Prairie Viewing

The highway sign read "PRAIRIE VIEWING" and the short loop off the interstate, like the road to a rest area only without the buildings, swung off and transected a small grassy area. A surprising number of other cars had pulled off here as well: a trucker sleeping, two cars stopped to walk their dogs, and some others, perhaps like us, who wanted a look and a short walk. The sign for the prairie remnant trail professed that it was maintained by some Story County group but what we discovered was a path that resembled a rarely used game trail through thick trees, mostly Eastern Red Cedar, that ended at a fence at the edge of a corn field. Back at the parking lot, a closer look at the open area (not much different at first glance than the road ditches along the interstate) in front of the car revealed a few prairie plants: Rattlesnake Master, Indiangrass, Little Bluestem, Mountain Mint and a few other I didn't recognize.

Such a tiny island of native plants in an ocean of Ag-industry farmland. A monument to what has been lost. A sobering reminder of how little is left.

"Disturbed areas represent opportunity. Too much order represents the opposite."
- John Janovy, Jr., from the essay 'Disturbed Areas' in Back in Keith County

Posted on February 18, 2017 04:28 AM by