found in groves with hazelnut or oak brush common in areas that do not burn frequently. Natural
<br />disturbances like gopher mounds and badger excavations are common.
<br />Common plant species include bur oak and pin oak, prairie rose, leadplant, heart- leaved
<br />alexanders, butterfly milkweed, purple prairie clover, bird -foot violet, prairie sage, and several
<br />species of asters and goldenrods. Common grasses include Indian grass, little and big bluestem,
<br />prairie dropseed, and sideoats grama.
<br />Common animal species include mourning dove, indigo bunting, sparrows, squirrels, pocket
<br />gophers, and white -tail deer. These areas have often been degraded by grazing or farming
<br />activities. The impact of overgrazing is a reduction in grass and forb diversity, and forage
<br />quality and quantity, as well as invasion by exotics such as leafy spurge, knapweed, and sweet
<br />clover.
<br />Prior to Euroamerican settlement, regular fires maintained these communities. Without fires, the
<br />spread of woody shrubs such as sumac, prickly ash and red cedar is increased. Many areas of
<br />Roseville that historically contained oak savanna have slowly converted to oak woodland or
<br />forest. This succession has largely been brought about by the absence of fires and the use of
<br />appropriate levels of grazing in the past.
<br />Mesic Prairie — is a fire- dependent, dry -mesic to wet -mesic grassland that has a continuous cover
<br />of tall grasses and forbs. The forb diversity of mesic prairies is typically high. Trees and shrubs
<br />are absent in better quality remnants, but may occur in localized patches in moist, protected areas
<br />such as ravines and in areas that have not been periodically grazed, hayed, mowed, or burned.
<br />Common native grasses of mesic prairie include big and little bluestem, Indian grass, porcupine
<br />grass, prairie dropseed, and Kalm's brome. Some of the most common forbs found here include
<br />leadplant, sky blue aster, rough blazingstar, purple and white prairie clover, prairie phlox, stiff
<br />goldenrod, prairie coreopsis, betony, golden alexanders, and bird -foot violet.
<br />Common bird species seen on mesic prairies include meadowlark, goldfinch, field sparrow, and
<br />eastern kingbird. Some common mammals include the meadow jumping mouse, meadow vole,
<br />thirteen -lined ground squirrel, as well as a number of frog, salamander, and toad species.
<br />Although it once covered an area from Texas to Canada, and Kansas to Ohio, today mesic prairie
<br />is among the rarest natural community types in North America. Because the soils formed by
<br />City of Roseville 14
<br />Parks Natural Resource Management
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