I’ve spent most of my career trying to convince people that prairies are interesting and important. Just for fun, here is an imagined conversation – inspired by many years of prairie evangelism efforts, some more successful than others:

Me: Hi friend, have you heard the good news about prairies?

Person: Huh?

Me: Prairies! 

Person: What’s a prairie?

Me: Oh, um, it’s like a forest without the trees!

Person: Nice sales pitch.

Me: Ok.  It doesn’t have trees – well, actually, some DO have trees and we’re trying to fix that – but it has lots of other things.  Lots of grass, of course, but tons of wildflowers, birds, insects, and other cool creatures!

Person: I think maybe I drove past some prairie on the way to the mountains.

Me: Yes!  There’s some amazing prairie in eastern Wyoming and eastern Colorado! 

Person: All I saw was brown grass.  It was hard to stay awake.

Me:  Well.  I mean, yes, from the highway, but if you’d gotten out to walk around, you would have seen lots of color and diversity of life.

Person: Why would I want to walk around in brown grass?

Me: Hm.  Ok, think of it like a coral reef; if you just look out from the shore, or from a boat, you just see water.  But if you dive into the water and start exploring, you find an astonishing array of life.

Person: Prairies are boring unless I crawl around in them?

Me: Yes!  Wait, no!  They’re not boring, they just have a subtle beauty.

Person: Subtle, huh?  Sounds like another word for boring.

Me: Ok, but when you’re driving through those prairies on the way to the mountains, isn’t it amazing how far you can see? 

Person: Yeah.  And eventually, I can see the mountains and then it takes me, like, three more hours before I finally get to them.

Me:  This isn’t going as I hoped.  Hm.  Oh – what about the sky!  You can see SO MUCH sky when you’re in the prairie!

Person: (looking up) I can see the sky right now.

Me: Yeah, but in the prairie, you can see so much MORE of it!

Person: So, your selling point for prairies is that they don’t get in the way of my view of the sky?

Me: Well, I mean, that’s just one selling point!

Person: Right, the other one is that if I crawl around in them, I might see something interesting.

Me: Ok, look, I feel like you’re being deliberately obtuse about this.

Person: Fine.  Let me ask you this – what can you do for fun in prairies?

Me: Oh boy, there’s so much.  I mean, you can look at birds, wildflowers, butterflies, bees, snakes…

Person: I don’t like snakes.

Me: Oh.  Well, there aren’t THAT man snakes.  Really, just a normal amount of snakes…

Person: Ok, sorry to interrupt you.  Keep telling me all the fun things I can do in prairies.

Me:  Let’s see…  you can look at lots of plants and animals.  Did I say butterflies?  Um…

Person: Yes.  Look, can I go backpacking or camping in prairies?

Me: Oh, absolutely!  They’re wonderful for camping.

Person: But there’s no trees?

Me: Well, sometimes along the edges you can find trees.

Person: So, if I want shade or firewood, I should just stay on the edge of prairies.  Or, say, go camping in a forest?

Me: I mean, I guess that’s true.  Prairies aren’t really known for their shade. 

Person: Right.  What are they known for again?

Me: Well, like I said, there’s a tremendous diversity… Oh, do you like bison?

Person: Wait, prairies have bison? I love bison!  Why didn’t you say that?  So, if I go to a prairie, I can see bison?

Me:  Sure!  Well, I mean, not in MOST prairies, but there are a few places that have them.  Sometimes it’s hard to see them, though, because they’re out roaming.  You know, like bison do.

Person: So if I go to a prairie, I probably won’t see bison?

Me: No, I guess not.  Not in most prairies, anyway.

Person: Question for you…  Earlier you said something about trees.  Why don’t you want trees in prairies?

Me: Because then they wouldn’t be prairies anymore.

Person: Right, they’d be a place I could go camping and find shade and firewood.

Me: I guess, yes, but they wouldn’t have most of the same birds, wildflowers, bees, butterflies or sn – – I mean, um, toads…

Person: That I have to crawl around to see…

Me: Sigh.

Person: But at least prairies don’t block your view of the sky.  Maybe you should just focus on that.

Me: Right.  Thanks for the advice.  Good talk…

Person: Thanks for telling me about prairies!

Me: Uh huh.

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Maybe we need a new marketing strategy. How’s this?