It has been regularly recommended over the years to plant specific species in certain circumstances. A common example is planting switchgrass in lowland fields because it is well adapted to low areas. Though I agree that switchgrass is well adapted to low areas (my agreement is with certain qualifications), switch has been overly promoted as being the only alternative for that situation.

In terms of wildlife habitat and general ecology moving from one monotypic stand to another takes us only an incremental step away and that step could just as easily be in the wrong direction as in the right. If moving from a previously existing monotypic crop land or cool season grass stand the benefits will be limited. The greatest benefit will be from the disturbance and subsequent succession of the stand and short term in nature. The long term benefits will be only minimal. In some cases, if covered by a good variety of existing natural vegetation, a monotypic switchgrass stand could be a step backwards. Therein lies the danger of not enough knowledge.

GRASSES OF LOWLANDS

Dr. John E. Weaver, a pioneering grassland ecologist, studied the prairies for over 40 years beginning in the late nineteen teens, described the grasses, forbs and communities of lowlands in his book, North American Prairie, published by the Johnsen Publishing Company, Lincoln, Nebraska in 1954. "Big bluestem was the most abundant species of the grasslands which occupied the broad valleys of the larger streams. It grew thickly in tributary valleys and ravines ... as well," reported Weaver. Weaver describes the big bluestem community as being one of the two prairie grass communities "of greatest importance and widest extent." The other being little bluestem. "The big bluestem community is characteristic of level but well drained lowlands and lower slopes of hills". From Missouri westward, "...big bluestem is the most important dominant of grasslands which occupy the broad lowland valleys of Lake Winnipeg and the Red River of the Dakotas, the Missouri, the Platte and Arkansas, and other great drainages as well as the lowlands along their thousands of tributaries throughout the area of true prairie.
Big bluestem is well adapted to lowland areas provided the soils are well aerated. Big bluestem can withstand periodic flooding provided it is not prolonged. Big blue most commonly occurred in the second bottoms which weren't subject to flooding as often as the lower first bottoms. Another grass of the big bluestem community is Indiangrass. Indiangrass, which has almost identical adaptation, occurred as 5 to 20 percent of the vegetation in most lowlands. Where portions of the big bluestem community are occasionally flooded or repeatedly burned, Indiangrass greatly increases in abundance.

Dr. Weaver studied the composition of vegetation at several sites. When looking at a big bluestem community on a low, level, second bottom prairie near Tarkio and Bigelow, Missouri, in 1930, he found big bluestem to represent from 84 to 98 percent (average 91.5) of the vegetation present across several quadrants. Indiangrass represented only 1 to 2 percent, as did Kentucky bluegrass ( a non-native introduced from Europe by white man). At a well drained bottom land site in Nebraska along Salt Creek and the Platte River, the results were similar except for three quadrants, which flooded more frequently. There, Indiangrass comprised from 25 to 54 percent (average 36.3) of the vegetation present. In the big bluestem community, switchgrass constituted only 1.7 percent of the composition and occurred in quadrants 22 percent of the time.

The sloughgrass Spartina pectinata (prairie cordgrass, marshgrass, rip gut, rippie) community occurred over hundreds of square miles of first bottom land along both the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries throughout the true prairie. Sloughgrass occurred in a transition zone from moist soil to dry land. On the wet side of the sloughgrass community were sedges, rushes and other moist soil plants. On the dry side of the sloughgrass community were usually switchgrass and nodding wildrye. Sloughgrass, because of its structure and growth characteristics, typically occurred in nearly pure stands. Its growth form precluded nearly any other vegetation from surviving its height and subsequent shading of the understory. Weaver reported, "the shade produced is so dense - often 1 percent or less of full sunshine - that where conditions for its growth are favorable other grasses are effectually excluded".

A switchgrass-wildrye community did occur in lowlands and Weaver reported, "originally hundreds of acres of bottom lands and other wet areas were clothed with dense stands of switchgrass more or less intermixed with Canada wildrye". Broad areas of this community only occurred where the land gradually sloped. Where the changes in land were more abrupt switchgrass-wildrye occurred in narrow bands.

Where these three communities exist together it is easy to see the differences in elevation or soil types separating the communities. Sloughgrass followed by switchgrass-Canada wildrye followed by the big bluestem community all indicated a progression from the transitional zone of moist soil to dry, to soils too poorly aerated for big bluestem, through well drained bottom land soils. Some more common other grasses of lowlands are eastern gamagrass, redtop, reed canary grass, Western wheatgrass and Virginia wildrye. Eastern gamagrass, currently receiving a lot of attention as a forage grass, naturally occurs in the moister margins of the switchgrass-wildrye community. Redtop is a native cool season grass commonly referred to as a wet meadow grass. It does well in wet soils. Reed canary grass, although native to the U.S., has a majority of its origin from European seed sources. I strongly caution the use of canary grass because of its aggressive behavior in watersheds. Given some time, it will spread throughout a watershed by dispersion of the seed via high water events. Western wheatgrass is considered an upland grass, however does populate lowland areas underlain by a clay hard pan. Virginia wildrye, similar in appearance to Canada wildrye, occurs in similar circumstances to Canada wildrye, though it is more shade tolerant.

FORBS OF LOWLANDS

Weaver enumerated 58 most important forbs of lowland. I will list just a few of the more familiar ones for your reference. Stiff marsh bedstraw Galium tinctorium, Canada anemone Anemone canadensis, Tall goldenrod Solidago altissima, Compassplant Silphium laciniatum, Prairie phlox Phlox pilosa, Rosinweed Silphium integrifolium, Saw-toothed sunflower Helianthus grosseserratus, Thickspike gayfeather Liatris pycnostachya, Golden Alexanders Zizia aurea, Culver's root Veronicastrum virginicum, Whorled milkweed Asclepias verticillata, Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus, Swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata, Oxeye sunflower Helopsis helianthoides, Black-eyed Susan Rudbckia hirta, Grayhead coneflower Ratibida pinnata, Cup plant Silphium perfoliatum, and Baldwin's ironweed Vernonia baldwini.
Earlier I presented the position that switchgrass was being wrongly used in lowland situations. I did not, and do not intend to say that it is wrongly applied in lowland situations. However, I will say that it is not necessarily the only option for many lowland sites.

There are two generalizations occurring simultaneously. One, switchgrass is the only native grass adapted to lowlands; two, a lowland is a lowland, all are the same. That is probably more damning than the other generalization. In certain lowland situations, as you have learned by this dissertation, switchgrass is by far the best adapted. However, many times a crop field adjacent to a tributary is considered a lowland and though it is a lowland, how low is it?

The point I'm trying to make is that if it will grow a common row crop such as grain sorghum or corn, a cool season grass such as fescue or brome, it is not low enough to warrant the wholesale use of switchgrass.

The intent of this entire discussion is to introduce you to the fact that there are other options when planting lowland fields. Stop and think for a minute before planting just switchgrass. In many instances, and I will say most instances, a mixture of big bluestem, indiangrass and switchgrass, with the appropriate forbs will be better suited and more beneficial.