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PHOTO BY GARY ALAN NELSON bloom each week. Any day istime afine to explore a prairie. through tunnels orvoles up curl scurry indens. hundreds of kinds of wildflowers. ground,theUnder gophers, snakes, and from ponds. Thousands of dragonflies,bees, travel andother insects among wind.the Ahawk swoops to catch aground squirrel. Frogs and ducks call down prairie inatallgrass and listen to millions of blades of grass swaying in but little the habitats that remain hold still asurprising varietyof wildlife. Lie Mounds, and Lakes, River. Buffalo Glacial Most the of prairieoriginal is gone, grandeur.”full of limitless.is The spectacle plateau grand, ...is high, and beautifulprairie.south the seems to Theview prairie, out on grass stretching of miles tall way the all to horizon. the it called They clothing,food, shelter, and tools. When French explorers arrived, looked they once on native grazed this . Prairie Indians hunted bison for From spring until about fall, of adozen species prairie plants come into Today, you can explore much prairies smaller at state parks such as Blue meaning bluestem, Indian grass, and gray-headed coneflowers were blooming. Minn., inJulysaw 1879.They bright blue sky grass. oversea tall Big of a of Norway, Ann Pederson and her family stepped offtrain a in Taopi, Farm. to Prairie family onto headed prairie the to make home. anew Perched atop oxcart, the With by pulled on boxes cart their loaded an awooden and ox, trunks the . has a Onan 1838expedition, Joseph Nicollet wrote, “The wild place wild

Aftertraveling formonthsseveral from the mountains Prairies on the Habitats

Little called . prairie. tallgrass

By Kathleen Weflen Illustrations Millions of by Vera MingWong

Little bluestem Big bluestem Indian grass Ann watched her Minnesota () (Andropogon gerardii) () cousin Adolf jumping through tall grass, trying to catch a Up on the hills, where the This grass grows on low Indian grass stands up to glimpse of the new immigrants. is drier, little bluestem land. Its stems can reach 6 feet tall, making a fine Many years later, Ann’s father rules. It is not so tall. Its 6 feet. Some people call it place to play hide-and- told his grandchildren the fam- feathery seed heads reach turkey foot because the seed seek. It does not spread ily settled on the best farmland no more than 3 feet high. heads look like three long and grow as thick as big in southwestern Minnesota. You can easily recognize it toes. The mighty turkey- bluestem, but you can see Most of the state’s best farm- in the fall when its leaves foot grass can stand tall be- it high and low on hills land was once prairie. While PHOTO BY GARY ALAN NELSON BY GARY PHOTO turn deep maroon. cause it has long that and in valleys. Sometimes prairie Indians planted corn, stretch 9 feet deep or more. called goldstem, it turns a beans, squash, and sunflowers Big bluestem is a sign of rich yellow in the fall. in riverside , pioneers true prairie. plowed the prairie’s rich, dark soil to plant crops. Before settlers arrived, na- tive grasses and wildflowers stretched across one-third of the state, from the southeast to the northwestern corner. Prai- rie covered 18 million acres—a stretch of land almost as big as (20 million acres).

Big Sky and Tall Grass. Today Minnesota has about 235,000 acres of native prairie. Native wildflowers and grasses grow on bluffs, rolling hills, low wetlands, and old railroad beds—places never plowed. All kinds of ani- mals live on these prairie patches. Big sky and tall grasses are signs of prairie. Here are three examples of native grass species. By mid-July, some have grown as tall as a basketball player. 31 In the Shadow of Mountains About 40 million to 70 mil- lion years ago, the rose up. Winds from the west cooled as they flowed over the mountains, wringing moisture out of the air. That’s why flatter, rolling hills east of the mountains did not get much . had a hard time growing on these dry . But grasses and wildflowers adapted by send- ing roots deep underground to tap water and minerals. From the west, spread thousands of miles across . Like the Serengeti Plains of Tan- zania and Kenya in Africa, the became the home of vast herds of grass- eating mammals, such as and bison. , MN CONSERVANCY, THE NATURE SLAATS, ON MAP BY J. MAP BASED

