Rexroat Prairie Initiative

This project had two main aspects: 1) community outreach and education and 2) research and monitoring. The community outreach and educational side were detailed with the creation of a prairie photography day, helping teach young school children about the prairie by assisting the volunteers from Friends of Rexroat Prairie at an annual kid's camp, and collaborating with Friends of Rexroat Prairie to create the future Prairie State Trail Application. The research and monitoring aspect consisted of collecting and analyzing soils for soil moisture and organic matter, locating and mapping rare conservative species and individual prairie plant patches using ArcGIS, and creating an invasive plant species handbook.

There were three main takeaways from this project. First, the data provided soil and flora figures that had been absent for comparison to other prairie restoration sites or environments. Rexroat Prairie yielded an average soil organic matter content of 7.47% +/- .104; almost three times the average of the surrounding soil type within the county. The second takeaway involved creating professional maps and management recommendations on which to back future restoration efforts. My community sponsor and their organization now have a packet of maps of rare plants and their locations, soil data, and plant ethnobotanic uses on which to base their future management decisions and informational needs. The final main takeaway was giving the community more access to the offerings that prairie restoration gives. Now and in the future individuals within the surrounding community will have a better trail experience by listening to a narrative of the history of Rexroat Prairie's cabins and the prairie, in addition to, having an option to attend a photography day in the summer and share their photos with their friends and community.