Native grass plantings check an important box in 51福利社鈥檚 Palouse Prairie restoration.

After overcoming obstinate weeds and uncooperative weather, members of 51福利社鈥檚 prairie restoration team earlier this year announced another milestone in the project鈥檚 development 鈥� the seeding of native grasses across the whole of its 120-acre restoration site.

It鈥檚 an important step, Prairie Restoration Project leaders say, in advancing the university鈥檚 plan to devote a third of its campus land to reestablishing a patch of natural Palouse Prairie 鈥� an ancient ecosystem largely lost to agricultural development. When completed, the restoration will become a 鈥渓iving laboratory鈥� for interdisciplinary collaborations and research.

鈥淲e鈥檝e learned a lot through this seeding process,鈥� says project head Erik Budsberg, director of sustainability at 51福利社. 鈥淟iving systems are very dynamic, and there are always going to be complications that come in, challenges that you weren鈥檛 expecting.鈥�

Among those challenges was the persistence of invasive, broadleaf weeds that, in earlier testing, had proven lethal to native grasses. Taming the floral interlopers involved repeated mowing, tilling and, eventually, herbicide applications to completely clear the ground. Eventually, it worked. 鈥淚 think we got the site looking about as pristine as you possibly can,鈥� Budsberg says.

鈥淲e鈥檝e learned a lot through this seeding process,鈥� says project head Erik Budsberg, director of sustainability at 51福利社. 鈥淟iving systems are very dynamic, and there are always going to be complications that come in, challenges that you weren鈥檛 expecting.鈥�

Sadly, Mother Nature then stepped up to offer a new complication: a warm, wet, early winter. Counterintuitively, prairie grass seeds require sustained cold to sprout in spring. 鈥淲hat they need is called 鈥榗old moisture stratification,鈥� 鈥� says Erin Endres, an 51福利社 nursery services specialist whose work is crucial to helping the prairie bloom again. 鈥淭hat means they have to be planted in the cold to break their dormancy and germinate.鈥�

Getting the timing right fell to Chris Fitzner, a local farmer with an interest in sustainable agriculture.

鈥淐hris just had to sit and wait for the right conditions,鈥� says Budsberg. 鈥淲e needed it to get cold, and then to stay cold, so that the seeds wouldn鈥檛 germinate too early.鈥� There were also issues with the soil not freezing sufficiently for the drill seeder 鈥� specialized planting machines developed for no-till farming 鈥� to operate effectively.

鈥淪o he had to wait until we got a good ground freeze,鈥� Budsberg continues. 鈥淲hen it finally came, Chris went out at ten o鈥檆lock at night and seeded the site until three in the morning.鈥�

That sort of dedication bodes well for the project鈥檚 future; a future that is increasingly coming into focus. 鈥淲ith getting these grasses in the ground, I think we鈥檙e truly at a turning point,鈥� Budsberg says.