Herbert Hoover National Historic Site - Grasses (U.S. National Park Service)

NPS Photo

Indian grass

Big bluestem seedheads cured to a dark brown in late summer.

NPS Photo

Big bluestem fills the vast open spaces of the restored prairie.

Grasslands dominate the natural areas of Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. The restored tallgrass prairie accounts for about 81 of the park's 187 acres. The most abundant prairie grass is big bluestem with Indian grass, switchgrass, little bluestem, side-oats grama, and Canada wild rye completing the grass complex. Visitors may find small patches of Virginia wild rye and slough or cord grass in wet parts of the prairie. The prairie includes about five acres of wet meadow. The remaining area is drier upland habitat.

Botanists call prairie grasses "warm-season" grasses, because they grow abundantly in hot weather. These grasses form their seed heads in late summer and fall. At that time of year, the prairie looks lovely with the tall seed plumes waving high in the breeze.

Inventory & Monitoring Reports and Data

Evaluation of fire effects and restoration progress through 21 years of prairie vegetation monitoring at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, 1982-2005 (PDF file, 4.48 MB)

Invasive Exotic Plant Monitoring at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site: Year 1 (2006) (PDF file, 4.91 MB)

Vegetation Community Monitoring, 2004 (PDF file, 954 KB)