Tallgrass prairie plant communities across twenty years of restoration

Ecosystem restoration projects need to measure progress toward project
goals and deliver desired outcomes. This study examines longitudinal plant
community data collected from permanent transects at the Nachusa
Grasslands preserve in northern Illinois, USA. Managers established
permanent transects for repeated plant community monitoring beginning in
the mid-1990s. Native plant communities, including rare species, have
persisted, or improved with management over two decades. Planted prairies
have lower proportions of native species than native prairies but have
generally maintained native-dominated communities and in some cases,
increased presence of native species. Savannas have shown a distinct
transition from shrub-dense communities to herbaceous understories
dominated with native species. Restoration efforts at Nachusa Grasslands
have been successful at sustaining unique native plant communities through
management practices like prescribed fire, brush removal, and aggressive
invasive species control. As a disturbance dependent ecosystem that has
developed with human management over millennia, tallgrass prairie and
savanna can thrive through restoration and active management.