant crews couldn\u2019t bring in the heavy machinery needed to seed large sections. To avoid having to wait a full growing season to get started, the prairie restoration team decided instead to seed a smaller one-and-a-half acre section by hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a living laboratory where we can use our facilities to allow faculty and students to do a lot of great research,\u201d says project leader Erik Budsberg.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The seed mixes include a biodiverse array of grasses and forbs that once grew in the area. The seeding team spread different mixes in separate, well-marked areas so that they could later determine which seed groupings most successfully produced healthy, mature plants.<\/p>\n

The full restoration will take years. Researchers must monitor plants\u2019 growth \u2014 often over more than one growing season \u2014 to take stock of which species are best suited to Eastern\u2019s restoration site. In addition, scholars and student researchers from other disciplines, such as geology and environmental science, will study the soil and the groundwater.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a living laboratory where we can use our facilities to allow faculty and students to do a lot of great research,\u201d says Budsberg. \u201cThe project will also provide some new opportunities that mimic more real-world situations, as students and faculty connect with different departments and programs that they might not have connected with before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to learn more? Visit a new immersive website dedicated to helping visitors visualize, and support, the ongoing work:\u00a0 ewu.edu\/prairie<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A snowy seed-sowing session ushers in a prairie\u2019s revival.   Prairie Restoration Project, a multi-year effort aimed at transforming a plot of now fallow Eastern-owned farmland back into its original native Palouse prairie state, got a big boost earlier this winter after a team of faculty, staff and students braved the elements to complete a…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":734,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-732","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"featured_video":"","subheading":"","display_byline":false,"display_date_published":false,"Links":false,"Resources":false,"featured_image_format":"cover","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1780,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/732\/revisions\/1780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}