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The NRCS Plant Materials Program eNewsletter for the conservation community

Volunteers Transplant Sod, Bring Back Historical Cajun Prairie

COASTAL PRAIRIE

Coastal prairie once

covered millions of

acres in both states.

NRCS State

Conservationist Don

Gohmert and

Wildlife Biologist

John Pitre visit with

"Cajun Prairie"

landowner Al Dietz

during the workday.

What does it take to restore one of the most threatened

ecosystems in the world?

For a swath of southern Louisiana "Cajun Prairie,"

the needs are basic--volunteers and hard work.

The ìCajun Prairieî is part of the tall grass coastal

prairie, beginning about 30 miles inland from the Gulf Coast

and, at one time,

stretching across

southwest

Louisiana and

southeast Texas.

The prairie is

dominated by

little bluestem,

switchgrass, big

bluestem and

Indiangrass, and

includes

hundreds of

wildflower

species and

many rare plants.

Less than 200 acres of coastal prairie remain in

Louisianaóless than one percent of the 2.5 million acres

that existed when French settlers first arrived two centuries

ago. ìA settler would have

to stand on his horseís back

to see over the tops of the

tall grasses and the nearly

500 different species of

plants,î says Dr. Ernest

Girouard, chairman of the

Vermilion Soil and Water

Conservation District.

Over 250 volunteers,

many of them Cajun

descendents and wearing ìI

Dig Prairieî t-shirts, dug

small sections of sod from

nearby remnant prairie and

scattered it in the 110-acre project area.

 ìThe lack of commercially available species adapted to

Louisiana is the major reason more large-scale restorations

have not been successful,î says Scott Edwards, plant

materials specialist, for the Natural Resources Conservation

Service (NRCS). ìNative seed for coastal prairie is in

extremely short supply and, right now, transplanting sod and

hand collecting small quantities of seed are the only two

options we have.î

The NRCS Plant Materials Program and the U.S.

Geological Survey have collected native seed from 20

wildflower and five grass species and are currently growing

them, in hopes of increasing native seed supplies and

restoring more prairie in the future.

The 110-acre ìCajun Prairieî restoration project was a

cooperative NRCS Wetland Reserve Program project with

landowners Al and Dolores Dietz. About 20 other partners

assisted including Ducks Unlimited, the Cajun Prairie

Habitat Preservation Society and The Nature Conservancy.

Contact: Scott Edwards, scott.edwards@la.usda.gov
The mission of the Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Materials Program is to develop, test and transfer

effective state-of-the-art plant science technology to meet customer and resource needs.

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information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDAís TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).To file a complaint of discrimination, write the USDA, Director,

Office of Civil Rights, Room 326W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW. Washington, D.C., 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal

opportunity provider and employer.

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ëVermilioní smooth cordgrass

ëAlamoí switchgrass

Plants Help Save Disappearing Marshes

Louisiana loses an acre of Gulf Coast marsh every 25 minutes. This adds up to 25 to 35 square

miles every year.

Lost salt marshes become open water, killing off plants like smooth cordgrass and then, in

return, depleting marine habitat and causing soil erosion. This affects tourism and the seafood

industry, and increases the exposure of oil pipelines.

ìThe issues with coastal erosion are so massiveóitís going to take a lot of collaboration and

work,î says Gary Fine, manager of the NRCS Golden Meadow Plant Materials Center (PMC).

The Golden Meadow PMC near Galliano has tested and made available six native plant

varieties for use in coastal marsh restoration, including ëVermilioní smooth cordgrass and

ëBrazoriaí seashore paspalum. Over the last several years, the Soil and Water Conservation

Districts and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources have used these releases for most of

their coastal restoration projects. The partners have garnered impressive results: 23 constructed

ponds and almost one million linear feet of protected shoreline.

The PMC is also cooperating with Louisiana State University and others to study new planting

technology for re-establishing marsh vegetation.

ìItís the plant communities that hold it all together,î Fine says. ìAnd thatís where weíre starting.î

Contact: Gary Fine, manager, Golden Meadow PMC, gary.fine@la.usda.gov

Ask the Expert

Ken Vogel, USDA-Agriculture Research Service geneticist,

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Agronomy Department

Can perennial switchgrass be as effective for

biofuel production as other crops, such as corn?

Perennial, high yielding grasses such as switchgrass have

the potential to produce significantly more ethanol per acre

than corn. Several existing switchgrass varieties could

produce almost 500 gallons of ethanol per acre while dryland corn

grain produces 290 gallons per acre, on average. However, at this

time, the biomass conversion costs are higher for switchgrass. If they

are reduced, switchgrass can be a viable energy crop.

In addition, switchgrass can offer conservation benefits. It can be

grown on lands with high erosion potential, such as those in the

Conservation Reserve Program. It also requires less inputs, such as

tractor fuel and herbicides, thereby saving money and promoting air

and water quality.

Contact: Ken Vogel, kvogel1@unl.edu

Link: http://ard.unl.edu/rn/0900/grass.html

Quotable Quotes

ìOver the long haul of life on this planet, it is the ecologists, and not the bookkeepers of business, who are the ultimate

accountants.î --Stewart Udall

Switchgrass Varieties Offer

Biofuels Promise

To complement the work Ken

Vogel is conducting with

switchgrass, the NRCS Plant

Materials Centers (PMCs) in

Coffeeville, MS, Booneville, AR,

and Manhattan, KS, are testing

production of new and existing

switchgrass varieties. Included in

the trial are varieties selected

and made commercially available

by the NRCS Plant Materials

Program. Promising varieties

include ëAlamoí switchgrass for

the South, ëKanlowí for the

Midwest and ëCave-in-Rockí for

the central and northern states.

Contact: Joel Douglas, manager,

Coffeeville PMC,

joel.douglas@ms.usda.gov

Ken Vogel