The Hubbard Fellows and I just returned from the 2023 North American Prairie Conference. I got to meet and/or catch up with a lot of you there, which was wonderful. It was a terrific event; exquisitely organized, very informative, and – as always – inspiring. Here is a quick recap, along with a few highlights and topics that I found helpful and thought-provoking.

More than 600 people attended at least part of the four day conference. If you’ve not attended a North American Prairie Conference (NAPC), you might expect it to be full of academic scientists and professional biologists presenting research papers. Those folks were there, for sure, and there were a lot of scientific presentations. But the attraction of the NAPC is the breadth of discussion topics and attendees. In addition to ecology and land stewardship, there were presentations on art, storytelling, agriculture, diversity/inclusion and more. There was also a lot of discussion about prairie invertebrates this year, which I (of course) found gratifying.

A large percentage of attendees are directly involved in restoring or managing prairies. Quite a few of them are professional biologists – or interns working in that direction. Many others, though, are not. They’re people with non-conservation jobs who have fallen in love with prairies and want to learn everything they can about them. They also want to DO something to help. Incredible.

There were also quite a few landowners who were looking to trade ideas and gather information to help them restore habitat on their farm or acreage. Some of those people have been doing tremendous work for a very long time and have a wealth of knowledge. Others are just starting out. Both were fun to talk with and listen to.

As always, the field trips were a big highlight of the conference, and there were lots of options available. Everyone I talked to found their tour to be inspiring and educational, which says a lot about the amount of great work going on in Iowa prairies. My tour was invigorating too – we visited properties owned and managed by Beth Henning, White Rock Conservancy, and Jon Judson.

Beth’s property was gorgeous, and we saw examples of the intensive work she and her late husband have done to restore prairie and savannah habitats across the site. I loved listening to her talk about learning and adapting through time, and the results were spectacular. She also spoke positively about the conservation easement she’d placed on the property through the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.

We then visited adjacent land owned by the White Rock Conservancy. Formed by the Garst family, the non-profit land trust is involved in land restoration, agriculture, recreation, and much more. They have some great habitat work going on and it fun to see a portion of that.

Finally, we ended up at land owned by Jon Judson of Diversity Farms. Jon provides restoration services and harvests prairie seed and had worked with both Beth and the White Rock Conservancy. At his site, we looked at a beautiful remnant prairie and a prairie planting adjacent to it. It was a site rich with colors and texture.

During the conference, the topic of mental health came up multiple times. In particular, people were talking about how to keep from slipping into despair in the face of the seemingly overwhelming challenges we face in land management. Threats from invasive species, climate change, public apathy, and others seem to always be growing. How are we supposed to stay positive and find joy in our work?

There were lots of good suggestions made, including taking plenty of time to stay connected to nature and to celebrate successes. I’ve written here before that it helps me to remember that we don’t have to fix nature, we just have to keep it operational and then hand it off to the next generation, who will have new technology and ideas to apply to the job.

For what it’s worth, I also think its important that we don’t spend too much time looking backwards and thinking about what a site used to look like. It’s easy to fall into the trap of using that past state as a target for future condition, even though the world has changed in ways that probably makes that impossible. The past is helpful context, but our prairies, savannahs, and woodlands are all on a trajectory of change. Our job is to help facilitate that evolution and to keep them as healthy, diverse, and resilient as we can along the way.

It can be depressing to lament the way things used to be. On the other hand, it’s uplifting to wonder where they’re going and how we can help! These ecological communities are exceptionally adaptable, especially if we manage them well. We’re like their pit crew – just keeping them in good shape as they drive forward.

Another theme I pulled from the conference was that private landowners are doing some amazing restoration work (both enhancing degraded sites and planting new prairies). In many cases, these landowners start with little to no ecological background, but have become experts through practice and exploration. Iowa has some excellent advisors for those landowners, but I got the sense that much of those landowners’ success is due more to persistence and adaptive management.

People like Beth Henning and Sybilla and Bill Brown have greatly enhanced the habitats they’re working with over many years. They’ve certainly sought and gotten good advice along the way, but I love how much they’re also willing to try out their own ideas, too. Sometimes, those ideas run counter to widely accepted dogma. That doesn’t mean they’re wrong.

The kind of experimentation (yes, Beth, I used the word) being done by these landowners is what pushes all of us forward in our understanding of how to do ecological restoration. Not everything works out, but every trial is an opportunity to learn and improve. I’m really glad those innovative landowners are willing to share what they’ve gleaned from their long years of experience. It’s really inspiring.

There was much more I brought away from the conference, but here’s one final thought for this particular post. We saw abundant evidence, both on field trips and in presentations, that restoration work is making a difference. In particular, prairies that are being reconstructed – planted from seed – can develop into diverse communities that persist over many decades.

We’re still conversing about how to judge the success of those restoration efforts. In one of my presentations, I argued that we should focus heavily on how well planted prairies are improving the health and resilience of nearby remnants. I don’t think a planting necessarily has to closely resemble nearby or historic sites in terms of plant composition, soil communities, etc. If the animals and plants (and other organisms) in the remnant can spread into and through the planted prairie, that increases the long-term viability of that remnant. That seems like success to me (with plenty of caveats, of course).

Of course, we also want those planted prairies to persist and retain their biological diversity and habitat values over time. That means they need to be able to adapt to stresses like the much older remnant sites. At least two different presentations, including one by former Hubbard Fellow Katharine Hogan, shared data that supports that capacity.

I think that adaptive capacity should be a real source of optimism. Reconstructed prairie communities face the same threats as other prairies, and come with some unique challenges (low soil organic matter, for example). In spite of that, they seem to develop a resilience that will help us to help them survive and support nearby remnant sites.

Thanks again to everyone involved with the organization of this year’s North American Prairie Conference. I’m anxious to see who hosts the next one (no, it’s not going to be me). I got to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and siphon some energy from the incredible vibe of the event.

Let’s all get out there and save the prairie!