Y
The Benefit of
Grasslands
by Doug Leier ND Game and Fish Dept.
You don’ t have to be a biologist or range scientist to see how the land use of grasslands of North Dakota has changed.
Ashlyn Herron, a University of North Dakota master’ s in biology student is using technology to determine if high-quality grassland habitat restoration through the Meadowlark Initiative is successfully occurring. The Meadowlark Initiative is a statewide strategy that teams landowners, conservation groups, scientists and others to enhance, restore and sustain native grasslands in North Dakota.
Herron’ s research employs the use of autonomous recording units, or ARUs, to record bird presence on reseeded grasslands.
“ We’ re also comparing bird response from the reseeded grasslands to intact grasslands in the area, as well as cropland, so we can kind of see how occupancy of vocal birds is changing through stages of restoration,” she said.
These restored grasslands mean a lot especially with habitat conditions the way they are right now. ND Game and Fish Dept. officials Ashley Peterson and Kevin Kading check the status of this field. ND Game and Fish Dept. photo.
Page 56, Dakota Country, September 2025 www. dakotacountrymagazine. com