Washington, DNR to plant prairie grass at Wellness Park

The city of Washington and Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have entered a 50% cost sharing agreement to establish native prairie grasses and wildflowers by the Wellness Park. The total cost to the city will come in just over $2,000.

“It’s 20 acres of prairie grass, basically everything that’s in bean stubble around the Wellness Park,” Washington Parks Superintendent Nick Pacha said. “The Iowa DNR will help us out in the future on suggestions of when to mow, burn, all that stuff. It’s a good deal, and you’ve got 50% cost share.”

Pacha said Washington County Conservation had also agreed to get involved, and offered to plant the prairie grass seeds free of charge. Once it’s in the ground, Pacha said the seeds would take a few years to flourish.

“We’re getting three different types of mixes,” he said. “The more expensive type has a beautiful 80 different wildflowers in it, so that will be really neat, that will pop in the first year. The other ones will have a rough first year … depending on how it comes in with rains and everything else, you could mow it twice that first year, and then if you get a good stand, we could burn it the next year.”

Pacha said the flower mix would make up around 5 acres, closest to the road, while the prairie grass will go in on the west side of the park and by the water tower, and will include some walking paths.

“We’ll mow trails around it, and then we’ll mow a trail or two through the middle of it for fire burns, so when we do light it on fire, we can go slower, in sections,” he said. “We’ll have a couple trails through it.”

With the park’s adjacent city-owned farmland, which last year was used for soy beans.

“Now is the perfect time, bean stubble’s the perfect application for it,” Pacha said. “It doesn’t take as good in corn stubble … so this is the year to do it, if we’re going to do it.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com