Bringing the prairie home: Johnson County ‘pocket prairie’ program brings plants to yards

Lynn Gallagher has always had a passion for nature and preserving wildlife. In fact, since she moved to the Solon area about five years ago, the 71-year-old retired physical therapist has planted about 50 trees and bushes.

“I care about the environment, and I like to grow trees and bushes and things that are good for wildlife,” she said. “I like the idea of having some flowers or things for pollinators.”

So, when Gallagher stumbled across a Facebook post about a new prairie program in Johnson County, she jumped at the chance to join.

Gallagher is one of 20 Johnson County residents who took part in the county’s inaugural “pocket prairie” program which supplies native prairie plants to participants so they can plant their own mini prairie on their property.

Kasey Hutchinson serves as the environmental regulations coordinator for Johnson County and has helped spearhead the program.

She said that it has been important for the county to keep this program free for participants. The cost the participants would take on would be preparing their prairie plot or if they need any planting supplies. Besides that, the prairie plants, the classes through the program and registration are all free.

Although the program only launched in July 2024, Hutchinson said the program was able to increase how many Johnson County residents they accept per year, doubling it from 20 to 40.

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How the program works

Hutchinson said that the program works on a yearlong cycle. Participants can sign up in July and must attend a mandatory workshop in August with the Master Gardeners of Johnson County to learn about the importance of prairie plants and how to make the plots successful.

After the workshops, Hutchinson said the participants prepare their plots in the fall for spring planting. In the spring, the plants are delivered from the county’s distributor so the participants can begin planting.

“Our distributor is out of Wisconsin and (they do) large-scale distribution, so we're able to get the plants at really low cost,” Hutchinson said. “The plugs that came in May … we were really impressed with the size and the health of them.”

The funding for the program comes from Johnson County’s Sustainability and Energy Reinvestment Fund — also known as the “SERF,” Hutchinson said.

“Essentially those are funds that the county receives and rebates as a result of sustainability-oriented projects,” she said. “Those rebates are supposed to be reinvested into other sustainability related programs.”

Participants in the program can have up to a 10-by-10 foot plot of land for their prairie and the county will supply up to 100 native plants.

One of the requirements for the program, Hutchinson said, is that participants must plant their pocket prairies in unincorporated areas of the county. She said this could be any area within Johnson County outside the limits of a town or city.

Participants also must provide a map of where the pocket prairie will be located and commit to three years of maintenance so the prairie can be fully established.

The area a participant will use for their pocket prairie must be a maintained lawn prior to planting, rather than turf or fake grasses, Hutchinson said.

“In terms of soil health or other secondary benefits for pollinators, wildlife habitat and so forth, turf provides very little to no benefit,” Hutchinson said. “And so, we want people to be converting something like turf to something that provides a lot more benefit.”

Bringing the program to Johnson County was the brainchild of North Liberty’s Lisa Green-Douglass, who serves on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. The idea initially stemmed from a similar program in Dubuque County.

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Reconnecting with nature

Planting her pocket prairie is likely the last major planting project she will do, Gallagher said. From now on, she will focus on maintaining the plants she already has.

“With the severe loss of habitat for wildlife and pollinators, these small areas are important,” she said. “It's just really important to maintain all these different species, because we're just destroying their habitat in so many ways. I think also (the program) helps people think about and be educated about the natural world and how important it is.”

Tyler Kruse’s love of plants and landscaping was instilled by his late father.

Kruse and his family now live on his father’s property, where he first developed a love for the prairie.

“When the county announces program, I kind of thought it's perfect time to try my hand at it and kind of do it in his honor on my first go,” Kruse said.

Before joining the program, Kruse said that he had never planted a prairie plant before. The closest he had come prior to the program was helping with a prairie burn years before on his parent’s property.

Kruse — who lives in Oxford and works as a banker — also raises some livestock and Christmas trees.

Without having to pay any fees to join the program, Kruse said the program had low barriers of entry and the county put all the resources in his hands.

Since this past spring, Kruse has planted various prairie plants in his plot, including Large flowered primrose, Little Bluestem, Prairie Alum Root, Prairie Dropseed and more.

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Programs like these are important for multiple reasons, Kruse said, including combating erosion, helping Iowa pollinators, plant diversity and just adding natural beauty to the landscape.

“Even though it's just 100-foot square prairie plot, it gets people talking about it and realizing with the program like the counties, that it's approachable, and they can do it, and that can lead to maybe some incremental change through the years,” he said. “I know agriculture is important, but you see a lot more things getting tilled under, whether it be trees and just open grasslands.”

Kruse has also recruited his children to help with the pocket prairie.

“It has allowed me to show my kids what can be done with the land,” he said. “I have four kids and two of them were there when I got the dirt ready and I roped them in to dig a lot of holes and plant like crazy.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. She is also a contributing writer for the Ag and Water Desk, an independent journalism collaborative focusing on the Mississippi River Basin.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com