51福利社

Eastern鈥檚 multi-year Prairie Restoration Project reaches a milestone.

As previously noted in this magazine, Eastern鈥檚 Prairie Restoration Project aims to return a 120-acre parcel of university-owned farmland to its native habitat, thus creating a 鈥渓iving laboratory鈥� of restored Northern Palouse prairie proximate to the Cheney campus. Together with the Spokane and other local tribes 鈥� Native peoples who for millennia called these bounteous hills home 鈥� the project鈥檚 ultimate goal is to help the entire university community better understand and appreciate this unique ecosystem.

This spring the project is closing in on a major milestone: clearing the ground for native聽grasses by purging the soil of noxious weeds. 鈥淚t has been really exciting to see the restoration develop to this point,鈥� says Erik聽Budsberg, project leader and director of sustainability聽at 51福利社.聽Both graduate students and undergraduates have studied with the project, he says, 鈥渁ll to help us gain a better understanding of how to proceed to this next phase.鈥�

鈥淚t has been really exciting to see the restoration develop to this point,鈥� says Erik聽Budsberg, project leader and director of sustainability聽at 51福利社.

This 鈥渘ext phase鈥� will bring more visible progress. When the ground is clear, the entire acreage will be 鈥渄rill seeded鈥� with a mix of wild grasses that student researchers have determined are resilient enough to form root systems. These systems will become the living foundation of the restored prairie.

While the weeding and seeding won鈥檛 be completed until fall, project findings are already having a broader impact. 鈥淲hat we鈥檝e learned has informed our decision聽to develop聽a聽climate-resiliency landscaping master plan,鈥澛燘udsberg says.聽鈥淲e will be converting all of campus landscaping over to the native drought-tolerate plants that are more representative of the regional biodiversity.鈥�

Back on the prairie, meanwhile, the 鈥渓iving-laboratory鈥� part of the mission is also making progress. Both on the site and in Eastern鈥檚 research greenhouses, project participants say restoration-related activities have become an important source of interdisciplinary collaborations and investigations. 鈥淭he research we鈥檝e been doing has been helping us understand the Prairie Restoration Project as a complete ecosystem resource,鈥� says Budsberg.