Rivers of Grass

Rivers of Grass. Hutchinson Tract, Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge. , High-Quality Housing , These rare habitats, dominated by native warn-season grasses such as little bluestem, Indian grass, and eastern gamma grass, provide food and cove for wildlife year around, even standing up to snow and ice.

Warm-season grasses serve as excellent habitat for wildlife such as bobolinks, bobwhite quail, and grasshopper sparrows. White-tailed deer use the grass for bedding and wild turkeys build their nests in them. These grasses tend to grow in bunches, making it easy for small birds and mammals to scoot along the ground with a protective visual canopy overhead.

Disappearing Act , Native warm-season grasslands thrived in North America for thousands of years. European colonists replaced native grasses with cool-season pasture grasses such as fescue and bluegrass, which provided forage for livestock. Today, native grasslands continue to be developed into residential and commercial areas. Ironically, suppression of natural grass fires hurts grasslands. Without periodic fires, wood plants take over and the grassland turns back into a forest.

Managing Native Grasslands , To ensure that grassland-dependent wildlife will find the habitat they need, the Service must prevent this valuable habitat from turning into something else. Succession naturally changes grassland into shrubland and eventually forest. Nature uses periodic fires to curb succession and maintain grasslands. To maintain grasslands, the Service uses: , Controlled, prescribed burning , Mowing and disking , Applying herbicides to control invasives , Planting warm-season grasses.