North Woods River Runner: Life Of A Prairie

“A people without history,

is like wind on the buffalo grass.”

-An old Lakota saying

This is a blog entry that will be pretty self explanatory. Pictures and captions will tell the story beyond what I write. The prairie on the hill was reestablished in the summer of 2009. It’s a prairie next to (and a part of) Willowbrook Middle School, which is one of two schools in the Prairie Hill School District - and just off of Prairie Hill Road. That part makes sense. Of course there is a story behind a few of those names, as there are to most names, that might not seem to make sense; but I’ll refrain from going into detail on all of that just now to protect the (semi) innocent. Let's just say that Prairie Hill School is on Willowbrook Road and Willowbrook Middle School is on Prairie Hill Road. The prairie on the hill, however, is legitimate, noteworthy, and fitting. Two hundred years ago this seven acre, tall grass prairie was the norm of the Midwest and Central Plains, before it was plowed under for agricultural use.

In the fall of 2011 my teaching colleague, Cindy Froman, and I started Willowbrook Middle School’s environmental club. The name of the club became Servo Terra (Protect the Earth). One of the first endeavors for Cindy and I was to have the fledgling club name a few of the surrounding areas. The prairie was put to a vote and named “Bird’s Grove Prairie.” “Bird’s Grove” came from the name of a trading post built by Stephen Mack. He was one of our area's first pioneers. In the early 1830’s his original trading post was located at the mouth of Dry Run Creek as it entered the Rock River. Dry Run Creek winds through our very own school district, albeit several miles upstream from the mouth. Later, Stephen Mack would have to move to what would become Pecatonic/Macktown (across from present day Rockton), due to an attack that burned down his trading post at Bird’s Grove. That attack, which was at the beginning of the Black Hawk War, nearly cost him his life. For those who live in Northern Winnebago County, you know that Stephen Mack’s wife was Hononegah; a Winnebago/Ho-Chunk Native American whose name became that of our local high school.

The second area that our club named was the seasonal pond that lies up on the top of Bird’s Grove Prairie next to our school. It was voted on to be named “Odonata Pond.” Odonata is a taxonomy grouping for insects that are carnivorous, such as the dragonfly. Several species of dragonflies are a common site throughout the warmer months, as they zip over the grasses catching and eating various flies and mosquitoes.

An 1827 Oil Painting by American Artist Alvin Fisher
Entitled "The Prairie On Fire"
Picture taken at the Chicago Art Institute Dec 2016

Our prairie was mowed for the first couple of years as the plants threw down their long roots. Native plants grow down into the soil 15 feet or more. It’s no wonder that we have erosion problems in our present day and age when you compare this to our blue grass lawns that only grow roots about 4 inches in depth. Once the native plants began taking hold, we planned our first fire burn during the spring of 2014. The South Beloit Fire Department rose to the occasion, using the controlled burn for a training exercise. As Mrs. Froman and I watched that first year, one local neighbor and one school family joined us. Two years later in 2016 we burned again, and a few more from the community came to watch. This year, 2017, saw families with children of all ages attend the prairie burn (some kids complete in their firemen costumes). Many people even brought their chairs and blankets to watch the burn while eating their dinner picnic style.

Bird’s Grove Prairie is still in its infancy, but compared to the prairies that once covered our region, its history goes back to a time that is now only a whisper. That whisper, barely audible, is carried on the winds that sway the grasses of the prairie; those same grasses that once supported the vast herds of bison that called this area home long before us. It’s a history that now can be set to pictures and videos.

See you along The Way…

2014