“Fifty years ago, this was pastureland,” Gary said, as we stood on Muralt Bluff Prairie in Green County—a county living up to its name on this sunny July day. “With landowner permission, we began work here in 1974 to bring this land back to its former glory—back to native tallgrass prairie again.” Gary Eldred and his fellow prairie restoration enthusiast, Dan Hazlett, were touring me around this 95-acre bluff. For me, it was doubly interesting and fun as they shared their memories and expertise. Muralt Bluff Prairie rose a hundred feet and offered a stunning vista. From the hilltop, our panoramic view of the southern Wisconsin landscape was breathtaking, but it was their passion for prairies that blew me away. Today, they were showing me where they began a half century ago changing the world one prairie remnant at a time.
I came today to meet Gary Eldred, a 2021 Inductee into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame (WCHF). As President of the WCHF, I had gotten to know Gary over the past nine months. I was the lucky one to place the call to inform him he had been selected for induction—a chance to join the leagues of people like Aldo Leopold. Gary is recognized as a citizen conservationist—a self-taught prairie expert whose work and inspiration led to the formation of the The Prairie Enthusiasts, a nonprofit which now has over 1400 members working to restore and protect thousands of acres of prairies in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota.
Muralt Bluff Prairie gave Gary and Dan their start. For each of them, it has become the pursuit of their lifetime to restore places like this. You could say their roots were here. Working together with friends they recruited to join them, (aficionados, they call themselves) toiling in all kinds of weather, they restored this bluff to its former ecological glory. Muralt Bluff Prairie is now designated as a State Natural Area in Wisconsin, a designation given to exceptional sites—lands of significance and quality with a diversity of native species. Over time, this one has substantially recovered from human disturbance which also makes it an extraordinary area for research and education. I was surely getting an education on the spot today with Gary and Dan.
State Natural Areas are also evaluated based on the “rarity of features” on local and global scales. Since prairies and other native grasslands are listed as the most endangered ecosystems on Earth, “rarity” isn’t a stretch. In fact, 99.99% of the original tallgrass prairie ecosystem in North America has been lost because of human activities converting the land to make make way for agriculture, cities, suburbs and other human developments. The biological complexity of prairies is extraordinary—much more complex than what many people may first think as their eyes scan the grassland. Some eighty percent of the prairie ecosystem lies below ground in extensive underground root systems of the drought and fire tolerant native species living there like Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem and Side-oats Gramma. Late summer and fall are prime times for prairies to show their colors and beauty. Blazing Stars, Yellow Coneflowers, Pale Purple Coneflowers, and Beebalm accented the rolling hillside in their magenta, yellow, pink, and lavender petals. Monarch butterflies flitted all around us as they stopped at one flower and then the next to sip nectar.
I consider myself a conservationist. My life as an environmental educator has been focused on sharing my fascination with and love for our natural world in hopes of igniting a passion within others. My service in elected office included efforts to set aside places of ecological importance. I hand-planted a small prairie around our country home in central Wisconsin and know a thing or two about prairies and the species that live there. BUT, on this day with Gary and Dan, I was blown away. I remember telling myself: Patty, you must always remember this day; this is a walk of a lifetime. I was witness to what it looks like, feels like, sounds like when Nature finds it way back home and when two men who helped to shepherd that way excitedly share their wonder at the result.
Not just had these two men spent a lifetime caring for this place and places like it, but they shared the story like it was yesterday they had taken on this challenge. It became their answer to the question, What difference can I make in this world? Now, they knew this place like their own backyard. They had burned it, weeded it, planted it, studied it, sketched it, and gave it back to all of us again. They inspired others to set aside this land into perpetuity. Talk about going the extra mile and leaving a legacy!
The WCHF recognized Gary for his example as a citizen who stepped up and didn’t give up. We’re talking about a man who drove every road in multiple counties to identify prairie remnants like the remnant we were standing on. When he found a prairie remnant—a site with native prairie species showing what was once present across the wider landscape—he stopped his car, knocked on the door of the landowners and asked if he could show them what a gem they had in their holding. He taught them. He gained their trust and inspired their cooperation. With their permission, he worked with friends like Dan to restore the prairie remnant. Sometimes after a landowner saw the success of the first effort, Gary and Dan might have been given the chance to expand their efforts to restore adjacent lands, too. This was the case of Muralt Bluff Prairie. It began with 64 acres and grew into a restoration of nearly 100 acres. Its stewardship began with a few local guys and is now open to the public and managed by the State of Wisconsin in collaboration with The Prairie Enthusiasts.
Gary and Dan shared how they collected prairie seeds from other remnants and planted them here. How the prairie burns had gone. How they could read the landscape and notice which areas were taking longer to heal. They commented on how few insects there are this year, lamented about how the Eastern Bluebirds seem to be missing in 2021, expressed how concerned they are about a fragile future.
“We are 70 years old,” Gary said of himself and Dan. “Many of us who have taken up the cause of restoring prairies are getting up in years. We are concerned there won’t be others to carry this torch when we are gone. That’s why we want to teach others—especially younger people. We want to inspire the next generation of conservationists. We want to show them how to steward this land. We want to share our lessons learned before it is too late,” Gary said. “Our hope is to inspire them to get involved and stay involved for the next fifty years. Patty, will you help us?” he said.
That’s when I realized we were standing on common ground. Theirs was the same purpose I had for writing Empowered: One Planet at a Time for young adults and their teachers and mentors. It was to impart the wisdom I’d gained through decades of experience. To inspire. To help show the way. To share the rewards. To help them learn how they will have a better future and a life of extra purpose by getting involved.
As we paused on this bluff, I found myself thinking about how Gary and Dan and I had shared a lifetime of love for the Earth on this one walk. How we had not given up and never would because this work is too important. How we want to teach and support the next generation of conservationists as they lift off on their own journeys like those Monarchs around us on this July day at Muralt Bluff Prairie. Because the next generation deserves all we can give.
Do you want to take a walk of a lifetime on a restored prairie remnant in southern or southwestern Wisconsin? Contact me! I know just the guys I’ll connect you with. They will show you how to support Nature in finding its way back home. I promise you: This experience will change your world. And we all need a world of change in these times.
Patty Dreier
Author, Empowered: One Planet at a Time