Tag Archives: prairie

Ten Thousand Acres

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A major milestone was reached in prairie conservation today when our good friends and partners over at Prairie Plains Resource Institute (PPRI) planted their 10,000th acre of prairie.

Ten thousand acres of new prairie in Nebraska!  It’s an incredible contribution to our state, and to conservation in general.

Bill Whitney (co-founder and executive director of PPRI) has been a major influence on my career and the careers of many of us in grassland conservation.  He is the godfather of prairie restoration in Nebraska, and personally mentored me in both prairie ecology and restoration during my early years as a young land steward.  If you’re not familiar with Prairie Plains, please click HERE to read more about today’s milestone and all their other accomplishments.

Congratulations and THANK YOU to Bill, Jan, Mike, Sarah, Amy, and Jeff (along with all the other PPRI staff through the years).

Bill Whitney, co-founder and executive director of Prairie Plains Resource Institute harvesting native grass seeds.

Bill Whitney, co-founder and executive director of Prairie Plains Resource Institute harvesting native grass seeds.

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 To put Prairie Plains’ 10,000 acres of restored prairie in context, consider these statistics.

– In 1978, there was an estimated 2,300 acres of high quality prairie left in the entire state of Illinois.

– There are an estimated 12,000 acres of prairie left in Wisconsin today.

– Iowa has less than 30,000 acres of its original tallgrass prairie left.

Photo of the Week – March 27, 2014

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Prairies are underappreciated by much of the general public, even in states and provinces where prairies are (or were) the dominant landform.  They’re often seen as boring, drab, weedy, or otherwise uninteresting.  One of my goals in life is to get people to see prairies a little differently.  The best way to change someone’s opinion of prairies is to take them on a hike and show them what’s really there, but the first step is to pique their interest.

That’s where photography comes in.

Stiff sunflower. Lincoln Creek Prairie, Aurora, Nebraska.

Stiff sunflower. Lincoln Creek Prairie, Aurora, Nebraska.

These two photographs are among 60 prairie photos I’ve just posted on the “Prairie Photos” page of this blog.  You can see all 60 by clicking on the “Prairie Photos” tab at the top of the blog’s home page or you can just follow this link.

Spider at sunrise. The Nature Conservancy's Platte River Prairies, Nebraska

Spider at sunrise. The Nature Conservancy’s Platte River Prairies, Nebraska

If you have friends or acquaintances that haven’t yet experienced the charm of prairies, please consider sending them the link to these photos.  Maybe one or more of the images will spark an interest in an ecosystem they’d never really thought much about before.  Then, if you see that spark, grab them by the scruff of the neck and drag them out to an actual prairie so they can see one for themselves.

Thanks.