Ontario Field Biology: Manitoba Prairie Escapades

I've been to Manitoba a few times, most recently for the 2012 North American Prairie Conference. Every time that I go, I've always made a point of visiting an area of tallgrass prairie in the extreme southeast of Manitoba. Near the towns of Tolstoi, Gardenton and Vita, the Manitoba Tallgrass Prairie Preserve invites visitors to explore and appreciate this rare grassland habitat. Aside from the superb habitat, the wildlife (including tonnes of Red-sided Gartersnakes), the solitude is something else. No cellphone signal, nobody around, just the swishing of the grass and plenty of trails to enjoy. The area was settled by Ukranian immigrants in the 1890s, you can visit St. Michael's Ukrainian Greek Orthodox church which is set among aspen woodland and prairie. An annual prairie day happens in August, with food and guided tours. A few botanical highlights include Western Prairie Fringed Orchid (Platanthera praeclara) and Small White Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium candidum). On the butterfly front, the preserve is home to a good population of Poweshiek Skippers.

The property parcels are owned by a number of groups including the NCC, Nature Manitoba, Manitoba Conservation, Environment Canada and the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation. It;s really great to see a critical mass of conservation effort with so many partners working toward a shared goal.

I thought I would post a few photos from my visit in 2012. Going through some of the more landscape-style shots, what still amazes me is scrolling in to the foreground the diversity of species you can pick out.

A few stems of Blue Giant-hyssop (Agastache foeniculum). The calyx (a portion of the flower) stays bluish even after the flowering period has passed. The '-stache' in the genus comes from the Greek stáchys meaning an ear or head of grain.

Speaking of stachys, in some of the wetter areas the non-native Hedge-nettle (Stachys palustris) is present here and there.

This leafy shot includes Upland White Aster (Solidago ptarmicoides), Thimbleweed (Anemone cylindrica), Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) and Prairie (Allium stellatum).

I've flirted with the idea of adding Field Thistle (Cirsium discolor) to my front yard garden (Harold, call by-law!), the one in the photo below is pretty impressive. This species is a biennial, that is, grows, reproduces and dies (for the most part) in two year cycles.

American Goldfinches love 'em!

The first year basal rosettes are pretty gnarly looking.

The plant below is the lesser encountered of the ragweeds, Perennial Ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya). Like Common Ragweed (A. artemisiifolia), it grows rhizomatously (via agressive underground roots); both can be found in areas of drier, sandy soils.

Purple Prairie-clover (Dalea purpurea) is listed as an S1 in Ontario, to my knowledge based upon a single, possibly extirpated populations somewhere near Sarnia. The plant in the photo has finished blooming but these are quite something when they dot a rolling landscape with purple.

Some areas of the preserve are rich in diversity, while others are limited to a few dominant grasses and sedges, and in this case, the odd Shrubby Cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa).

A western Canada wildflower, this short tuft of flowers is Tufted Fleabane (Erigeron caespitosus). The flowering stems reach 15-20cm.

The abundance of damp thickets turns up lots of Bottle Gentian (Gentiana andrewsii), the species epithet named after the English botanical artist Henry C. Andrews.

Prairie Gentian (Gentiana puberula) has to rank among my personal favourite wildflowers. It almost reminds me of a gas stove element.

Moving north toward Winnipeg, the prairie below occurs near Grosse Isle and was likely spared the plough due to it's location in the middle of a triangle of rail lines which converge near the town. I screen-capped a Google Earth image of the area (below), the relationship between prairie and rail lines is an interesting one.

Manitoba is home to 7 species of sunflower including Maximilian's Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani) which is easy to spot with it's drooping leaves.

Prairie Sunflower (Helianthus pauciflorus)

False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides). Have you ever seen Forrest Gump...the scene where Bubba talks about shrimp?

Another vista, this time Meadow Blazingstar (Liatris ligulistylis), Stiff Goldenrod (Solidago rigida) and Yarrow (Achillea sp.)

Similar to the above, but with Grass-of-parnassus (Parnassia glauca) and Wild Licorice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota) throughout.

The silver-coloured plants are a fairly common site throughout the prairie provinces, these are Silverleaf Psoralea (Pediomelum argophyllum), otherwise known as Silverleaf Indian Breadroot..

For one evening, the conference included a drinks and appetizers event at The Manitoba Museum. It was a great way to meet all sorts of people from across Canada and the US, and check out the diorama!

Another interesting exhibit, the root mass of a carefully excavated prairie grass. It's no wonder these plants can sustain long droughts, grazing and scorching fires.

John Morgan of Prairie Habitats Inc. gave a tour of a few sites including some of his urban powerline trials with Manitoba Hydro.

The Living Prairie Museum is another neat spot within Winnipeg. It is a sizable prairie remnant within the city with a network of trails and a great interpretive centre. They had a small greenhouse outside, I took a few blueprint shots for my next project.

Somebody had taken the artistic liberty of seeding Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum) and Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium) into the prairie at the Living Prairie Museum. Out of their range (1) (2) but still pretty interesting to see.

One of the most memorable excursions was the train ride on a heritage steam locomotive, the Prairie Dog Central.

This heritage attraction runs 1-2 hours rides to the west of the City (toward that prairie remnant framed by rail lines near Grosse Isle). The perk for our group, we could ask the conductor to stop at any time to get pretty prairie photos, super cool.

I laugh at this photo because there is a type of train fanatic known as a 'foamer', they get really excited by rare and unusual trains. What is so funny is that the volunteers running the train are probably looking at all the botanists scouring about in the weeds thinking "What a bunch of geeks!". To each their own.