Field trips run concurrently and require additional $30 fee due at registration because space is limited. Lunch is provided during each field trip.

Pulliam Prairie Site Guided Tour

In 2008, a 200-acre, high-quality Black Belt Prairie remnant was located in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, on the Pulliam Farm. A botanical survey of this site found more than 400 species of plants with less than 6% of the total flora being classified as non-native. In addition to a guided tour of this impressive site, participants will discuss site-specific prairie plant communities, plant identification, and associated invertebrate communities. The field trip will conclude with lunch at Bryan Farm.

Prairie Conservation in Working Landscapes

This tour will begin with a visit to the Prairie Research Unit to view an ongoing native grass grazing trial cooperatively managed by Mississippi State University. Following the grazing trial tour, participants will tour B. Bryan Farms and Prairie Wildlife Preserve, a 5,200-acre farm managed for agricultural production and wildlife conservation. The farm features a variety of native grass practices including field buffers, grazing paddocks, biofuels research plots, and prairie restoration sites. In addition to conventional agriculture, the farm also features fee hunting opportunities for northern bobwhites, white-tailed deer, and other wildlife. The field trip will conclude with lunch at B. Bryan Farms.

Southeastern Grassland Insects/Insect Collection Methods

A diverse insect fauna inhabits the grasslands of the southeastern United States. Many of these species are shared with the Great Plains and coastal savannahs; whereas, others are endemic to specific regions, such as the Black Belt. Dr. Richard L. Brown and Jennifer L. Seltzer of the Mississippi Entomological Museum will make a presentation on interesting insect species found in grasslands of the Southeast, and also give a demonstration of various insect sampling techniques.

Prairie Green Roof Workshop

Green roofs, systems that incorporate growing medium and plant material to create rooftop gardens, are becoming an increasingly popular method for managing stormwater, improving the aesthetic character of rooftops, and decreasing heating and cooling costs in commercial development. Another potential benefit of green roof systems is plant and animal habitat. Pollinators and ground-nesting birds, for example, could benefit from prairie plant green roof systems. However, species of Sedum have been the most popular plants used in "extensive" rooftop applications, which are characterized by 6 inches or less of growing medium. Researchers have been investigating the survival and establishment of prairie plant species in non-irrigated green roof systems in an effort to provide a palette of plants to be used in this application. This workshop will cover the basic components of green roof system construction, planting techniques, and the preliminary results of an on-going experiment into the use of prairie soil as a green roof amendment to increase the survival of prairie species in this application. This workshop will be led by Dr. Tim Schauwecker of the Mississippi State University Department of Landscape Architecture.