Washita Battlefield National Historic Site - Prairies and Grasslands

The most extensive and readily apparent natural resource at Washita Battlefield is the prairie. A landscape of grasses, broken up here and there by stretches of woodland, retreat from the high ground of the overlook until they are lost in the distance. To the undiscerning botanical eye all looks well. Unfortunately, interspersed among the native bunchgrasses are several non-native plant species that disrupt the ecological integrity of the mixed-grass prairie. While in areas the native little bluestem holds sway over the land, elsewhere may find exotic bermuda grass, johnsongrass, or sweetclover crowding out all comers. Though it"s not something one normally perceives, there is still a battle of sorts occurring at the Washita site. This battle is fought at a pace too slow for the human eye to catch, but it is happening all the same. It is a fight over differential reproduction, or which and how many plants of a particular species get to occupy a certain piece of ground. Those plant species that succeed in becoming established are the ones that will reproduce and have the leg up the following year. One only need monitor the ever changing geographies of plant distributions over time to see evidence of this floral war. The park, through its resource management efforts, definitely chooses sides by rendering aid to the native prairie plants and actively discouraging the invasive exotics. The hope is that this aid will one day win the day for the native prairie.