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When MPF, in partnership with the Platte Land Trust, acquired Snowball Hill Prairie, this portion of Snowball Hill had long ago been converted to row crops, with trees and non-native vegetation establishing on portions not used for agricultural purposes.

This photo from 2016 looking north from the parking lot shows the remains of row crops and tree encroachment prior to reconstruction. 

After MPF purchased the Snowball Hill tract in 2015, prairie reconstruction began in 2017 with the removal of trees and herbicide treatment of non-native, invasive, cool–season smooth brome grass. The following year, using seeds harvested from native grasses and forbs (wildflowers and other non-woody, broad-leaved plants) from the Snowball Hill remnant and other nearby remnants, 18 acres of previous cropland were seeded. In 2018, an additional 18 acres of previous cropland were seeded. Other restoration and stewardship practices have included seasonal prescribed burns, removal of trees and brush from the railroad tracks, and invasive plant control. With this and other native prairie reconstruction projects, patience is key, as prairie plants take time and continual management to become established. The graphic below details this process.

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Before you is the 22-acre remnant portion of Snowball Hill Prairie. This hill of prairie is an example of what much of the area landscape looked like prior to Euro-American settlement. Trees, such as the ones you see before you, didn’t exist on prairies. Very few, if any, trees grew on prairies.

Characteristics of this and other old-growth, remnant prairies are:

• unplowed, intact highly fertile soil;
• abundant native warm-season grasses that included big and little bluestem, Indian grass, and sideoats grama;
• many remnant-dependent species of native wildflowers and other broadleaved, nonwoody plants such as showy goldenrod, azure aster, pale purple coneflowers, downy gentian, green milkweeds, prairie parsley, rattlesnake master and many more;
• few, if any, trees;
• extensive animal biodiversity from pollinating insects to amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Snowball Hill Prairie ranges from dry-mesic limestone/dolomite prairie on the hilltop to mesic prairie on the lower slope and wet-mesic prairie at the bottom. A rare prairie swale natural community is found here, too, beginning at the north end of the remnant prairie and historically would have extended beyond the current prairie. Another swale runs through the reconstruction between the parking lot and remnant, but it was altered by previous terracing in the crop fields.

Some dry-adapted prairie plants commonly found in the dry-mesic portion of the prairie are: rigid goldenrod, scurfy pea, ground plum, Engelmann’s adder’s tongue fern, and biscuit root. Photos below by Bruce Schuette

Some moisture-loving prairie plants that thrive in the wet-mesic portion of the remnant are bunchflower, Michigan lily, and swamp milkweed.

Photos by Bruce Schuette: bunchflower, which can be found on the north end of Snowball Hill Prairie, and Michigan lily, which has been documented at Snowball Hill.  Photo of swamp milkweed by Steve Johnson

From here, continue along the trail spur that leads to the bench seat and take in the sights, sounds, smells, and peace of the prairie.

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At first glance, the remnant prairie—from the hilltop looking north—and the reconstructed prairie—looking south from the hilltop—may look the same, but, in fact, the height, density, and types of vegetation occurring in the remnant versus the reconstruction vary greatly. Remnant prairie communities often host 200+ herbaceous plant species, many of which occur only on prairie remnants, including the ground plum, Michigan lily, and bunchflower listed above. These plants are usually difficult to establish in a reconstruction. Reconstructions often contain only 20 to 30 species, many of which tend to be more generalistic, meaning they can occur in disturbed as well as intact habitats, and include common milkweed, partridge pea, and gray headed coneflower, as well as native grasses. Some of these plants can be abundant in the early stages of a reconstruction and decrease over time. Both the remnant and reconstructed parts of the site are managed with prescribed fire, a critical component to sustain and even enhance the prairie plant community, increase seed production, suppress woody plant invasions, and improve grassland wildlife habitat. Typically, a recently burned prairie will have a greater density of blooming wildflowers during the following growing season.

Photo of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) patch by Scott Woodbury

Other remnant-dependent plants like New Jersey tea, lead plant, and cream white and blue wild indigo are well-adapted to the drier east-facing slopes of Snowball Hill.

Photo of white blooms of New Jersey tea and purple blooms of lead plant in June on the western slope of Snowball Hill by Bruce Schuette

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The prairie reconstruction work is ongoing with annual prescribed burns and spot-treatment of invasive plants. This trail runs along former agricultural terraces that previously had agricultural tiling, a type of drainage system that removes excess sub-surface water from fields to allow sufficient air space within the soil, proper cultivation, and access by heavy machinery to tend and harvest crops. There are plans to plug these drainage areas to create ephemeral pools for amphibian and shorebird habitat.

This photo was taken during a prescribed burn in February 2023 from the reconstructed portion of the prairie looking north toward the summit of Snowball Hill. It is often apparent which section of the prairie was most recently burned, as this land management practice typically sparks a profusion of native plant flowering in the subsequent growing season. 

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Why prairie protection and stewardship is so important:

• Most prairie plants have deep, complex root systems that help filter and facilitate rainwater infiltration, diminish erosion, enrich soil, sequester carbon, and retain moisture.
• Prairies are home to plant and animal species that will cease to exist without these special habitats.
• Prairies provide crucial habitat for a large number of pollinating insects that are vital for  plant reproduction.

The illustration above, courtesy of the Conservation Research Institute and Heidi Natura, shows the approximate root depths of the following plants under ideal conditions (L-R): non-native Kentucky blue grass (only a few inches); and native prairie plants: lead plant (14+ feet); Missouri goldenrod (7+ feet); Indian grass (9+ ft); compass plant (15 ft); porcupine grass (5 ft); heath aster (8 ft); prairie cord grass (8 ft); big bluestem (9 ft);  pale purple coneflower (5+ ft); prairie dropseed (5 ft); side oats gramma (7+ ft); false boneset (8 ft); switch grass (10+ ft); white wild indigo (7 ft); little bluestem (6+ ft); rosinweed (9+ ft); purple prairie clover (4 ft); June grass (2 ft); cylindrical blazing star (15 ft); and buffalo grass (8 ft). Note: In contrast, the roots of the non-native, typical turf grass, Kentucky blue grass (far left), are only a few inches.

Six listed Species of Conservation Concern have been recorded from Snowball Hill Prairie:

Prairie king snakes (pictured below), a racer and a rough green snake have been recorded on Snowball Hill Prairie. The presence of the rough green snake is notable for being near the very northern edge of the species range in Jackson County.

Photo of prairie king snake by Bruce Schuette

The golden byssus skipper (pictured below) is a prairie-dependent specialist in the Midwest that uses eastern gamma grass and possibly big bluestem as its larval host plants.

Photo of golden byssus skipper by Bruce Schuette