Determining the optimal species mix for revegetating roadsides with native prairie communities

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St. Williams Nursery & Ecology Centre sells mixes of native grass and wildflower seed for roadside restoration. They typically recommend a nurse crop be planted alongside, both to provide better conditions for the native species. and to meet the request of customers that "green and stable" conditions are created quickly at newly disturbed sites. Roadsides are harsh environments, with high salinity, high nitrogen, high levels of disturbance and invasion by weeds. The proposed research will address their questions of which is the best nurse crop under roadside conditions, and which native species are best adapted to the roadside. In a farm field at St. Williams Nursery& Ecology Centre, the researcher will grow native plant mixes, varying the cover crop and adding different amounts of roadsalt and nitrogen. Both early growth, with measures of "green and stable", and later restoration success, with measures of biomass and native diversity, will be assessed. Comparing species performance in normal and roadside-type conditions will indicate which native species do best in roadside conditions. The results of this study will help St. Williams Nursery & Ecology Centre provide more appropriate recommendations for roadside restorations, which will increase the success of their restoration projects. Higher success rates will help in marketing their product, promoting higher seed sales. St. Williams Nursery& Ecology Centre and the researcher will publish the results in a report available to any organization engaging in roadside restoration projects that use native seed. This will benefit not only existing firms like SWENC and their clients, but will encourage the formation of new businesses, and the expansion of an industry which has tremendous potential to solve important natural resource problems in the province.