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talla ass prairie were ideally suited to row crop agriculture, nearly all prairies have been plowed,
<br />or otherwise lost to development. A few very small fragments of inesic praizie still remain in
<br />Roseville. Some of these are found in Reservoir Waods Park, and along the railroad right-of-
<br />way that parailels County Road C, extending to the south adjacent to Highway 280 and to the
<br />north near Lake Owasso.
<br />Wet Prairies - An open comrriunity where the water table is frequently near the surface, wet
<br />prairies are characterized by a mix of forbs grasses and sedges 36 inches or more in height.
<br />Although infrequent, shrubs found in wet prairie include prairic willow, pussy willow and
<br />rneadowsweet. Forbs include prairie and meadow blazingstar, paIe-spiked Iobeiia, Culver's root,
<br />bedstraws, sawtooth sunflower, asters, and tall meadow rue. Common grasses include big
<br />bluestem, prairie cordgrass, blue-joint, and sedges. Common bird species include song sparrow,
<br />red-wing blackbird, and American goldfinch. Anirnals freqaent to wet prairies ir►clude shrews,
<br />voles, mice, and a varicty of frogs, toads and salamanders. Nonnative pasture grasses such as
<br />blue.��. rass, redtop, and reed-canary grass have often been introduced, or invaded wet prairie and
<br />can become dominant in disturbed areas. In the abscnce of fires, shrubs may dominate some
<br />arcas, and changes in hydrology or water quality with urban development or adjacent agriculture
<br />degrade wet prai�-ies and encourage domination by exotic and agb essive plant species. Today,
<br />almost all wet praiz�es have been lost in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
<br />FOREST COMMUiVITIES
<br />Dry Oak Forest - A deciduous forest dominated by pin, bur, and less frequently white oak
<br />mainly under 50 feet. There are few subcanopy trees, a dense shrub layer, and patchy ground
<br />layer of moderate diversity. Typical canopy trees include pin oak, bur oalc, and white oak, with
<br />black chet-ry, trembling aspen and paper birch as second-growth trees. The shrub layer typicaily
<br />includcs hazelnut, gray dogwaod, gooseberry, and raspberries.
<br />The ground ]ayer includes wild sarsparilla, pointed-leaved tick trefoil, bracken fern, wi�d
<br />geraniurrt, Pennsylvania sedge, and pale bellwort. Typical animal s�ecies include woodpeckers,
<br />chickadees, vireos, chipmunk, squirrels, and white-tail deer. Past log�ing and/or fire may be
<br />indicated by absence of larger, single-stem trees and woody de�ris. Grazing and fragmenEation
<br />by roads and trails often reduce diversity of shrub and ground species in these forest
<br />Ciry ofRoseville �3
<br />Parks Natirral Resnierce Ma�tageme�rt
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