EcoStewardship: Seed Collecting at Crow Hassan

We had a group of 24 roaming the restored prairie at Crow Hassan (part of the Three Rivers Park District) gathering seeds from native prairie plants that will be used to maintain prairie and add to the growing prairie ecosystem within the parks.  Prairie, once the Midwest's largest ecosystems, is now less than 1 percent of its original expanse.  In Minnesota and Iowa, prairie was approximately 25 million acres and is now less than 300 thousand.  

 

 

 

A few of the species that we collected:  Mountain Mint, Common Milkweed, Thimbleweed, Blazingstar, Bergamot, Bottle Gentian, Purple Prairie Clover, Grey Headed Coneflower. Read more about why seed collecting is important (as well as fun) and what will happen to the seed we collected. 

 

The overcast sky, light breeze, and brilliant fall color made our purposeful wandering absolutely tranquil.  These pictures will not do our experience justice, but enjoy nevertheless.