Sand Prairies

(Abby, Brown, host of FIND Iowa, is standing in the middle of a sand prairie. Her hair is held back from her face in a pony tale. She is wearing a dark pink polo shirt with black pants.)

[Abby Brown] Hey there young Iowans! Our adventure today starts by looking down. That's right! Check out your feet!

(Abby moves her toes up and down in her white and black tennis shoes. She moves her feet around in the loose sand like she's dancing a jig.)

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[Abby] Are you standing on concrete? Grass? Dirt? Rocks? What about sand? You might see sand at the playground or a beach by the lake. But in Iowa you're not likely to have your toes in the sand too often. Today we're at a unique prairie in southeast Iowa where sand is the unique element that makes it super special.

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(text on screen Eddyville Dunes Sand Prairie Mahaska County Conservation Board)

(A cluster of bright orange flowers with a small tan butterfly sitting on one of the flowers. 

A sand prairie. short prairie grass blowing in the wind. The prairie looks like someone's lawn in the spring after the grass has been cut by a lawn mower. You can't see the sand beneath the prairie grass at all.)

[Abby] This is a sand prairie. It's home to lots of plants and animals that you might not see in other parts of our state. Like the six-lined race runner lizard. So cute.

(The six-lined lizard has four legs and with five toes on each foot. It has lines running down the back of its body. The lines alternate in color from yellowish-green to black. It's front legs turn out making it look like a mini alligator as it tries to move through the brown leaves on the ground.) 

[Abby] And the prickly pear cactus with beautiful blooms that appear in the summertime.

(The prickly pear cactus grows close to the ground and has several, thick flat skillet like stems surrounding a cluster of flower buds. Two of the buds have bloomed into light yellow flowers. The stems have thorns on them like barbs on the flat side of a knight's shield.)

[Abby] Ornate box turtles happen to love those blossoms. And they live here at the sand prairie, too.

(The box turtle's head is peaking out from under its shell. The shell looks like a construction worker's safety helmet. The shell is brown with light, tan dots and thick lines running through it. The helmet-like shell looks to be made up of 20 individual pieces like the pieces of a 3D model that slide together to make the shell.)

[Abby] So, Laura, tell me how the sand in this prairie got here.

(Laura is wearing a dark red polo shirt with an emblem on the front and a tan baseball cap. Her red hair is pull through the back of the baseball cap forming a pony tale.)

[Laura DeCook, Naturalist] This sand was formed after the last glacier was in Iowa.

[Abby] Okay, so that glacier melted.

[Laura] It did.

[Abby] Left behind water, I presume?

[Laura] Yep.

[Abby] Then what happened?

[Laura] And when the water receded, it dried up. And strong winds came across Iowa and blew the sand that was in the riverbed and deposited it right here.

(music)

[Laura] Over the years, a prairie has developed on the sand. So we see all of these great prairie plants that are around us.

(Sand prairie. pockets of grass on a sea of sand. Like a golf course made in reverse.

Yellow and red flowers blowing in the wind on the sand prairie.)

[Abby] And these aren't plants that would grow necessarily on just any prairie. These are specific to the sand prairie, right?

(A yellow flower with a cluster of light yellow strings in the center of the flower.

A bumble bee scavenging for nectar in a bright yellow flower.)

[Laura] Yes.

[Abby] Give me some examples.

[Laura] Well, one thing that we see a lot of and that's blooming this time of year is the prickly pear cactus.

[Abby] I know it's everywhere and it's beautiful. What else?

[Laura] Well, we see a lot of different milkweed. There's common milkweed that's blooming right near us.

(Milkweed. A plant with clusters of green, purple and white buds like a handful of grapes still on the vine.

Milkweed flower. A cluster of small white and purple pedaled flowers clustered to gather to make a pom-pom like ball at the end of a milkweed plant.

A bumble bee gathering nectar from the flower of a milkweed plant.)

[Abby] And the butterflies love that.

[Laura] Oh, they love it.

(music)

[Abby] There's not just one specific ecosystem here, right? There's at least a couple. Can you tell me about that?

[Laura] Sure. Well, we have the prairie itself, which is really important. That provides a home for a lot of animals. But there is also a wetland nearby.

[Abby] Really?

(A Wetland. a wooden walking bridge extends across the wetland. There are green plants growing through the water like green lettuce you might use for a salad. Yellowish-green algae floats on top of the water between the patches of green salad.)

[Laura] That's common in some sand prairies to have a depression where water would collect.

[Abby] So a depression like when the land just goes a little bit lower.

[Laura] It’s a little lower.

[Abby] And of course, gravity helps the water to go in that low spot. And what's the difference between the sand prairie ecosystem and that wetland ecosystem?

[Laura] The wetland attracts different kinds of wildlife and insects.

[Abby] Okay. And do the two ecosystems interact? Do they do well together or are they completely separate?

[Laura] Well, there are two different types of habitats, but they do blend in. Because the rain that falls on the prairie - it's all sand, there's no dirt - so the rain soaks into the sand and sometimes flows into the wetland and fills it.

[Abby] Now rain travels through sand a whole lot differently than it would travel through soil.

[Laura] You're right.

[Abby] And so how does that change the different types of animals and plants that live and grow here?

[Laura] Okay. Well, if it was soil like black soil, you would find more of a tallgrass prairie. And the plants that grow there are much taller. These are shorter plants. But one thing they do have in common, they have roots that grow deep in the ground.

[Abby] Okay, good.

[Laura] And that's so they can search for water down below.

(music)

(Drawing of a sand prairie plant's root system. The measurement on the side of the plant drawing says from bottom to top, 2 feet, 3 feet, 4 feet, 5 feet, 6 feet, 7 feet, 8 feet, 9 feet, 10 feet, 11 feet.

Sand prairie grasses blowing in the wind like the grass is waving at us saying "Hi". The grass has light tan feather like tops.)

[Abby] Is this the only sand prairie in Iowa?

[Laura] No. There are some scattered throughout the state.

[Abby] Okay.

[Laura] Wherever there's a river, there's a good chance somewhere along there, there's some sandy soils.

(music)

(Clusters of short, yellow flowers in sandy soil.

A cluster of bright orange flowers.)

[Abby] Why is it so important to keep land like this - the sand prairies - protected?

[Laura] The easiest way to explain it is that it's a very unique ecosystem. The better we take care of it, the more variety of native plants can grow here. And that benefits the insects, the reptiles, the mammals, the birds. Many birds fly through here.

(music)

(A bright green sand prairie under a bight blue, sunny sky.

A single, yellow flower growing close to the ground.)

[Abby] Why should people come here?

[Laura] This is a public area that anyone can come enjoy. The Mahaska County Conservation Board manages it. There are trails along here that anybody can come and hike, and it's really fun to come out here through different seasons to see how the plants change and the prairie changes.

[Abby] Yeah, and it's beautiful and peaceful. I love it here.

(music)

(The prickly pear cactus grows close to the ground and has several, thick flat skillet like stems surrounding a cluster of flower buds. Two of the buds have bloomed into light yellow flowers. The stems have thorns on them like barbs on the flat side of a knight's shield.)

[Abby] What are some ways that this prairie is different than other prairies in Iowa, or what are some ways that it is the same? Thanks for investigating sand prairies with me.

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[Announcer] Funding for Find Iowa has been provided by the following supporters.

(text on the screen) FIND Iowa, The Coons Foundation, Pella, Gilchrist Foundation

(text on the screen) Iowa PBS Education