Grant Creek Prairie

Description

Grant Creek Prairie contains high quality wet prairie and mesic prairie communities with over 110 different native prairie plant species. Some of the characteristic wet prairie species include blue-joint grass, cord grass and tussock sedge. Mesic prairie grasses are prairie dropseed, Indian grass, big bluestem and switchgrass while forbs include leadplant, false wild indigo and tall coreopsis. Birds include bobolink, grasshopper sparrow and sedge wren. Upland sandpipers have been seen in adjacent areas. Mammals such as prairie voles, shrews, coyotes and reptiles and amphibians like the western fox snake, blue racer, smooth green snake and western chorus frog can also be seen. Prior to the state's acquisition, Grant Creek Prairie was grazed by cattle which allowed hawthorn trees to invade the northern section. Current management of the preserve is primarily concerned with the elimination of these small trees.