Farming Prairie Flowers

• Why don't prairie flowers grow everywhere in Iowa?

• What does burning do?
• How does growing new prairie affect the environment?

Students could:

• Compare the biodiversity in a prairie environment to a typical corn or soybean field.
• Analyze data on water quality over time in areas with and without prairie.
• Research how native wildlife has been affected by depletion of prairie.
• Design posters educating the community on local prairie restoration projects.

• Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT | Living Roadway Trust Fund: Iowa DOT program to plant native plants alongside highways.
• Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation | Remnant Prairie: A Closer Look at Iowa's Rarest Landscape: Blog post on remnant prairie.
• PBS LearningMedia | FIND Iowa: Reconstructed and Remnant Prairies: Remnant prairies are rare in Iowa, but there are some significant efforts to reconstruct prairies there. Explore what it takes to reconstruct prairie.
• Iowa PBS | Iowa Land and Sky: Iowa Prairie Restoration: This video profiles a restored prairie and compares the biodiversity to Iowa's largest remaining tract of original prairie, Broken Kettle Grasslands north of Sioux City.
• UNI Tallgrass Prairie Center: Information on prairies and restoration.
• Iowa Prairie Network: Organization dedicated to Iowa's prairie heritage.

Submitted by Dan Voss and Madison Beeler as part of their Iowa STEM Teacher Externship experience at Iowa PBS.

Media produced for Iowa Outdoors by Iowa PBS.