What a title to a post on this website. The word almost seems generic and overused here. However, it is June and PrairieWorks is very busy communicating with the public about this word, Prairie. To no surprise or fault, the word Prairie means many things to many people. In a world of loose talk and buzzword promotion it is easy to know why. To answer this, let me refer to Torkel Korlings fantastic book from 1972 The Prairie: Swell and Swale (ASIN: B000OFLY1U). The book, produced in Dundee, IL and published in the Netherlands, was sold at camera stores, nature centers, and by word of mouth throughout the 1970′s. If you happen to own this fantastic book you may be surprised by it’s value today. Nature photographer and publisher, Torkel Korling (1903-1998) provided the 64 prairie plant photos and the late great Dr. Robert Betz (1923-2007) was chosen to write it’s introduction.
The following are just a few excerpts from that introduction and the best explanation that I have found to the question:
What is a Prairie?
The prairie flowers have strangely enough dissapeared from open grounds, under the croppings of cattle and the clippings of the scythe. Only a half a dozen of sorts were seen in a ride of 30 miles, and these straggling at great distances. Illinois 1847
It is surprising how quickly the Midwestern prairies dissapeared after the coming of the settlers, and even more surprising that any prairie flowers still survive after a century and a half of plowing and over grazing. The destruction has been so complete that most of the farmers in this vast region have never seen a virgin prairie. Most prairie plants are so rare or uncommon today that field guides published to aid naturalists in identifying plants do not evenn mention them.
Almost 300 years after french explorers described them, these prairies are only a memory. But still, the word lingers on in the English language to describe any open treeless area, even though it may have no native plants, and be covered with non-prairie grasses and weeds introduced from Europe and Asia. To some, “Prairie” means a vacant lot between houses; to others it is the open land of our Western states.
While most botanists and ecologists know fairly well what a prairie is and can easily recognize one, there is no agreement on a definition. One ecologist defines it as “an extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass and usually charachterized by deep fertile soil.” Another calls it “the grassland dominated by tall prairie grass, and distinguished from the short grass plains.” Although it is difficult to find a defenition satisfactory to all ecologists, it is possible to describe a prairie in a general sense as a natural North American grassland, composed of native perrenial grasses and other herbaceous plants, in which grasses contributed much of the vegetative cover.
In fact, some relic prairies are very small in size – a fraction of an acre in an old cemetery, a short stretch along a railroad right-of-way or in a tiny patch in the corner of a farmers field. The term “prairie” then is still valid when it applies to those very rare relic grasslands, no matter how small, which have never been plowed or overgrazed. In short, these are remnants of grasslands on which the Illinois, Kickapoo and Miami Indians roamed and hunted the bison. Prairies of this nature, untouched by plowing or overgrazing and in thier pristine state, are called virgin prairies. Prairies which have been modified in some way by man or domesticated animals and which contain both prairie plants and introduced weedy plants are known as degraded prairies.
Outside of North America and on every other continent there are grasslands similar to our North American prairies. Each has a different name. In Eurasia they are known as steppes, while in South America they are collectively called pampa. South Africa has it’s veld, Austrialia it’s basalt plains, and New Zealand it’s Tussock grasslands.
Why, then were prairies fpund in the Middle West? The reason, presumably, was the presence of fire. The relatively flat ground, occasional drought, accumulation of dry litter and high winds and certain times of the year all combine to foster fires. Indians set many of these fires, but some probably had a natural orgin. With fire as an ally, coupled with winds blowing towards the east, the prairie vegetation was able to maintain itself in lands that otherwise would have been forested. In managing and caring for relic prairies, it has been found that fire does not injure the true prairie plants. In contrast, the few tree seedlings that might establish themselves in the dense prairie sod are killed by prairie fires.
Prairie Grass, it has been frequently repeated, was originally found growing “taller than a man on horseback.” Or, “the settlers cattle were lost amid the prairie grasses.” These reports do not agree with the more reliable historical accounts, or with the observation of our best prairie remnants. While native grasses on low prairies with their great available moisture do reach heights of six feet or more, most of the late-season grasses are only half that tall.
While the Indians did little damage, the coming of the early settlers to the Middle West during the nineteenth century presaged the end of the prairies. The primeval vegetation that had occupied the land for thousands of years was to be destroyed and the land planted with man’s cultivated crops.
Since so little prairie remains in the Midwest, efforts are being made to reestablish prairie on abandoned farmland. Seeds are collected from nearby prairie relics and planted. The results of projects by the University of Wisconsin at Madison and The Morton Arboretum, Lisle Illinois, show that hard work and luck fairly good prairies can be established within a few years on suitable land.
Even if there were no scientific value in prairies, it’s aesthetic appeal alone should warrant it’s preservation. It is one of our links with the past – a tie with the natural world. It seems immoral to destroy an integral part of the biological world from which mankind arose.
In our modern world with it’s artificiality, complexity and instability, wild prairies can provide us with places to go for peace and solitude. For this alone, prairies should be preserved and cherished.
Robert F. Betz
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