UPDATE 3/3/2025
Project Site Prep (prescribed burn)
US Army Corps of Engineers at Mark Twain Lake performed a prescribed fire to eliminate thatch in preparation for the native pollinator seed planting. This burn also creates valuable brood rearing habitat for wild turkeys this spring as their mating season is approaching.
UPDATE 2/26/2025
Project funded! Paid invoice below.
Collaborators: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Project Objective: To convert old fields totaling 16 acres from a predominant stand of warm and cool season grasses to a stand of forbs (wild flowers) with shorter native warm season grasses. This will offer better habitat for a variety of insects and produce high quality brood rearing habitat for ground nesting birds like northern bob white quail and wild turkeys. This seed blend should also produce high quality browse for deer.
Currently these fields are dominated by cool season grasses with very little plant diversity.
Project Description: US Army Corps of Engineers is seeking funding from partners to create more desirable spaces for wildlife. Dense grasses dominate most of the open spaces around Indian Creek Recreation Area of Mark Twain Lake (located in Northeast Missouri). The goal is to replace the grass with a native species mix consisting of mainly forbs and wild flowers (listed below). Once the native planting is established, the US Army Corps of Engineers at Mark Twain Lake will be responsible for maintaining the site through prescribed fire. This should result in a useable area for many wildlife species for years to come.
Native Seed Mix Includes:
Little Bluestem
Sideoats Grama
Black-Eyed Susan
Partridge Pea
Tickseed Sunflower
Plains Coreopsis
Common Milkweed
Culver's Root
False Sunflower
Foxglove Beardtongue
Golden Alexanders
Gray-Headed Coneflower
Hoary Vervain
Lanceleaf Coreopsis
New England Aster
Purple Coneflower
Purple Prairie Clover
White Prairie Clover
Stiff Goldenrod
Slender Mountain Mint
Wild Bergamot
Blue Wild Indigo
Rosinweed
Showy Goldenrod
Ashy Sunflower
Illinois Bundleflower
Maximilian Sunflower
Canada Milkvetch
Leadplant
Roundhead Lespedeza
Total seed cost: $4,293.83
