Category Archives: General

Prairie Limerick Challenge! – Brought to you by Pete’s Plants

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I spent last week in Houston, attending The Nature Conservancy’s Global Science Gathering. It was a great meeting and I came away with lots of ideas for thought-provoking blog posts.  This isn’t one of them.

One night at dinner, in the midst of a wide-ranging discussion, a friend mentioned participating in a challenge to turn scientific journal articles into poems. Without really meaning to, I immediately composed a bad limerick about the value of fire in prairies.  (I’m not really right in the head.)  Since that night, my brain keeps trying to write more limericks about prairies.  Rather than keep all the fun to myself, I thought maybe we could turn it into a communal activity.  

I felt like I needed a photo of some kind for this post.  I picked out this one, which I think looks like a happy face in the ice.  

As a result, I’m introducing The Prairie Ecologist’s first annual Prairie Limerick Contest.  Send me your best prairie-themed limericks in the comments section below and I’ll pick out my favorites to share in an upcoming post.

Here’s an example to get your creative juices flowing:

Joe loved prairies with flowers and bees,
But his poor kids were filled with unease
“We hate this,” they chorused
“Let’s move to the forest!”
He said “Sure, just get rid of the trees!”

I should mention, this contest is sponsored by Pete’s Plants, a totally fake company that offers everything you need for establishing a backyard prairie garden or large-scale grassland restoration project.  In addition to their sponsorship, Pete’s Plants even provided their own limerick (below). Thank you to Pete and all his staff!

A New Prairie Ad Campaign?

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Nebraska announced its new tourism slogan last week (“Honestly, it’s not for everyone”), which is a self-deprecating approach many people appreciate and many others don’t. Personally, I like it.  If it works, it’ll be a win for humor and gentle self-mockery.  If it doesn’t, it’ll be a win for those of us who don’t want a lot more people crawling around here anyway.  I mean, what if some of them decide they want to MOVE here?  Good grief.

The new Nebraska slogan made me think that prairies probably need a better advertising campaign too.  If you ask most people to envision beautiful natural areas, they’re likely going to think about forests,  mountains, oceans, etc.  Prairies are going to be pretty far down that list, if not absent altogether.  As a result of this, we prairie advocates often feel a little insecure and defensive when trying to explain why prairies might be worth some consideration.

I tried to come up with a promotional approach that captured all of that angst and emotion in one neat little package.  For better or worse, here’s my proposed new slogan for prairies:

Prairies: Forests without all the pesky trees.

My slogan, of course, builds upon the famous saying, “Can’t see the forest for all the pesky trees.”  It’s a profound and thought-provoking saying, though it doesn’t go far enough.  It should really say, “Can’t see a dang thing for all the pesky trees.”

I suppose if you grew up in forests, you’d get used to not seeing sunsets, approaching storms, horizons, or anything else more than a stone’s throw away.  Maybe forest people develop a sense of direction that doesn’t rely on seeing the sun?  They probably take a lot of Vitamin D supplements too.

To those of us in prairie country, forests can feel incredibly confining, and claustrophobic.  There must be some advantages of hanging out where you can’t see past the next tree.  I just can’t think what they might be.

ANYWAY…here are a few examples of the kinds of advertisements we could distribute with my proposed new slogan…









I recognize that this slogan might not appeal to everyone.  On the other hand, I’m providing it for no cost, which is a lot cheaper than Nebraska’s new slogan.  If you don’t like it, you’re free to ignore it.  If you do like it, you’re free to steal it and use it yourself.  Or just share either this post, or individual images from it, with people you think might find it appealing.  Maybe don’t send it to any foresters…

(Regular readers of this blog will recognize that this post is written with tongue-firmly-in-cheek, but for the rest of you (especially my forester friends), please be assured I’m not a tree hater.  I’m actually a big fan of trees; just not when they’re in my prairies.  I even enjoy walking through forests – for brief periods – especially when there’s a clear trail to follow so I don’t get lost…)