Take a Walk at Ivy Creek
North Field Trail
Virginia's Historic Natural Landscape
4. The field you are walking along is a restored prairie of native warm-season grasses.
Warm-season Native Grasses
Warm-season prairie grasses were once widespread throughout Virginia. With the coming of European settlers and their agricultural and livestock practices, these native grasslands were replaced with cool-season grasses like fescue and bluegrass. Tall fescue forms a thick sod inhibiting the growth of other plants.
As the native grasslands have diminished so have wildlife that depended on them for existence. Today, less than one percent of native prairies remain in North America. However, there is a growing movement to restore native prairies by converting fescue pastures back to native grasslands.
Since 2000, the Ivy Creek Foundation has restored two hayfields to native grass habitat. Look for big bluestem (pictured) and Indian grass, both six to eight feet tall as well as little bluestem and broomsedge. The fields are managed with a biannual controlled burn.
Tell me more about native grasses at Ivy Creek
Big bluestem at Ivy Creek
