Des Moines’ Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge restores an endangered landscape.

By Lori Erickson

LOOK AT A HANDFUL OF PRAIRIE SEEDS and it’s easy to be skeptical that you’re holding anything special. Small seeds—some barely visible— look indistinguishable from run-of-the-mill grass or flower seeds. But give those seeds the chance to flourish, and something amazing happens. A mature prairie is an oasis of beauty and a haven for wildlife, with tall grasses swaying gently in the breeze and flowers blossoming from the first days of spring through the frosts of fall.

Imagine delicate pasque flowers mingling with flowering shooting stars and purple coneflowers as bright indigo mixes merrily with the autumn yellows of goldenrod and sunflowers.

Thanks to the efforts of prairie enthusiasts across the Midwest, these wild gardens are being reborn. From local parks where volunteers are replanting hillsides with native plants to large-scale projects involving many thousands of acres, the prairies of the Midwest are beginning to flourish once again.

THERE’S NO BETTER PLACE to learn about this prairie rebirth than at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, located 20 miles east of Des Moines. Established in 1991, this 5,366-acre expanse of grassland is the largest reconstruction of a tallgrass prairie ecosystem in the nation. Here, visitors can experience the landscape that greeted the pioneers when they first went out west in covered wagons.

“We’re about 15 years into a thousand-year project,” says Pauline Drobney, a research biologist at the refuge. “It took a long time for these landscapes to evolve, and bringing them back is a long-term effort as well.”

The Prairie Learning Center, located in the middle of the refuge, gives information on the unique ecosystem being recreated here. Exhibits describe how native grasslands once covered a vast swath of North America. In the West, where precipitation is less, short grass dominated. In the eastern half of the continent, with its more abundant rainfall, tallgrass prairies—defined by large grasses like big bluestem, which can reach heights of 10 feet—flourished. The dense root system of the tallgrass prairie was responsible for creating the fertile loam on which Midwestern agriculture has depended ever since.

In the center’s “Fire Theater,” visitors can learn more about the engine of regeneration that keeps prairies healthy. Periodic fires— some set by lightning and others by the native peoples of the plains—cleared away trees and old thatch, releasing seeds and allowing new growth to flourish. Year by year, the prairies became more biologically diverse, home to hundreds of plant and animal species precisely adapted to the extremes of temperature and precipitation found in the Midwest, from arctic blasts in January to scorching heat in summer.

When the pioneers settled the Great Plains, the fertile prairies were plowed under for cropland. But about 20 years ago, people recognized that an ecosystem was nearly lost, and they started working to bring the prairie back from the brink of extinction.

FORTUNATELY, SCATTERED pockets of virgin prairie survived the transition to modern agriculture. These remnants served as blueprints for researchers as they gathered the wild seeds to establish new prairies. “Without those remnants, we simply wouldn’t have known what a true prairie was like,” Drobney says.

After touring the Learning Center, visitors get the chance to see some of the fruits of this prairie renaissance. The best way is to head out on foot, following the hiking trails that wind through the rustling grasses and blooming flowers. The refuge is also home to a wide array of animal life, from buzzing bees and croaking frogs to herds of grunting bison and bugling elk (their grazing, trampling and manure help stimulate plant growth). Lucky visitors may also see another prized species: endangered regal fritillary butterflies, which dart among the flowers.

Once introduced to the wonders of prairie, many visitors choose to come back as volunteers at the refuge. Most important is work with the seed collection, a process that involves walking through the grasslands to harvest species that include butterfly milkweed, bee balm and prairie blazing star. The seeds are used to expand the boundaries of the prairie and increase its biodiversity in other areas. Last year alone, about 5,000 people donated more than 15,000 hours to seed collection. Since prairie seed can retail commercially for hundreds of dollars a pound, the volunteers provide a valuable service. An added bonus is that the collected seed is well suited to this region, unlike seed purchased from other parts of the country.

“Seed collecting is a wonderfully calming activity,” says volunteer Jonathan Yentis from Clive, Iowa. “One of the things you notice is that the prairie is different from week to week and from year to year. It’s beautiful from spring through fall, of course, but even in winter it’s lovely, especially when snow and ice crystals form on the grasses and glisten in the sunlight.”

Thanks to the efforts of prairie lovers across the Midwest, these serene landscapes will be enjoyed for generations to come.

The Prairie Learning Center is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The refuge trails and tour route are open daily from sunrise to sunset. Admission is free. For more information, call 515-994-3400 or visit www.tallgrass.org.

More Midwestern Prairies

Immerse yourself in the beauty of prairies at these additional sites.

ALLWINE PRAIRIE
20 MINUTES FROM OMAHA
Owned by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, this former farm is now a grassland research area. 402-554-2641

AVOCA PRAIRIE
50 MINUTES FROM MADISON
Located along the Wisconsin River, Avoca Prairie is the largest natural tallgrass prairie east of the Mississippi River. 608-266-7012

TALLGRASS PRAIRIE NATIONAL PRESERVE
TWO HOURS FROM KANSAS CITY
This 10,900-acre site in the Flint Hills region includes an 1881 historic ranch house and barn. 620-273-8494

PRAIRIE STATE PARK
TWO HOURS FROM KANSAS CITY
This 4,000-acre park has the largest remaining tallgrass prairie in Missouri. 417-843-6711