Clark Fork Native Prairie

Clark Fork Native Prairie The Clark Fork Native Prairie is a unique natural park in the heart of Missoula. A walk through the Prairie is a walk back in time.

Its 2.5 acres are home to over 90 species of native plants that recreate what the Valley looked like over 200 years ago.

Hello,We are moving and don't have room for a wonderful heirloom table. It is a drop leaf table in the "Duncan Phyfe" st...
07/03/2025

Hello,
We are moving and don't have room for a wonderful heirloom table. It is a drop leaf table in the "Duncan Phyfe" style. It is made of striped mahogany. We had it completely refinished a few years ago. The dimensions are 30" tall; 38" x 20.5" when the side leaves are down; 38" x 50" when the leaves are up.

Asking $1,000 OBE.

Hi Folks,It has been a busy summer, but a long time since we posted any updates. Volunteers continue to work at the Cla...
08/18/2022

Hi Folks,
It has been a busy summer, but a long time since we posted any updates. Volunteers continue to work at the Clark Fork Native Prairie on a variety of projects, and it is looking good!

There is a very interesting plant putting on a great show now. It is Blazing Star (Mentzelia laevicaulis). This plant is widely distributed in western US where it thrives in rocky, dry landscapes. It has spectacular yellow flowers that open at dusk and give off a wonderful, spicy scent.

If you drive past Marshall Canyon turnoff (on old 200) you will see a spectacular show of yellow-flowered plants clinging to the rocky hillside. John Pierce collected some of this gravel and brought back seeds from this location and put them along right along the River Trail after it was widened. There are several blazing star plants right along the trail near the sagebrush.

The blazing star flowers open in the evening, and they are visited by hawk moths, which seem to be one of their major pollinators. But the flowers stay open during the following morning, and bumblee bees and other native bees find them very attractive. So we suspect they are pollinated by both nocturnal hawkmoths and diurnal bees.

If you are near the trail during the next little while check them out!

Hello everyone,This is an exciting time of the year at the Clark Fork Native Prairie, as different species of plants ree...
05/01/2022

Hello everyone,
This is an exciting time of the year at the Clark Fork Native Prairie, as different species of plants reemerge and flower. If you quickly scan the prairie, what you notice are mostly yellow flowers! Later on in the summer, the flowering plants display a wider palette of colors, including red, white, blues and a lot more.

So why are so many spring flowers yellow? Fifteen years ago Peter Lessica wrote an interesting story on this in the Montana Naturalist (Spring/Summer 2007 edition). Bumblebees, the sturdy pollination workhorses of later spring and summer, are not around in large numbers yet. This is because only the queens survive the winter, and they are busy raising this year's generation of offspring, which will be the worker bees. Many of the early spring insects that are visiting flowers now are flies and other more generalized pollinators. Studies on insect vision suggest that flies are more sensitive to yellow colors, while later-emerging bees are more attracted to other colors, such as blues; moths prefer evening-blooming white flowers; hummingbirds really dig the red, tubular-shaped flowers.

All these other flowers will show up in the prairie later in the summer, but for now, enjoy the spectacular yellow show, and thank the flies and other generalized pollinators for it.
Cheers, Erick Greene

Hi folks,There is a very lovely spring flower blooming right now in the Clark Fork Native Prairie. It is called Slender...
04/27/2022

Hi folks,

There is a very lovely spring flower blooming right now in the Clark Fork Native Prairie. It is called Slender Fringecup (Lithophragma tenella - in the Saxifrage family). It has deeply divided petals that are a wonderful pinkish color. It is small and easy to overlook, but look for it along the paths on the south side of the prairie and you will be rewarded!

Cheers, Erick Greene

Happy Spring!The buttercups and the biscuitroot (picture below) are flowering in the Native Prairie! With so much great ...
04/27/2022

Happy Spring!

The buttercups and the biscuitroot (picture below) are flowering in the Native Prairie! With so much great weeding last year, the Prairie is looking good. Thanks to all who helped!

We're trying to keep the same days for volunteering as last year: Wednesday afternoons starting at 1:00 p.m. and Saturday mornings starting at 10:00 a.m. for now. We usually work (weeding mostly) for 2 or 3 hours.

John Pierce and Anne Greene will be at the Prairie on Wednesdays and Saturdays. If you can make it on one of those days, we would love to see you! Helping out is a great way to learn your native plants and care for a unique open space.

Cheers, Anne

Hi everyone,Hope you all had a good winter, and even with the snow on the ground now, the wonderful buttercups, yellow b...
04/17/2022

Hi everyone,
Hope you all had a good winter, and even with the snow on the ground now, the wonderful buttercups, yellow bells, and spring drabas have been putting on quite a show!

