Prairie strips within row crops provide native bee habitat and a new conservation practice for farmers

During the first phase of our research we assessed ecosystem services in small (4-12 acre) experimental watersheds at Neal Smith National Refuge outside Prairie City, Iowa, in which 10 and 20% STRIPS (Science based Trials of Row crops Integrated with Prairie Strips) were established. Conversion of only 10% of the row cropped field to contour strips of prairie vegetation yielded disproportionately high benefits in retainment within the field of soil (95%), water (44%) and nutrient (90% total P and 84% total N) when compared to our 100% row cropped fields. In addition, the watersheds with STRIPS provided habitat for a high diversity of beneficial insects such as pollinators and natural enemies of pests. In fact, the diversity of native bee species within the STRIPS was equal to that of our 100% re-established prairie controls.  Farmers encouraged by demonstration of these benefits are readily adopting such strips in Iowa as well as regionally and we have invested effort in providing information and guidance for establishing and maintaining STRIPS on their land as well as conducting numerous demonstration field days for those interested in the practice. Currently, this innovative practice qualifies for CRP contracts under both the NRCS contour buffer and filter strip standards, 332 and 393 respectively. At this time we are continuing our studies by establishing 6 landscape relevant (140 acre) experimental watersheds with instrumentation to monitor benefits from each side - one with STRIPS and the other without. Stay tuned.