The World’s Most Endangered Ecosystem, Right at Home
“Fall on the prairie” by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region (CC PDM 1.0).
Of all the states that contained vast prairie lands pre-European settlement,
it is Illinois that bears the name “Prairie State.” Prairie, known as steppes and pampas in other parts of the world, are temperate grasslands. Collectively, they form the most endangered – and least protected – ecosystem on earth. Illinois was once covered with 22 million acres of prairie. It supported a wealth of biodiversity, provided some of the best soils for growing on the planet, and served to sequester carbon and manage flooding, among many other benefits. Today, the “Prairie State” contains roughly 2,500 acres of prairie or 0.01% of its original scale.*
While organizations like The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Foundation and others, are actively engaged in trying to reclaim land for prairie restoration, much more needs – and can – be done. Beside supporting these and similar organizations, we can choose to plant differently in our gardens. We can support what remains of the prairie ecosystem by planting prairie plants that do well in the home landscape. These include: pale and purple coneflowers, prairie clovers, butterfly weed, black and brown-Eyed Susans, prairie dropseed, little bluestem, showy goldenrod, switchgrass and prairie blazing star – just to name a few!
Thus, as we move into the annual celebration of “Prairie Week” during the third full week in September, let’s jumpstart our garden planning for next year by choosing 3-5 prairie plants that we will place in our gardens next year. It is planting by planting, garden by garden, that we can support our state to live up to the name “Prairie State” once again, and do our part to support this critically endangered ecosystem.
Resources:
For some local examples of prairie conservation success stories, see:
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/midewin-national-tallgrass-prairie/
Nachusa Grasslands https://www.nachusagrasslands.org/ and https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/nachusa-grasslands/
Schulenberg Prairie https://mortonarb.org/explore/activities/explore-grounds/schulenberg-prairie/#
For Illinois prairie history, see: https://www.inhs.illinois.edu/animals-plants/prairie/tallgrass/settlement/ (* statistics come from the Illinois Natural History Survey at this site).