Prairie Peninsula
(Area - 20,536,571 ha)
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Location and physiography - The Prairie Peninsula stretches
from northeastern Missouri, across much of Illinois and through the middle of Indiana into Ohio.
It is a gently rolling glacial plain in the west, but becomes flatter to the east, where prairie and oak
openings were embedded in beech-maple forest. Tallgrass prairie, savannah, and forest habitats
were interspersed throughout the Prairie Peninsula, although the percentage of prairie declined
from west to east. Savannah occurred in transition zones between grasslands and forest, although
the extent of savannah varied temporally and spatially with climatic conditions and other
ecological influences. Vegetation patterns were influenced primarily by fire, many of which in
recent centuries apparently were set by Amerindians.
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Conservation issues and recommendations - Soon after European settlement, the vast majority of grassland, savannah, and forest were converted to pasture, hayfield, and cropland. Some agricultural habitats served as surrogate grasslands, contributing to range expansion by a few species such as the Dickcissel and Horned Lark. Over the past 30 years, however, these and other grassland birds have declined as the amount of land in pasture decreased, and hayfields shifted to earlier maturing forage crops. Birds that nest in crops harvested during the breeding season suffer an almost absolute loss of eggs and nestlings. It may be impossible to recoup losses from conversion to more extensive and cleaner agriculture in recent decades, but PIF encourages maintenance or restoration of high quality grassland habitat in patches of sufficient size to support viable populations of high priority species.
Remaining forest habitat generally exists as small blocks in which nesting individuals typically have low rates of nest success. Nevertheless, individuals in these areas may produce some offspring and small patches can provide habitat for in-transit migrants. PIF recommends retaining and, where possible, expanding these patches to sizes at which brood parasitism and predation rates are significantly decreased.
Areas of savannah, also badly degraded, are optimal for some species such as the Red- headed Woodpecker. Savannah restoration and management can provide significant benefits to some birds, even in moderate-sized patches (up to 800 ha).
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