the rice lake prairies

a warm morning with a gentle breeze blowing from the south. the world is very quiet today.

at the side of our pool i planted wild grasses native to this area. it’s hard to imagine that at one time, in addition to being a woodland region, this area was also home to prairie. prairie always conjures up vast empty spaces once populated with huge herds of buffalo, criss-crossed by pioneers in covered wagons, and then covered with oceans of wheat.

not so!

not very far from here - i actually passed near the location on my recent bicycle tour - down by rice lake are the remnants of what was once a 300 square kilometer area now referred to as the rice lake prairies.

there you would have seen plants with names such as big bluestem,
little bluestem,
butterfly milkweed,
prairie buttercup,
upright bindweed,
wood lily,
and sky-blue aster,
the rice lake prairies were also home to oak savannah dominated by such trees as the black oak (which can grow to be 43 metres tall!),
and the white oak . . .
the very good news is that a diverse group of organizations representing various conservation authorities, first nations, and local governments are making a concerted effort to restore wherever possible the original habitats. the greatest challenge in this worthy effort is the restoration of the habitat through using nature’s own tried and true method which is fire. people naturally and instinctively associate fire with destruction but in the case of tall grass restoration it has the opposite effect.

as this excerpt from a related news article explains . . .

“prescribed burns are fires that are intentionally set by professionals to burn an area with pre-determined boundaries under strictly controlled circumstances for the purposes of restoring the site. fire clears away scrub and brush, allowing sunlight to penetrate the ground, awakening dormant seeds and clearing the way for grassland species to return to the site. fire also extends the growing season for native plants and shortens the season for invasive species. burning takes place under specific weather conditions that allow a safe and controlled burn.”

the sound of the wind blowing through fields of tall grass and the smell of hot sun on those fields are two of the many lovely sensory experiences of summertime. it’s truly wonderful that people are gradually gaining awareness and acting on the knowledge that is returning to us. it can’t help but make these little parts of our world that much healthier and to my way of thinking, that much more beautiful.

after all,

it’s good to be alone
– 
the wild grasses.

the author of this lovely haiku - santoka taneda - lived between 1882 and 1940. a zen buddhist monk, he was also an accomplished poet. a lovely introduction to his work is available here.