We want to let you know about a special event coming up at the Native Prairie on April 23 - it will involve tours of the prairie, dances in honor of National Water Day, and followed-by clean-up of sections of the Clark Fork River (organized by the Clark Fork Coalition). Who could ask for anything more?
Best, Erick Greene

Here are more details:

The Dance Program at the University of Montana welcomes community members to join us in the celebration of National Water Dance Day this year at the Clark Fork Native Prairie near the banks of the Clark Fork River on April 23 at 2pm (tours of the Prairie start at 1:30pm). Students enrolled in the UM Community Dance Initiatives class have partnered with the Clark Fork Coalition, Clark Fork Native Prairie, and Soft Landing Missoula to engage our community in a nation-wide dance to honor water.



An online link is available for community members to learn the movement and get more info: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1InskkiQiR3u9wZNSre0sS-JmNEOJNZeV6CHpMGVYquk/edit?usp=sharing

The Clark Fork Native Prairie is a unique natural park in the heart of Missoula. Its 2.5 acres are home to over 90 species of native plants that recreate what the Valley looked like over 200 years ago. A walk through the Prairie is a walk back in time. Tours of the Prairie will take place before the movement choir at 1:30pm, and will be led by botanist John Pierce and ecologists Anne and Erick Greene.

The movement choir will commence on April 23rd at 2pm on the Riverfront Trail, in front of the Clark Fork Native Prairie. Missoulians are invited to view the movement or participate in the informal showing. This event does not require an RSVP. Following the movement display, participants are encouraged to participate in the Clark Fork River Clean-Up, organized by the Clark Fork Coalition.

It is important to the University of Montana Dance Program to acknowledge the lands on which we reside and play on: Es mistéʔes qe es lʔ, ci łu l ,T,atʔ̓ ayaqn u Qlispélixʷ sqlixʷúʔulexʷs t Nłʔaycčstm Kʷtis Snacx̓ ̣łqe̓ ym̓ ín. Qe es putʔem łu Sqélixʷ m̓ im̓ éʔeye̓ ms x̣ʷl ,olqʷštulexʷ łu x̣ʷl ,qł sqlqelixʷ.

The University of Montana acknowledges that we are in the aboriginal territories of the Salish and Kalispel people. We honor the path they have always shown us in caring for this place for the generations to come.

Hi folks,Summer has definitely turned the corner to fall! There is a really interesting fall-blooming plant in the Aste...
08/27/2021

Hi folks,
Summer has definitely turned the corner to fall! There is a really interesting fall-blooming plant in the Aster family called curly cup (or sticky) gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa). This native plant has a large geographic distribution, stretching from Central America and across much of North America.

Curly cup gumweed has brilliant yellow rays, and is interesting for many reasons. It is a favorite with pollinators right now - it has been listed as having "special value to native bees." It thrives in arid environments. The plant gets one of its common names - "sticky" gumweed - from the copious amounts of very gummy resin on the flower heads. This has been used by many Native American groups, especially for treating rashes and burns and pulmonary problems. The leaves of gumweed also track the sun, giving rise to a couple more of its common names - compass plant and sundial plant. This plant is also rich in hydrocarbon compounds called monoterpenes and diterpenes. It has potential for making biofeuls, and ongoing research is looking at making kerosene and jet fuels from it! So if you get a chance check out the nice show of the sticky gumweeds!

Hi everyone,Late summer/fall is in the air! You can sense the changing of the seasons at the Clark Fork Native Prairie...
08/03/2021

Hi everyone,
Late summer/fall is in the air! You can sense the changing of the seasons at the Clark Fork Native Prairie. The earliest spring flowers are long gone, and some of those plants are closing up shop for the season. The best example of this are the arrow-leaf balsamroots, whose spectacular yellow flowers tell us spring has arrived. The balsamroots have seeded, and the leaves are dying off now. The balsamroots can live a long time (40-50 years) and they can have taproots that go down 10 feet or so. So even though they may look like they are dying, these long-lived perennial plants have just shunted lots of energy into their big tap roots so they will be all set for next spring.

But a whole suite of late-summer and fall species are coming into their own right now. Most of these are yellow-flowered plants in the aster family. There are two species of rabbit brush starting to flower in the Prairie - rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) and green rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus).

Another late-summer/early fall standout are the golden rods. Look for the bright yellow flowers of the Missouri golden rod (Solidago missouriensis). Even though this species is named after the state of Missouri, it has a large western geographic distribution.

There are not a lot of other plants flowering now, and these bright yellow flowers attract a huge number of native bees, flies, beetles and other insects. Sit for a few minutes by a rabbitbrush or goldenrods in flower and you will be rewarded by seeing many spectacular insects tanking up.

Enjoy the changing of the seasons!

07/19/2021

Hi folks,
This is not related to the Clark Fork Native Prairie, but if you live in western Montana and would like to see osprey chicks up close and personal you will have a chance on Tuesday, 20 July 2021.

We are having a community osprey banding event at the osprey nest out at Fort Missoula (the one near the water tower). We are starting at 10 AM. On these hot days we work fast to get the chicks back to mom and dad as fast as we can.

This is your chance to see baby ospreys up close and personal - they are pretty dang cute! You can also learn about the ecotoxicology research and educational programs we do with ospreys.

Cheers, Erick Greene and the Montana Osprey Project

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