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"Prairie" is the French word for meadow, a sunny opening in a forest. European settlers used this term to name the broad, treeless plain they found in central North America. Today, ecologists use "prairie" to refer to many kinds of natural communities that are chiefly composed of grasses and forbs (wildflowers). Prairie ranges included the short grass prairie of the western plains, which grows less than one foot tall, to the tallgrass prairie of the Midwest, which can grow to heights of seven feet. The tallgrass prairie covered 250 million acres of the Midwest for over 8,000 years. The prairie had been dominated by over 30 species of grasses and over 250 forbs. Droughts, grazing by hordes of bison, fires caused by lightening, and fires set by Native Americans all maintained the prairie. By the 1900s prairies were on the brink of destruction after only half a century of intervention by the steel moldboard plow. There is less than 1 percent remaining, making the prairie the most endangered ecosystem in North America. Back Illinois is known as the "Prairie State", a part of the huge grassland in Central North America that stretches as far east as Indiana and as far west as the Rocky Mountains. It extends into Canada and is found as far south as Texas. Despite its size, the tallgrass prairie disappeared quickly after the arrival of the European settlers. As recently as the 1820s, prairie covered about 22 million acres in Illinois. Today, less than 2500 acres of high-quality prairie remain, over 99% having been lost to plowing and paving. The vast prairie exists now mainly in scattered remnants, often found in pioneer cemeteries, small restoration projects, along highways and railroad rights-of-way, and on steep bluffs high above rivers. Illinois was at the eastern section of the tallgrass prairie region, an area known as the "Prairie Peninsula", named because it was surrounded on the North, East, and South by forests. The lush tallgrass prairie that covered Central Illinois was called the Grand Prairie. At its peak, it sustained more than 300 species of plants, 60 species of mammals, 300 species of birds, and well over 1000 kinds of insects. Tallgrass prairies are divided into four classes
The black soil prairies, or grand prairies, were the most abundant, occuring mostly in the central portion of Illinois. The Grand Prairie thrived for 8000 years and adapted to survive scorching summers, bitter winters, severe drought, and raging fire. In the process of growing, the plants and animals helped to create some of the most fertile soils in the world. With the intrusion of settlers and the invention of the steel plow, the grasslands were plowed under and transformed into farm fields. For an impressive web exhibit about prairies, prairie development, and the persistence of prairie in the state of Illinois, see the Illinois State Museum's website that focuses on the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, our country’s first federally designated tallgrass prairie near Joliet Illinois. Back Since less than 1 percent of our prairie heritage remains, it is important to begin restoring and reconstructing prairie where it is appropriate. Today, due to the renewed awareness that has come from many environmental education programs and other interested parties, an increasing number of individuals and institutions are becoming involved in the efforts to study, restore, and maintain this important natural resource. |
