So, I’m building an ecosystem.

I needed a mental health project, something where I could see tangible results for my efforts and feel I was actually accomplishing some good, and a bonus would be something that was physically tied to my locality. I decided to expand my fight against our local invasive species into a prairie restoration.

Now, to be clear, my particular neighborhood was never high prairie, not the kind you’re thinking of with bison and grizzlies. (Yes, grizzlies were once plains animals, before they were pushed out!) Indiana did have bison, as seen on our state seal, but my county was historically closed canopy forest, often over bogs and fens, and our state grasslands were a different kind of prairie than what people usually picture.

The forests have been fully clear-cut, no original woodlands remaining, and the bogs and fens mostly filled in or drained. I can’t restore an old growth forest in my lifetime — but I can recreate another environment we also had in central Indiana, and bringing back restored native grasses and forbs (wildflowers) is practical and useful, even without a bison to browse it. My restoration is really more of a recreation, but it will benefit both pollinators and people.