Native Plants Most prairie plants are perennial, growing every year. The tall com- Tallgrass prairie pass plant turns its lower leaves north-south, so that the flat sides Mixed-grass prairie face east-west. Some pioneers chewed gummy stuff from its bro- ken stems. Purple coneflowerhas Short-grass prairie a spiny center cone—a landing pad Mountain range for insects and small birds. 33 Natural Elements and Forces prairies. In spring and fall, when thunder years, almost no rain fell on Minnesota clouds rolled across the plains, a bolt of light- farms or prairies. Wind whipped up dust If you’ve read Little House on the Prairie blazing hot sun in temperatures of 100 de- ning could strike dried plants and start a fire. from farm fields and blew it across the by Laura Ingalls Wilder, you know some- grees or more. For example, narrow leaves In a strong wind, flames might leap 30 feet country. Plants began to shrivel. Hordes of thing about life on a prairie. Laura did not of grass curl to hold moisture. Many prai- high and blaze across miles and miles. As a hungry grasshoppers chomped on water- live in town. She lived in the country with rie animals live underground. wall of flames roared across dry prairie, fast- starved plants. The dry land of the Great a wild community of large and small crea- running bison stampeded ahead of it. The Plains became known as the . tures, plants, rocks, earth, sky, and water. Wind. Without mountains or to plant roots stayed safe underground. So did During this long , a botanist She explored all of these natural elements stop the wind, prairies are some of the gophers, voles, snakes, and other animals named John Weaver and his students stud- of the prairie. world’s windiest places. Sometimes the that use burrows. ied how prairie plants were surviving. They Sun, wind, rain, fire, and ice shaped the prairie wind is a breeze. Sometimes it When rain fell or the fire reached a wide found that grasshoppers were helping prai- original prairie. These forces of nature are turns into a tornado. Whether the wind river or lake, the fire stopped. After the fire, rie grasses by cutting the leaves, so the plant still shaping prairies today. is gentle or strong, the tall grasses do not bison came back to graze on fresh green had a shorter distance to send water from break like trees sometimes do. They bend plants, which sprouted in soil nourished by roots to leaves. The shortened leaves also Sun. Far from the oceans, in the middle and bow, held fast by deep roots. the ashes of burned plants. needed less water than long leaves did. The of the continent, a summer prairie can be researchers found that grasshoppers did as hot and dry as a desert. Prairie plants Fire. Dry places like prairies burn eas- Rain. Prairies get less rain each year than not chew all the way down to the points have many adaptations for living under ily. Lightning was the original fire starter on forests do. In 1932 and for the next seven where new growth sprouts. 35 Prairie State Parks • Blue Mounds has a herd of about 75 bison. Visit in early June to see newborn calves. • Buffalo River prairie has red foxes, badgers, coyotes, and jack- rabbits. Go in spring to look for prairie chickens. 2 • Glacial Lakes has old oxcart trails to hike. Pitch a tent and sit by a 1 campfire and listen for the song of 5 the coyote. 3 Find other parks at www.mndnr. gov/state_parks. Also find the story “Explore Minnesota’s Prai- ries” in the MCV archives at www. 6 mndnr.gov/magazine.

4 Note to Teachers Find links to teachers guides for this and other stories at www. mndnr.gov/young_naturalists.

Many Habitats cream cone, this rare owl nests under- foxes and coyotes can have a feast. ground. In daytime on the prairie, it Each prairie animal is adapted to live in a ground. Look for the entrances to a sub- often stands on one leg, bobbing its head. Pothole Haven. About 12,000 years ago, particular kind of habitat. Some flock to terranean labyrinth of roots and tunnels. 4 Franklin’s ground squirrel. This secre- the last glaciers on the plains shrank. They water, some go underground, and some Imagine burrowing animals traveling in tive rodent reveals itself with a birdlike left behind boulders, mounds of ground- roam the grassland. tunnels and sleeping in dens. whistle. In winter it hibernates in a burrow. up rocks, and blocks of ice. When some 1 Badger. With long claws, this power- 5 Plains pocket gopher. This ambitious of the heavy ice blocks melted, they be- Underground Town. To plant crops ful digger sniffs out and captures pocket digger seldom appears above ground. It came small ponds or lakes called kettle on the prairie, pioneers first had to break gophers and ground squirrels. pushes soil out of its tunnel, creating a lakes or potholes. apart sod—a tangle of roots, shoots, and 2 Bull snake. Also called the gopher fan-shaped mound above ground. Ducks, swans, and shorebirds stop by soil. Long before people arrived, wild ani- snake, it uses burrows to find and eat ro- 6 Prairie vole. The female prairie prairie potholes for food and shelter as they mals also dug prairie soil. Many adapted dents and to escape heat and cold. vole has babies every 21 days. With migrate in spring and fall. Some birds stay to using resources under as well as above 3 . As small as an ice- up to 250 voles living on one acre, all summer to breed and raise their young.37 5

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Home on the Range Millions of bison roamed across the Great to find, it travels farther. It can cruise at on a fence post, a meadowlark sends its Plains. Today, you can see a herd of bison 30 miles per hour. melody across the prairie. The bubbling grazing on grass at Blue Mounds State 3 Bottle gentian. In the fall, burly song of the bobolink floats over the Park. Watch for tinier grazers too. bumblebees buzz to force open bottle- grasses. Prairie birds also sing on the wing. 1 Bison. A bull bison can weigh a ton. shaped gentian flowers. As the bee Most of them nest on the ground. A female bison can be 1,000 pounds. A gathers protein-rich flower pollen, its To make a prairie, it takes a clover and newborn calf weighs about 50 pounds. fur picks up pollen that will rub off at Prairie Daydreams. The best way to one bee,— Bison eat mostly grass. By chewing old, the next flower stop. Plants need to be learn about prairies: Visit one. Walk in One clover, and a bee, dry grass and stirring up soil with their pollinated to start new plants. tall grass. Scoop butterflies in a net. Find SMITH PURPLE PRAIRIE CLOVER BY RICHARD HAMILTON And revery. hooves, bison help new grass grow. 4 Dragonflies, flies, butterflies, moths. a hiding place to watch birds on a pothole. The revery alone will do 2 Coyotes. Sometimes called the song- Some insects visit flowers for nectar. Most important, just lie down in the grass, If bees are few. dog, the coyote digs a den for its pups Like bees, these wild pollinators carry close your eyes, and listen. Breathe in the and hunts in its home range. When pollen as they fly among flowers. fragrance of wildflowers and sun-warmed —Emily Dickinson voles, rabbits, and other food are hard 5 Meadowlarks and bobolinks. Perched earth. This is your prairie heritage. nV 39