Prairie

NPAT is hiring an Executive Director! Native Prairies Association of Texas (TX), Executive Director – NPAT seeks a full time Executive Director with a passion for conservation to lead the organization in its mission to conserve and restore the native prairies and other grasslands of Texas. NPAT is a land trust protecting over 1,200 acres…

The San Francisco Chronicle recently ran a great article about tallgrass prairie, prairie conservation, and the Flint Hills of Oklahoma and Kansas: "I could have been in Africa. Before me the tawny savanna stretched unimpeded to a horizon where it met a vast ceiling of blue. The soft folds of land were stippled with grazing…

Clymer Meadow, the largest protected tallgrass prairie in Texas’ Blackland Prairie, grew by 57 acres due to a donation from a generous landowner to The Nature Conservancy during 2007. See a slideshow of native prairie flowers and grasses at Clymer Meadow in NPAT’s photo album. From The Nature Conservancy: Highlights of The Nature Conservancy’s Texas…

First Lady Laura Bush, President Bush, and Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT) member Mike Williams recently toured the tallgrass prairie restoration at the first couple’s Prairie Chapel Ranch with reporter Bret Baier.  Mike Williams is the restoration project leader and owner of NPAT-protected Simpson Prairie. View the video of the tour at the Fox…

The March 30, 2007 issue of "Rangeland Ecology and Management" contains an interesting article, "Blackland tallgrass prairie vegetation dynamics following cessation of herbicide application", applicable to native prairie hay meadows. K.R. Hickman, and J.D. Derner of the USDA ARS found that removing herbicide applications of Blackland Prairie remnants after 25 years of application led to…

A new issue of the Texas Prairie Journal (formerly the Prairie Dog), the newsletter of the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT), has been released! All NPAT members should be receiving their issue in the mail very soon. Featured articles in this issue include:– Saving Texas Prairies– NPAT Receives Tallgrass Prairie Grants– Tandy Hills: Prairies…

Yes, native prairies and plants can save the world! Okay, I admit, help save the world. The basic premise: We can restore large amounts of native prairie while helping (1) solve global warming, (2) achieve energy independence, and (3) increase water availability and quality. It is also an ecological solution: native plant and plant community…

In addition to the positive potential of native prairie plantings being used for cellulosic biofuel, there is also risk to native prairies: that existing prairie remnants might be plowed up to plant corn or another biofuel crop.  With so little tallgrass prairie remaining (estimates in Texas are less than 1%) and the potential for prairie…