Prairies

Nature
Sustainability
Hessler

Tallgrass Prairie [National Parks Service]

My friend Molly sent me this link.

What an interesting question Cindy Crosby asks on Tuesdays in the Tallgrass.

Chris Helzer has written about restoration issues in his wonderful blog, The Prairie Ecologist, on prairies. He noted noted in a 2011 entry (February 8) that the goal is not replication. I think there are too many variables at work including chance events. He raised some broad questions to help him think about restoration in comparison to a remnant prairie (one untouched by us).  I include them below.

"Does the restored prairie increase the population size of species formerly constrained by the small remnant prairie? Does the combination of the restored and remnant prairies provide suitable habitat for species that don’t occur in prairies the size of the remnant alone? Does the restored prairie add to the overall resilience or ecological function of the remnant prairie? Any questions about similarities or differences in the abundance of individual plant species need to be framed within the context of these kinds of broader questions – and tied to the specific objectives for the restoration project. Comparisons outside of that context are relatively meaningless."

Emily Dickinson provided an answer to Crosby's question in one of her koan-like poems. Dickinson as you'll see is a minimalist.

Poem # 1755

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.

Like Molly I'm an erratic visitor (only very much more so) to this lovely blog than she is.

Thanks Molly for the kick in the britches.