Prairie land once covered 20 million acres of land in Iowa. Today, only about 20,000 acres of prairie remain, said Greg Houseal, who works with the Roadside Management Office at the University of Northern Iowa. Now transportation officials have teamed up with biologists to bring native prairie grasses to Iowa roadsides, and both groups say the arrangement is mutually beneficial. For Tom Rosburg, assistant professor of biology at Drake University in Des Moines, the planting makes ecological sense. People saw it as a great way to bring back a native plant community.
Ecosystems are always more stable if they have more biodiversity.
The prairie also provides a natural habitat for many birds, insects and small mammals that are out of place in other environments. For Mark Masteller, chief landscape architect for the Iowa Department of Transportation, planting prairie makes good practical and economic sense. The initial cost to grow prairie plants is higher than the cost of growing other grasses. The native plants, which are more adapted to the local climate, local diseases and other local species, cost less because they require less care. Highway caretakers said they save a lot of money when they don't have to spray herbicides regularly and don't have to mow the area along the highway.