The research team examined differences in nutrient, water and carbon storage and output for selected mixtures of annual and perennial plant communities. The research was set up in 14 small sub-watersheds managed by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City, Iowa. Each sub-watershed had a different placement of prairie conservation strips within crop fields. The project has continued as part of the "perennializers" working group, also known as the "Science-based Trials of Row Crops Integrated with Prairies" or STRIPs research team.