The Rustbelt Prairie (& Abandoned Quest To Spread Feral Paht Seeds)

In this episode, we turn what was initially a quest to spread a few dozen Paht Seeds in a degraded rustbelt area - an assessment based on a few individuals of feral Paht that we saw at the same site five years ago - into a discovery of what is now a very robust prairie restoration next to a railroad yard and neighborhood. The Paht Seeds didn't end up getting sown, but we did end up finding a host of cool Illinois prairie plants, including Vernonia missurica, Desmanthus illinoensis, Elymus canadensis, Liatris spicata, Lobelia cardinalis and many more.
This site is being actively restored and many of the invasive species are in the process of slowly being eradicated, increasing the native diversity and habitat for native insects and vertebrates. It's crazy to think that this prairie is next to a train yard on the south side of Chicago. Kudos to those who are actively restoring it.
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