Patience required

     There is a small piece of virgin prairie on some land we own in SD.  This land, 10-15 acres maybe?...has never been plowed because it is both hilly and rocky.  Previous owners fenced it for pasture.
     When we purchased it in 1992, two grasses made up 99% of the grass cover: Smooth Brome which is an import from Europe...possibly from Siberia...and Kentucky Bluegrass.  Neither of these grasses have much wildlife value, in part, becasue they are not stiff enough to stand up to winter snows. Enhancing wildlife habitat has always be an interest of mine.
   Because it is native prairie and becasue native grasses have more wildlife value I was interested in restoring those native grasses.  Plowing and replanting was not a feasible strategy because of the hills and rocks, besides, it would no longer be virgin prairie.   Burning, another restoration option, also isn't wise because it would be too difficult to control and keep the fire within proper bounds.
    Brome grass is an early spring grass, very aggressive and very difficult to eradicate and Bluegrass, also called June-grass, is also a spring grass.   Many of the native grasses are late summer grasses which is why they do not compete very well with Brome grass.  However, the early nature of the invasive grasses do provide a method of more natural control.
    The buffalo are long gone but other grazers are available to provide that control. A local farmer raises both sheep and cattle and he agreed to put his livestock in this pasture from early spring until the 1st of July.  For the first twelve years he used it as sheep pasture with one donkey included to protect the sheep from coyotes.  Big Bluestem, a late summer native grass that grows to six feet tall, gradually began to emerge.
    This summer the farmer pastured a large herd of cattle who did a more thorough job of eating down the invasive grasses.  This week I walked in that pasture and noted that the Big Blue Stem has made a significant comeback covering perhaps 25% of the ground. Other native grasses such as Indian Grass and Little Bluestem are also present.
    Patience is indeed required but it has been worth the wait.