Grassland Management

Grasslands, old fields, and early successional areas (e.g., areas dominated by grasses, forbs, and/or brambles) provide habitat for wildlife species such as northern bobwhite, eastern cottontail, ring-necked pheasant, Henslow’s sparrows, and many pollinating insects. Grasslands are often created through the planting on native warm-season grasses (e.g., big bluestem, indiangrass, little bluestem, etc.) and native forbs (e.g., black-eyed susan, purple coneflower, partridge pea etc.), but they can also be created by allowing an empty cropfield to remain fallow. Early successional areas are often managed with prescribed fire, disking, herbicide application, and grazing.

This section will cover information about the following topics

• Establishing native warm-season grass and forb mixtures
• Old field management
• Managing existing native warm-season grass stands
• Grazing native-warm season grasses