Prairie Tour 2016, A Success by Fred Wooley

 

On August 26, BHM conducted a prairie tour of a dozen restoration projects in Steuben and Lagrange Counties. It was a nice day at the end of a long work week. Twenty five people, supporters and volunteers for BHM, gathered at the Chapel office, introduced ourselves, and filled two micro buses provided by Fairview Missionary Church.

 

It was good for all to see the progress on these projects. The four full-time BHM employees were the tour leaders and it was good for them to see all the projects from a more relaxed view and through the eyes of the participants.

 

The projects we visited were:

• Pigeon River Fish and Wildlife Area Nasby Fen Overlook
• Duff Lake Fen, a project in cooperation with the Lagrange County Parks at Pine Knob Park
• Bachelor Farm Conservation Reserve Program project. This is a huge landscape project involving wetlands, lakeshore, acres of prairie, and upland tree plantings.
• Trine State Recreation Area. Roadside plantings and prairie seeding near Welcome Center.
• Fremont Library, Native landscape plantings in a town setting to capture natural history heritage and eliminate landscaping costs.
• Nate Simons prairie. A home native landscape where we practice what we preach. Also a visit to the BHM barn and seed storage program.
• Badger Barrens. A BHM property which showcases the beautiful lupine.
• Patty Griest prairie and tree plantings on south side of Clear Lake. Another homeowner, native landscape enthusiast!
• Powers Prairie. Another private landowner project on a larger scale.
• Drive-bys of Spangler Grove and Marilyn Clevinger properties. Clear Lake taking advantage of native landscaping in a small public area. Marilyn taking advantage of the same in a smaller yard environment.
• Clark Matson Cemetery. This historic cemetery has areas within it set aside and managed by BHM, a fine representation of how small cultural areas, under proper care, can provide a great glimpse of our natural heritage. At this site, Nate Simons took a spade full of soil from the cemetery native prairie to compare it with that of the nearby agricultural field. The dark color of the rich native prairie soil was a strong contrast with that of the much worked farm field. A nice wrap up to a nice day.