Southern Blackland/Fayette Prairie

Yellow Indian Grass

Tall prairie grasses, grazing bison and antelope filled the landscape of what is now Dogwood Ranch. There were woods in the low areas and along creeks and streams. This was before heavy human settlement and cultivation of the land.

Biologists divide Texas into vegetation regions, or eco-regions, based on the characteristics of the area. Each ecoregion has sub-regions. Dogwood Ranch is located in the Blackland Prairie ecoregion. More specifically, its sub-region is the Southern Blackland/Fayette Prairie. On the Ecoregions of Texas map prepared for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2007, Dogwood Ranch is in region 32B, which encompasses southern Washington County.  ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/tx/tx_eco_pg.pdf

Historically, the distinctive element of the Blackland Prairie was the vast prairies of tall grass. Frequent fires and grazing bison were important factors in maintaining the tall grass prairies. Fires burned intensely hot and extensively over the area only stopped by a water break, topography, soil change or lack of dry fuel. Fire suppressed invading woody species and stimulated the growth of grass and forbs. Controlled fires, or prescribed burns, are brush and range management tools used today. Our experience with prescribed burns will be discussed in a later post.

Historically, bison ate the prairie grass, trampled organic matter on the prairie and spread seed in the disturbed soil. Prairie grasses included little bluestem, big bluestem, yellow Indiangrass, and switchgrass. This region now contains a higher percentage of cropland than adjacent regions; pasture and forage production for livestock is common.

Three soil types are found in the Blackland Prairie ecoregion: 1) Vertisols - clays that swell and shrink depending upon weather conditions and available moisture; 2) Mollisols - rich and fertile; and 3) Alfisols - clays that usually form under deciduous forests, which are found in this ecoregion along rivers and creeks. According to the National Geographic Society, Texas Blackland Prairie ecoregion is home to more than 500 species of animals. The high biodiversity is due to the region’s variety of soils.

Switchgrass

Large areas of the region are now used for urban and industrial purposes. Before Anglo settlement, animal species included bison, pronghorn antelope, mountain lion, bobcat, ocelot, black bear, collared peccary, deer, coyote, fox, badger, and river otter among others (Schmidley 2002, Diggs et al., 1999). Typical game species today include mourning dove and northern bobwhite and fox. According to the National Geographic Society, the tallgrass prairies are the most endangered ecosystems in the U.S.

Big Bluestem

We certainly have not seen bison, mountain lion or black bear roaming around Dogwood Ranch with the cattle. It is difficult to imagine the area with those animals and how it must have looked with fields of waiving tall prairie grasses. We still hear and see coyote and deer. Some local landowners report spotting bobcat and fox.

After cultivation of the area and decades of fire suppression, the prairie grass gave way to “improved pastures” and woody plants like yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), juniper, sometimes called “Texas cedar” (Juniperus virginiana) and, to a less extent, mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa var. glandulosa). These woody trees invaded the area creating thick brush pushing out the native grasses and plants. Yaupon holly brush chokes much of the woods on Dogwood Ranch. In some places it is so thick you cannot walk through it.

One of our goals is to restore the pasture in which the cattle now graze back to a tallgrass prairie. In addition, we want to eliminate the yaupon chokehold underbrush in the woods. The pasture appears to consist of short grass of some kind shaded by tall weeds about hip high. Later this year, we will contact the Texas Parks & Wildlife biologist assigned to Washington County, and ask her to come out to Dogwood Ranch. We would like her opinion on how to start the tallgrass restoration project. There are grants and other financial assistance available for certain conservation or restoration activities so we would like any assistance or advice we can get about those programs. The subject of a later post will deal with the inequitable and wrong-minded attitude by the state and federal governments in doling out large grants and financial assistance to large landowners who don’t really need the assistance yet making very little of such funds available to those of us with small parcels of land of less than 100 acres. Dogwood Ranch is 50 acres. Although we understand we cannot restore a massive wild herd of wondering bison and antelope on a mere 50 acres, we could restore the tallgrass and encourage other wildlife with some assistance.