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  2021-2022 Tallgrass Prairie Center Highlights

  Tallgrass Prairie Center, University of Northern Iowa

  From our director:

  The roots of the Tallgrass Prairie Center go back to the 1980s, when UNI Biology Professor Daryl Smith began to collaborate with the Black Hawk County Secondary Roads Department. It was passion for prairie, combined with practicality, that drove this unusual partnership. Then in 1988, the Iowa Legislature wrote a powerful idea into the Iowa code: that it is in the public interest to manage Iowa’s roadsides for multiple purposes using ecological principles.

  The Native Roadside Vegetation Center at UNI was formed to meet the practical challenges of that idea. Subsequently renamed the Tallgrass Prairie Center, we empower people to value and restore resilient, diverse tallgrass prairie. Our audience has expanded beyond county roadside managers to include county decision makers, native seed producers and buyers, federal natural resource agencies, conservation professionals, farmers, and landowners.

  We could claim our mission is important because of the need to sequester carbon, improve water quality or restore pollination services. All true. But unlike these abstract ecosystem services, it is possible to love a prairie, to participate in its rich cycles of life, and to be elevated by that relationship.

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  2020-2021 Tallgrass Prairie Center Highlights

  Tallgrass Prairie Center, University of Northern Iowa

  The Tallgrass Prairie Center empowers people to value and restore diverse, resilient tallgrass prairie. Our goals are to: 1) build the capacity of our partners and stakeholders to plant prairie and 2) expand public awareness of and appreciation for the prairie ecosystem.

  The need for more diverse, native, perennial vegetation on the landscape has never been greater. Prairie is ideal wildlife habitat. Its deep roots hold the soil during even the heaviest rainfall, increase water infiltration and reduce nutrient pollution in our rivers. Over time, prairies can trap and store carbon. And let’s not forget the mental health benefits of spending time in nature. There is a lot of work to do if we want to see enough prairie on the landscape to provide these important services to everyone.

  The TPC is committed to the University of Northern Iowa’s unifying goal: student success. Ultimately, our students can only be successful when Earth’s ecosystems remain healthy. On a more immediate level, the TPC provides hands-on experiences for students who want to pursue diverse careers in biology, conservation, ecological restoration, horticulture and environmental science.

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  2019-2020 Tallgrass Prairie Center Highlights

  Tallgrass Prairie Center, University of Northern Iowa

  Google Map’s algorithm is convinced that the Tallgrass Prairie Center is a museum, but we have no exhibits or regular tours. When we host the occasional class field trip, we temporarily resemble a nature center. The seminars and conferences we hold wouldn’t be out of place coming from a nonprofit conservation organization. We’re proud to be a part of UNI’s College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences, but we are not an academic department. When UNI students use our facilities for research, we function as a university field station. In the summer, the seed production plots look like a flower farm.

  So, what is the Tallgrass Prairie Center? We are aspirational yet pragmatic. We balance education with action, applied research with community service. We support those who manage Iowa’s roadsides — 60% of Iowa’s public lands — for everyone to use and enjoy. Our research has shaped federal Conservation Reserve Program policy; the Iowa-source foundation seed we release to commercial seed growers propagates the genetic heritage of the nearly extinct tallgrass prairie ecosystem. TPC educational materials can be found in schools, museums, government conservation offices and nature centers throughout the prairie states. “Research and Extension for Prairie Restoration” comes pretty close to a good description.