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Linn County Conservation will ‘redo’ Wanatee Park prairie to eradicate invasive species
Two years of soybeans will be grown at the Orlan Love Prairie before it’s reseeded with native plants
Nov. 22, 2024 5:30 am, Updated: Nov. 22, 2024 7:54 am
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MARION — The Orlan Love Prairie — and other parts of Linn County’s Wanatee Park — will undergo reseeding efforts after invasive plants threatened to choke out the native Iowa plants that were put there to attract and support pollinators.
Daniel Gibbins, deputy director of Linn County Conservation, said conservationists started seeing invasive plants pop up with force two to three years after the Orlan Love Prairie was seeded.
“Much of the original seeding came back and started choking out the prairie,” Gibbins said.
The county and its partners tried different methods of removing the invasive plants — spot treatments, mowing and fire — but Gibbins said the 998-acre Wanatee Park in Marion is “an extreme case.”
To fight the persistent invasives, the county is engaged in a plan to plant soybeans in the prairie.
Gibbins said they chose to plant soybeans because the crop can handle the herbicide that will be used to eradicate the invasive plants. He added that when crops are planted they “disturb the soil,” which helps force germination of the invasive species, and herbicides can more effectively kill them.
Soybeans were planted in June, and likely will be planted again next summer. In the winter, cover crops protect the soil.
The process is expected to take about two years to complete. The prairie will likely be reseeded with prairie plants in February 2026.
Gibbins said the replanting efforts will cost the county “very little” and won’t be paid for by taxpayers.
“We have a lease [with a farmer] where he will do this work for us. He'll be able to take the beans that do grow, and we don't have to pay anything to convert that,” Gibbins said. “He's also doing a cover crop over the winter for soil protection.”
Monarch Research Project, a Marion-based environmental nonprofit, will pay for other supplies.
Clark McLeod, cofounder and CEO of the organization, said Monarch Research will supply Linn County Conservation with the herbicides, seeds and equipment like seed drillers.
Although McLeod said he “isn’t doing backflips” over the replanting needed at the Orlan Love Prairie, he feels “really good” that this is the first time in six years that an effort like this is needed. That’s out of 1,300 acres of prairies McLeod’s organization has helped restore and plant.
“The people doing this work really know their stuff,” McLeod said. “The county has been an incredible partner to us.”
McLeod said when discussions were underway about how to remove the invasive plants, it was unanimously decided to “redo” the prairie, rather than continuing to fight the invasives.
What is Orlan Love Prairie?
The 6.6-acre pollinator prairie at Wanatee Park was planted in 2017. A $200,000 donation from Rich and Candy Altorfer to the Monarch Research Project named the prairie in honor of Orlan Love, a retired reporter and columnist who for decades has written about nature, conservation and the environment for The Gazette.
Love said he wasn’t entirely surprised to hear that invasive plants have inundated the prairie, which was established with milkweed, clover, yarrow and other native plants.
“I knew there was a lot of that reed canary grass out there, and to me, it's one of the worst invasive species we have here in Iowa,” Love said. “It flourishes in wet years like we've had.”
Love said he learned from Linn County Conservation Director Dennis Goemaat that the prairie was being reseeded.
“It’s great that they’re willing to do this,” Love said, referring to the county and Monarch Research Project.
A ‘different game’
Invasive plants across woodlands and parks have created a “different game” Gibbins said.
“Over the last 10 to 20 years, what we've seen is so many different plants that are not native being used for various reasons,” Gibbins said. “When they first started being used, people didn't know that they'd get out of control.”
Gibbins said a few of these invasive plants include honeysuckle, autumn olive and barberry bittersweet vines.
Gibbins and McLeod said invasive, non-native plants also can spread when birds drop seeds as they fly.
Eradication of non-native plants is happening in other counties as well. In Johnson County’s FW Kent Park, for example, conservationists discovered a new plant, which turned out to be the downy sunflower, which is not native to Iowa and can be aggressive and can suppress the growth of other plants. County conservation staff are working on a plan to remove the downy sunflower from the park.
“Invasive plants are a constant battle,” Love said. “Conservation departments all over Iowa fight them all the time, private landowners fight it all the time. ... Sometimes I don't think we're really winning the war.”
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.
Comments: (319) 398-8370; olivia.cohen@thegazette.com
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