Indian Tribes Restoring Prairie Land

Just saw this on Yahoo news and thought it was a great read and a great thing these people are doing.



Minn. Indian tribe buys up land to restore prairie By PATRICK CONDON, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 29, 1:55 PM ET



A 30-acre field where corn and soybeans were once grown is now covered with Canada wild rye, big bluestem, Golden Alexander and compass plant — the same grasses and flowers the pioneers saw as they pushed westward across the American prairie in the 1800s.

This small patch of prairie next to a condominium complex in suburban Minneapolis did not suddenly appear on its own. Instead, it was painstakingly restored at great cost by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux tribe.

Flush with cash from its nearby casino, the tribe has bought up about 125 acres of farmland and wetlands just outside the big city over the past few years and has returned them to the way they looked before the white man herded the Indians onto reservations.

By the end of the year, the Shakopee Mdewakanton (pronounced SHOCK-ah-pee mid-ah-WAHK-tun) hope to begin restoring 450 more acres near the Twin Cities. Most of it is land that has been farmed since at least the 1880s.

"We hold the land in high regard, and we think it's important to return some of these areas to the way they were — the way it was years ago," Shakopee Mdewakanton vice chairman Glynn Crooks said.

The tribe will not disclose how much it is paying for these chunks of valuable land in this fast-growing part of the state, and it refuses to discuss its finances. But while many Indian tribes live in crushing poverty, the Mdewakanton are prospering.

Their Mystic Lake casino, which opened in 1992 about 30 miles from downtown Minneapolis and is the biggest gambling hall in Minnesota, has generated millions for the tribe and made its estimated 300 members rich. Many live in suburban McMansions.

Other tribes also want to use the land the way their ancestors did. South Dakota's Rosebud Sioux are raising a bison herd. Members of Nebraska's Winnebago tribe are encouraged to harvest wild plums and choke cherries to improve their diets, and milkweed for a traditional soup.

For the Mdewakanton, who own about 2,400 acres in all, the prairie restoration process is laborious and expensive.

The tribe's scientists study old maps and other records to figure out the mix of plants that will bring a piece of land closest to its historical character. Then they destroy the crops with herbicide, turn over the dirt and plant grass and flower seeds.

The seeds alone are perhaps the most expensive part. Many are rare and hard to find, and the companies that sell them often must harvest them by hand.

"Some of these seeds are worth more than their weight in precious metals," said Mike Whitt, an environmental specialist for the Mdewakanton tribe. He said the tribe has spent about $600 an acre just to buy the seed mix needed to create prairie.

For the first few years after the restoration, crews have to tend the prairies closely, spraying for weeds, mowing the grass and conducting controlled burns every year or two to rejuvenate the land, kill the unwanted plants and encourage native varieties.

The tribe has gone to similar lengths to bring back several wetlands that had been drained for farming.

In both cases, Whitt said, the work is starting to pay off in the return of native animal species to the restored areas.

"The meadowlarks, grasshopper sparrows are returning," Whitt said. "They won't if it's a farm field. Wild turkeys, pheasants, deer — we're seeing more of all of them."

Not all of the land the Mdewakanton is buying up will be restored to prairie and wetland. And some that has been restored may at some point be turned back over for development, so that members of the tribe can construct new homes, said Stan Ellison, land and natural resources manager for the tribe.

Ron Bowen, owner of Minnesota-based Prairie Restoration Inc., which has been in the land restoration business for 30 years and has sold seeds to the Mdewakanton Sioux, said more Indian tribes seem to be interested in the process.

"I think there's a lot of people who sense intuitively that we've done a lot to disturb the planet — we all have — and we have to do something to give a little bit back," Bowen said. "For a group like the Mdewakanton, there's something even more. You might say there's trying to recapture history altogether."

Excellent! Thanks for sharing this, mellielong; as has been true throughout our shared history, we could take a lesson from the native Americans on this.

Definitely! There's so much bad news out there I like to spread the good when I see it. I actually visited the Winnebago Indians in Nebraska when I was on a Girl Scout trip back around 1992. They didn't have any milkweed soup, but I'm sure my Monarch caterpillars would like to try it! Plus, I know a lot of people wonder what the Indians do with their gambling proceeds so I thought it was really nice to see that they're using it to repair the land and hopefully some of their traditions as well.

With you on both counts: the need for good news, and the joy of seeing casino profits put to such very good use. Hope other groups or tribes will be inspired to try the same or similar ideas.

Great! I'm so glad to see some of those funds going to some good projects. I wonder if the people who live nearby recognize the benefits to their 'neighborhood.'

Very cool news. thanks for passing it on.

Those spots of hope among the avalanche of development are inspiring. And good to see gambling money go toward something good. Here in Texas they sold the state on the Lottery saying a bunch of money would go toward education. But they just outright lied. Through a legislative shell game, not a penny ever goes to education.

Yeah, Florida got sold on the whole "lotto will fund education" scheme. I work for county government and we have a good program to buy land to preserve it. But to completely restore the land using native plants and historical records to ensure accuracy is just amazing to me. I'm glad to see the wildlife is returning. So many people don't seem to understand that native plants are essential for the survival of many species. I raise butterflies and have planted lots of native plants to host their caterpillars. They also seem to prefer the native plants as nectar sources.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us! It's good to hear someone is doing something positive for our land. It sickens me to see the development that is taking over what used to be farmland or woods here in Maryland. Seems they just don't want to leave anything for the wildlife. They (the developers) keep messing with the natural order of things with no regard for anything and eventually Mother earth is going to straighten things out.

You're most welcome! It never ceases to amaze me how arrogant man can be, especially when we decide that we know what's best for nature. There have been several shows lately about what the world would be like if man went extinct and it saddened me to see just how much nature would improve. The oceans especially would recover in mere decades.

Melanie

Melanie,
There's a great book recently published called "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. Check it out if you enjoyed those TV shows. Very readable and goes into lots of detail about how all sorts of different flora, fauna, and environments would react if our species suddenly disappeared. Lots of surprises, and very thought-provoking.
Ruth

You know, I've seen that in the bookstore. I'll have to pick it up and check it out. If there's one thing I like more than gardening, it would be reading!

Melanie, you won't regret picking up that book. I was afraid it would be too dry and scientific: not at all! I found it fascinating.