Tallgrass Prairie Trails

Tallgrass Prairie Trail

This prairie offers over two miles of trails for hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and nature study. Trail maps are available from the visitor center or the park website.

Grasses

The most abundant prairie grass is big bluestem with some Indian grass, switchgrass, little bluestem, side-oats grama, and Canada wild rye. Botanists call these prairie grasses "warm-season" grasses, because they grow abundantly in hot weather. These grasses form their seed heads in late summer and fall.

Small patches of Virginia wild rye and slough or cord grass may be found in wet parts of the prairie. The prairie includes about five acres of wet meadow. The remaining area is drier upland habitat.

Wildflowers

A colorful array of flowers mixes with the green, purple, and golden hues of native grasses from April until late October. Golden alexanders, Canada anemones, spiderworts, yellow and purple coneflowers, and butterfly milkweeds in spring and early summer. New England asters and numerous species of goldenrods attract monarch butterflies when they peak in late summer and early fall.

Nonnative Species

Numerous other species have appeared by natural reintroduction from outside the park. Nonnative species, including some attractive wildflowers, have escaped into the park as well.

Nonnative plants and woody vegetation continue to degrade sections of the tallgrass prairie. Land uses surrounding the prairie and the proximity of ornamental plantings contribute to invasions of exotic species. Reed canary grass and shrubs have become abundant along the creek banks and rills of the prairie.

In areas that are diverse and well-populated with native grasses and forbs, natural competition appears to be sustaining native plants. Treatment with prescribed fire, physical removal, and herbicides, followed by native seed collection and redistribution can help to control invasive and exotic species.

Birds

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site is on the Mississippi flyway, a major bird migration route. Many species rest and take refuge in the park's reconstructed tallgrass prairie and along its quiet stream. Their colors and songs add visible and audible vitality to the park's dignified commemorative setting.

Park staff and volunteers monitor long-term changes in breeding bird populations to evaluate the quality of habitat the park provides. The presence or absence of grassland birds like sedge wrens, dickcissels, grasshopper sparrows, Henslow's sparrows, bobolinks, and eastern meadowlarks indicate the prairie's overall health. Populations of these species decline as prairies disappear from the landscape. Several species are of continental importance because of their dwindling numbers.