On a beautiful clear day in mid-August, members of Saugeen Nature met at Peter Kotzeff’s farm near Paisley to hear about his progressive farming practices and tour his tallgrass prairie.
Kotzeff grazes cattle and grows hay on productive land, but where there are wet areas or floodplains, and along stream- and river-sides, he plants native species that are adapted to live in these habitats. These plantings enrich and maintain the soil, prevent against erosion, absorb floodwaters and sequester carbon.
The focus of the day was on the tallgrass prairie, an extensive area planted in a large floodplain along the river/stream flowing through this field. Kotzeff had had this prairie planted by the Lambton based Agricultural Land Use Services (ALUS) group. This non-profit group in Lambton County has partnered with Ontario Nativescapes, another non-profit that focuses on planting tallgrass prairie on suitable land around southern Ontario.
After standing at a high point on the farm and describing the various project that he was carrying out on the land, Kotzeff took us down to the floodplain to get up close and personal with the prairie plants. The sweep of the prairie planting was impressive from the high ground, but up close, the planting was magnificent.
The forbs (flowering plants) and grasses were growing so densely that Peter had to make a path into the prairie so that we could walk among the plants and become acquainted with individual species.
Walking into the prairie, we found that the plants ranged from knee-high to higher than our heads, with lots of colourful blooms among tall grasses.
First we identified 3 of the ‘Four Horsemen of the Prairie’, so-called because these grasses are characteristic of Tallgrass Prairie growing across southern Ontario and the mid-west US. Big Bluestem, or Turkey-foot grass was prevalent in the Paisley prairie, as was Switchgrass with its feathery seed-heads.
Indian Grass was finally identified after the fact, because we could only find immature stems near where we walked. We did not see the fourth characteristic grass – Little Bluestem. It tends to grow in savanna habitat where there is part-shade.
Interspersed among the grasses, we found forbs like Tall Coreopsis, Tall Sunflower, False Sunflower, and Grey-headed Coneflower, many growing taller than our heads. We also found Showy Tick-trefoil with its purple blooms and Cup-plant with its leaves arranged in such a way as to capture rainwater which can be sipped by birds and butterflies.
Blue Vervain provided another nice contrast to the yellow of most of the prairie forbs, as did Swamp Milkweed with its showy maroon blooms. The latter may already have been growing in the floodplain since it is a common plant around Bruce County. Similarly, there were also Spotted Joe-Pyeweed, Great Angelica, and various goldenrod and aster species growing happily among the prairie plants.
The mix made for a plant diversity that is wonderful habitat for a large number of native pollinators, native birds like Bobolinks and Grassland Sparrows, and a variety of mammals that find prairie habitat congenial.
Saugeen Nature holds outings like this one every month. All are open to the public free of charge. If you are interested in various aspects of nature, visit www.saugeenfieldnaturalists.com to see what is coming up, and come join us.