Bison and Fire: Iowa's Wild Side

WARNING:  This post has major potential to be absolutely boring.  But don't worry, I'll try to spice it up and make it exciting.

This morning I had the opportunity to go to the Sioux City State Prairie Preserve, which is a piece of the .01% of Iowa's land that is still prairie.  Not only was this a fun adventure over to the west side of town for me, but I was able to learn a bit about Sioux City's wildlife and history.  So let me share with you some of the knowledge my biology class and I soaked up today!

• The Prairie Preserve used to be a golf course.  Once they got rid of the course, all the tall grass just grew right back!
• Back in the day (before the golf course), the prairie was maintained by bison and fire.  The bison would eat some of the plants and trees, and the wildfires would burn them down.  This was all a healthy part of the prairie's ecological cycle.  Now, thanks to modern civilization and Smokey the Bear, the prairie is less fortunate.
• You're best off not wearing sweatpants or any type of fleece while you're out in the prairie.  Nature will kindly disperse its seeds onto your clothing.  :)
• Thanks to John Deere, the soil of the Prairie Preserve can now be plowed easily!
• While several of the native species to the prairie are still there today, the land has also been invaded by Russian olive trees.  Those things are pretty!  But they don't belong there.
  

And finally...

• It's much too cold for snakes to be hanging out above ground this time of year.  :)

As you can probably tell, I actually enjoyed this field trip!  It was a nice break from being on campus, and learning about the town I'm living in was pretty fun.


And on that note, I think I'll go take my laundry out of the dryer.  Stay tuned!