A Day of Pulling and Planting

I recently took a nature walk through a prairie after pulling out invasive plant species and planting new native species in the neighboring land. We were pulling out lespedezas, which are one of the most invasive species’ in Oklahoma. I was walking through grass and sedge that was up to my waist. I was in shorts and could feel each little twig and blade scrape across my shins. I trekked through and dug up each lespedeza, making sure to take out the roots so that they cannot grow back.

In the end, me along with around 20 others were able to pull out enough invasive plants to make a pile about 5 feet high. At the same time, we plowed a small circle and planted hundreds of native plants within it.

This removal of invasive plants and planting of native plants is so important to the environment because an invasive species does not have any natural predators and can disease their new habitat and slowly overtake the native plant population. This was the first step to restoring this prairie.

Native plants can also endanger their environment when they are abundant in a disproportionately large amount. In this prairie, there was so much broom sedge that the entire field looked brown except for the bushed of lespedezas that pushed their way through. By reducing the population of broom sedge and fully eradicating the invasive plant species, this prairie could be restored to a much healthier and sustainable condition. One of the reasons why it became like this is because the land was previously used for agricultural purposes.