As my first challenge and act(?) of activism, I’m going to make what I’m calling my Prairie Pilgrimage
I’m going to use my vacation to visit some of the biggest and best examples of prairies left. I realize that biggest doesn’t not necessarily equal best, but I have a particular motivation. Living and working in the Midwest, I spend a lot of time looking around at the rolling landscape now dominated by row crop agriculture and wondering what it must have looked like before the plow. I want to know what it was like to look to the horizon and see nothing but prairie. I want to stand in the middle of grassland dominated landscape. There are a few places where I believe I can do that. Now. I’m not convinced I’ll be able to do that forever. We’re still losing prairie. I want to see grassland birds within the expanse of the prairie while they’re still there. The research is unanimous – we’re losing our grassland birds. I find that unacceptable. I need to do something.
My plan is to start in at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in NE Oklahoma, an area often recognized as the largest remaining tract of tallgrass prairie. From there I’ll head north through the Flint Hills of Kansas. The next major landscape will be the mixed grass prairies of the Sandhills in Nebraska. It’s just a short trip from there to the Badlands. I’ll stick to the western side of South Dakota as I head north into the Prairie Pothole Region in North Dakota, where my target site will be Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge. I’ll visit other sites, good prairies, etc, but within these focus areas. I’ll be making a sort of transect, very roughly following the 100th Meridian. In addition to different types of prairies, this should also provide a range of ownerships and management objectives. I’ve only got two weeks to work with; I can’t see everything, but I think this will provide a good cross-section.
The challenge is for you to visit grasslands this summer, too. Go see grassland birds where you can. Visit prairies. One of the cool things about grasslands is their distribution and diversity. There are coastal grasslands, hay fields in New England, and pine savannas in southeast. Find them. Encourage others to go with you. Meet the land managers and ask what threats they face and ask what you can do to help. I’ll be making my trip the middle two weeks of June; meet me. When it gets closer to June, I’ll publish a better schedule.
And when you go, wherever you go, SPEND MONEY IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY! We need to give monetary value to grassland birds and the grasslands they depend upon. Eat in the local café. Fill your tank at the local gas station. Stay in the mom-and-pop motel. Tell people you’re there to see grassland birds. Express your opinion with your checkbook! It’s the loudest most unequivocal voice we have.
Some references about the state of grassland birds:http://www.yourlandsyourwildlife.org/documents/grassland_birds_fact_sheet_ylyw.pdf
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