Tucked on a hillside in north central Marshall County lies the farm of Carl and Linda Kurtz. On a mid-October afternoon, harvest season is in full swing.

On the Kurtz farm, however, the scene is unique. While neighbors whiz through hundred-acre fields of corn and soybeans with thirtyfoot-wide combines, Carl and Linda use a small 1969 John Deere self-propelled combine to wade through a breath-taking mix of grasses and flowers swaying in the autumn breeze. For over twenty-five years, Carl has been working to bring back the tall grass prairie on his farm, otherwise known as the Prairie Creek Wildlife Refuge. Amidst the fragrant seed-heads, buzzing insects, and flitting birds, one captures a glimpse of what our ancestors may have seen when they first came to Iowa.

The diverse plant communities of the tall grass prairie once covered more than 90 percent of Iowa’s original landscape. Most of Iowa’s native prairie is now under intensive cultivation. The less than 2 percent that remain is mostly found in small parcels in varying states of degradation. Through his planting and harvesting methods, Carl Kurtz is expanding what remains of Iowa’s original tall grass prairie. The harvest occurring on the Kurtz farm is much more than prairie seed. Clean water, renewed soil, biological diversity, and a stunning example of a viable farming enterprise are among the benefits.

Carl Kurtz is a modern day pioneer. His talents are as diverse and complementary as the plants in his prairies. Carl is a long-time naturalist, professional photographer, conservation leader, sustainable farmer, author, musician, lay minister for his rural church, educator, and one of Iowa’s leading experts in prairie reconstruction.

Carl has lived most of his life on this farm bought by his father in the 1930s. His parents instilled an interest in the wild parts of the farm and encouraged him to take the time to explore them. “I liked to go hunting. And I used to hunt almost every day after school, year ‘round. That was a way to be connected, to be out there,” says Carl.

This early cultivation led Carl to a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology at Iowa State University. He also gained an interest in photo-graphy during college and while serving in the Army. He developed his photography skills while using them as a tool to observe and capture changes in the landscape. “You can really see changes in things if you keep photographing them as they go along,” explains Carl. Photography originally drew Carl to prairies. Upon returning to his farm after the Army, he met botanist Roger Landers and joined him on research trips around Iowa to learn about and photograph unique natural areas. “That opened up a whole world to me,” explains Carl. “He was a good ecologist, and he introduced me to prairie vegetation.”

In the mid-1970s, Carl began to see that current agricultural practices were contributing to degradation of the soil and water. In response, he began implementing sustainable agriculture practices on his farm, such as strip-cropping and contour farming. This led to soil losses far below the average. Carl began witnessing and documenting the improvements in his farm’s health and was increasingly guided by his interest in the ecology of the land.

The history of prairie plantings on the Kurtz Farm had humble beginnings. In 1975, Carl scattered some prairie seeds in an attempt to vegetate the poor soils of an adjacent roadside. A year later, motivated by his desire to photograph prairie and its wildlife, he converted three acres of cornfield adjacent to the homestead. Over the next twelve years, Carl would reconstruct an additional thirty-five acres of cropland and pasture using seed purchased from dealers. This time marked the beginning of a marriage between Carl’s diverse passions: photography, wildlife, farming, prairie, and sustainability.

As the prairie developed, Carl made many observations about its effects on the land. There was now a stunning display of wildflowers throughout the growing season. An abundance of pheasants, deer, grassland birds, butterflies, and frogs provided inspiring subjects for photography. Carl believes that “the charm of the prairie lies in what it attracts.”

Carl also noticed more practical benefits of the prairie, including the return of the soil’s capacity to hold water and filter nitrates, even in large rain events. This was evidenced by the remarkable purity of the farm’s wetlands. Carl says, “I began to realize that natural systems do not deplete themselves or the land. Soils become richer and more productive as the diversity of plants and animals that utilize them increases.”

In his careful observations, Carl also saw the flaws in his plantings. The areas with fewer flower and grass species had a greater weed infestation. “A grassland is just fine, but it’s not very stable,” he explains. Carl concluded that plantings lacking plant diversity were not as dynamic and declined over time. In addition, he noticed, that a diverse system catered to a greater diversity of wildlife. This theory that “there is stability in diversity” became the cornerstone of Carl’s prairie philosophy.

Carl started to focus on what he witnessed as the single barrier to planting a large number of species—the very structure of the prairie seed industry. Up until this time, prairie seed had been grown in large monoculture stands and sold as individual species. And as Carl observes, “You can’t believe the problems inherent in that system, including weed, insect, and fungal pressure.” The maintenance and harvest of monoculture seed plots is extremely labor intensive. Those costs are passed on to the consumer. “What I saw about this whole business was that if you really wanted to get a planting that had a lot of diversity, you couldn’t afford to do it,” Carl says. “I thought there must be a better way to raise the seed, to get diversity, and get the price down.”

In 1990 the opportunity arose for Carl to manage and harvest a twenty-acre remnant of beautiful, diverse, original Iowa prairie in nearby Story County. Using his seemingly endless ingenuity, Carl converted his old Allis Chalmers pull-type combine into a prairie harvesting machine. He took the harvested seed and planted the first acres of what would become the Kurtz’s prairie production plot. Since that time, Carl has converted a total of fifty acres of his farm using this precious, native seed. These plantings have matured into stable prairie reconstructions, which Carl now harvests in bulk each fall. He sells the resulting product to landowners wishing to restore a dynamic prairie system.

“Our goal is to get people to plant big plantings, but you’ve got to get the cost down so they can actually do that,” remarks Carl. In developing this revolutionary way of harvesting and marketing prairie seed, Carl was able to reduce the cost of a diverse planting by 75 percent. “That gave us a market that, in a sense, nobody had.”

One of the most striking features of the operation is the Kurtz’s economic success. Today, the Kurtz farm is composed of 60 acres of production prairie, 120 acres of other prairie reconstructions, and 90 acres of corn and soybeans. “The prairie has enabled us to have a very small farming acreage operation and make it,” says Carl. “That’s a big deal. We’re making enough money to not only support us, but to go out and purchase more land. It’s a very small, sustainable system.”
 
Carl’s method has numerous benefits for his customers. When purchasing the seed, central Iowa customers can be sure they are getting seed native to this area and, therefore, best adapted to grow here. They know they are getting a mix containing fifty to sixty plant species. The result will be a dynamic, stable prairie planting that improves over time. With the seed comes Carl’s caring advisement and his more than twenty-five years of prairie establishment experience. “Good things come out of caring about people and trying to help them however you can within the limits of your time. Part of the success of it is persistence and hanging in there with people,” states Carl.

In the last twelve years, one might say Carl’s prairie seed and planting methods have spread like wildfire. Carl has worked with over one hundred individuals and conservation agencies to plant well over one thousand acres of prairie in central Iowa. He has pioneered steps for establishing a successful prairie. His extensive use of mowing in prairie establishment has since become a standard practice. Carl shares his expertise in his book A Practical Guide to Prairie Reconstruction. Countless other seed dealers have also adapted Carl’s approach to planting, harvesting, and selling prairie seed. Many of his Marshall County neighbors have used his seed in their own plantings, exponentially increasing the benefit to local wildlife. Hundreds of individuals come to see the Kurtz farm every year.

Carl is humble, yet hopeful about the broader influence of his work. “I think the impacts of things like this are like any other sustainable operation. They are really subtle. It just grows a little bit. You touch a person here and you touch one there. And then they go out and do the same thing. Those kinds of things actually last. It’s like planting a seed. You just plant them here and there and everywhere and you see what happens.”