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In 1775, the traveling
Reverend Philip V. Fithian wrote in his diary, "In the valley
there are large open plains, cleared either by Indians or accidental
fire. Hundreds of acres are covered with fine grass and a great
variety of flowers." He was referring to a prairie in nearby
Penns Valley, called the "Great Plains."
Experimental Prairie Patch
In 2001, Daniel Laughlin, an Arboretum graduate assistant in
ecology, collected seeds from a small remnant of that earlier
prairie in Penns Valley, and from several other small prairie
communities scattered throughout central Pennsylvania. His article
explains how he became intrigued by the possibility of recreating
the earlier prairies and how he proceeded to choose an appropriate
site for his study in the Arboretum.
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Source: Denise Wagner
Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
blooms in the prairie plot created as a graduate research
project.
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When writing about his research project, Mr. Laughlin
noted that recreating a prairie patch will be a historical, cultural,
and ecological reminder of a time when natural processes created
a mosaic of habitats throughout central Appalachia. After European
settlement, these habitats were dramatically and permanently changed.
In fact, to the best of our knowledge, this planting
represents the first-ever effort toward limestone prairie restoration
in our part of the state.
Several Native Prairie Species Thriving After
Two Years
In July 2003 many of the twenty-three species planted
in 2001 were not only surviving but thriving, blooming, and towering
above the pasture grass that surrounds the plot. This is significant
from a conservation perspective because two of these plants have
"threatened" status in Pennsylvania.
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Source: Denise Wagner
As research continues, common forms
of pasture grass like the one pictured above will be replaced
near the prairie patch with Bromus kalmii and side-oats
grama, grasses typical of dry, shallow, limestone prairies.
(See photos in side bar.)
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Among the twenty-three species of prairie plants
in the plot, a relatively large number surviving today are side-oats
grama, the dominant grass in limestone prairies (pictured on the
left).
The prairie patch (shown from a distance in the
photo below) is a long way from being a recreated prairie in the
Arboretum, but the results of this small trial are certainly encouraging.
Many of the photographs featured on this page were
taken by Denise Wagner, one of the Arboretum's volunteers, on
July 25, 2003, to help document the status of the prairie patch.
Two pictures are being used with permission from Joel McNeal,
a graduate student in biology at Penn State, to illustrate the
grasses that typically grow in small prairie remnants in central
Pennsylvania.
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Source: Denise Wagner
The yellow flowers of whorled rosinweed
made it easy for visitors to spot the prairie patch in the
pasture during late July 2003.
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The watercolor renderings below were created by
the architectural firm of Sasaki Associates, Inc., to illustrate
how Arboretum visitors might experience walking through a recreated
savannah or prairie.
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