Prairie Restoration

     Prairie restoration is a conservation effort to restore prairie lands that were destroyed due to industrial, agricultural, commercial, or residential development. The primary aim is to return areas and ecosystems to their previous state before their depletion. 

       The North American prairie is one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems. Some 99% of the original prairies have been turned over to agriculture, with short grass prairies in the West retaining more of their original range than mixed grass and tallgrass prairies. Illinois, still known as the Prairie State, retains less than .01% of its tallgrass ecosystem. Still, even small restorations provide valuable wildlife habitat as well as so-called ecosystem services.

Save the Butterflies

The monarch butterfly is one of the most recognizable species in North America... and it's in trouble. Climate change has intensified weather events which may impact monarch populations. Pesticide use can destroy the milkweed monarchs need to survive. Habitat loss and fragmentation has occurred throughout the monarch’s range. You can help.

Latest News More than Monarchs: Conservation Education Monarch Festival Planning: A Guide for Everyone MJV Welcomes the Mountain Restoration Trust as a New Partner

Discover Nature Schools

"One of the best ways for students to learn about nature is to interact with the outdoors. That’s why the Missouri Department of Conservation worked with teachers and education consultants to create a statewide conservation science education program called Discover Nature Schools (DNS). DNS emphasizes hands-on learning, teaches problem-solving, and provides authentic and local contexts for learning. DNS teaches students from pre-K through high school about Missouri’s native plants, animals, and habitats and connects them with nature. Key elements of the program include the following: full-color, illustrated student book student science notebook comprehensive teacher guides with outdoor activities and lesson plans student-centered, collaborative, and experiential learning approach free professional development and support from MDC Education Consultants grants for field trips and exploration equipment Student books, teacher guides, and training workshops are available at no charge to Missouri educators. Teachers who formally enroll in the DNS program are eligible for additional resources including grant opportunities for equipment and field trips. Not only do the DNS curriculum units meet the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Missouri Learning Standards, but there are also big benefits for students. A recent study of the program shows that DNS increased the amount of time students spent in activities and field experiences outside the classroom. Learning outdoors improves students' physical and mental health, increases scores on standardized tests, and reduces attention-deficit.

How to Grow a Meadow

Are you dreaming of a wildflower meadow? Do you want a non-stop display of flowers blooming from spring through fall? Would you like to attract butterflies, pollinators and songbirds to your property? If you are a homeowner, landscape architect, or someone simply interested in landscaping in an ecological, cost effective and aesthetically pleasing manner, incorporating native wildflowers into your outdoor designs will bring you many benefits. Natural landscaping with wildflowers and native grasses improves the environment and increases our connection to nature by attracting diverse varieties of songbirds, pollinators and butterflies to our properties.  And the best part? Growing a wildflower meadow is simple! While creating a long-living, sustainable wildflower meadow does require time and patience, it's really not hard to do. Your future meadow could be a small, open, sunny patch in a corner of your yard, or it could be several acres. In the long haul, you will have created a natural ecosystem right on your property that is sustainable, requiring no watering or fertilizers and only minimal maintenance. Not only is this good for the environment, it saves you time and money!

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The Grow Native! Program

Grow Native! is a native plant marketing and education program of the Missouri Prairie Foundation. Grow Native! helps protect and restore biodiversity by increasing conservation awareness of native plants and their effective use in urban, suburban, and rural developed landscapes. Through collaboration with consumers, private industry, non-profit organizations, and government agencies, Grow Native! aims to significantly increase the demand and use of native plants in the lower Midwest—Missouri, southern Illinois, eastern Kansas, northern Arkansas, northern Oklahoma, and southern Nebraska.

Overarching Goals of the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Grow Native! Program

• Provide quality native plant information and educational opportunities to our stakeholders: homeowners, landowners, livestock producers, gardeners, governmental agencies, local governments, educational institutions, and partner conservation and landscaping industry organizations.
• Increase demand for and supply of native plants and native plant landscaping and other services by marketing products and services of Grow Native! Professional Members and providing education to consumers.
• Manage activities of Grow Native! Program in a sustainable manner in terms of funding and labor.
• Maintain active subcommittees and full committee with good communication and respect for all involved.
• Have fun! Involvement in planning and executing Grow Native! Program activities should energize and inspire.

Fact Sheets for Educators on Missouri Native Plants

Forest Service Home > Wildflowers > About Us

About Us

The Celebrating Wildflowers Website

USDA Forest Service botanists and other specialists around the country have contributed to the editing, content, construction, and maintenance of this website. The site is dedicated to the enjoyment of the thousands of wildflowers growing on our national forests and grasslands, and to educating the public about the many values of native plants.

Celebrating Wildflowers emphasizes:

• The aesthetic value of plants - a field of wildflowers is a beautiful sight
• The recreational value of plants - picking berries is fun for the whole family
• The biological value of plants - native plants support other life
• The medicinal value of plants - chemicals from plants help combat sickness
• The economic value of plants - plant material such as floral greens are commercially valuable
• The conservation of native plants - protecting and maintaining native plant habitat

We hope you enjoy the website and come back to visit often!

The Celebrating Wildflowers Program

The USDA Forest Service started the Celebrating Wildflowers program in 1991. The program responds to public desire for information about native plants and their conservation. It is a way to promote and enjoy wildflowers on the 191 million acres of national forests and grasslands. The Bureau of Land Management, which manages 270 million acres of public lands, joined the program in 1994. Together, the two agencies now promote wildflower programs on about 20 percent of the nation’s landmass. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and USDA Agricultural Research Service have also joined the program. Teacher Resources