TWRA is promoting the return of native grasslands through the Upland Game Bird Habitat Program. They help provide seeds or seedlings and offer a cost share incentive to the private landowner. Many public lands, such as wildlife management areas, are being converted. At this time, the seed sources for these plantings are coming from the northern and Midwestern states. It is hoped that in the near future, seeds from the native Tennessee barrens will be harvested to maintain pure native stock.
Grasses are very basic plants with a root, stem and flower.
They are monocots, having the vascular tissue of the stems in scattered bundles. Grasses have simple linear leaves with sheathing or clasping bases, parallel veins and entire margins. The stems are round and have joints at the nodes. The leaves are clustered at the base with up to 15 joints in the first inch of the stem becoming farther apart as they progress up the stem. The leaves have two main parts, the sheath and the blade.