Self-Guided Hike: Prairie Tales

Welcome to our prairie! A prairie is a type of grassland that has good rainfall and fertile soil. Prairies are divided into three types: tallgrass, shortgrass, and mixed. Shortgrass prairies are what you’d think of when picturing herds of bison roaming the Great Plains. Tallgrass prairies are what we have here in Indiana. Mixed prairies are the transition between tallgrass and shortgrass when they occur together. Before European settlers arrived, roughly 170 million acres of prairies stretched from Montana to Indiana and from Texas to Canada. About 3.5 million of these were in Indiana. Now, only 6.8 million acres of prairie remain on the entire continent. 

A: History (Entrance to Trail 9)

In the 1800s, 15% of Indiana’s land was covered by prairies, most of which were located here in the Northwest. Fertile prairie soil was highly sought out by settlers in the 1800s. The shortgrass prairies in the Great Plains were easy to till with the wooden and cast iron farming equipment that they had at the time. Tallgrass prairies were far more difficult to till since the roots of these tall grasses can extend from 5-15 ft. deep underground. Settlers weren’t able to begin tilling these tallgrass prairies until the invention of the steel plough in 1837 by John Deere, a blacksmith from Illinois.

B: Prairie Plants (Prairie Observation Area on Trail 9)

The prairie is the second-most biologically diverse ecosystem in the world besides the rainforests. Shortgrass prairies thrive in dryer areas while tallgrass prairies (like the prairie we have here at Sunset Hill) thrive in wetter areas. The success of the prairie ecosystem is due to the majority of its plant biomass (75-80%) existing underground. Prairie roots can reach a depth of 10-15 ft. below the surface. This allows the plants to survive being grazed and trampled by animals, dried and burned by the sun and fire, as well as damaged by the frost that blankets this habitat during the frigid winter.

Some of the plants that inhabit our prairie include the black-eyed Susan, wild bergamot, New England aster, purple coneflower, false sunflower, stiff goldenrod, fleabane, and mallow. These plants flower at different times of the year and create a beautiful canvas of color that transforms as the seasons change. 

C: Animals (Entrance to Trail 8)

While plants make up most of the biodiversity in this habitat, prairies are home to many different types of animals including mammals, reptiles, birds, and insects. Prairies provide good habitats for mammals like the eastern cottontail, eastern fox squirrel, white-footed mouse, white-tailed deer, and the meadow vole. Even a few reptiles like the Blanding's turtle, eastern massasauga snake (rattlesnake), and the common garter snake live in prairies. The birds in these areas are diverse and can include the red-wing black bird, eastern bluebird, and many more. The most diverse group of animals that live in the prairie are the insects. Crickets, grasshoppers, dragonflies, butterflies, bees, and many others thrive both below and above ground. These insects, and some mammals, act as important pollinators without which life on the prairie would not be possible.

Indiana’s prairies were once home to animals like the greater prairie-chicken, pocket gophers, elk, wolves, black bears, cougars, and bison. Combined with overhunting, the destruction of these habitats has pushed these species out of the area and nearly to the brink of extinction.

D: Importance & Conservation (Prairie Observation Area on Trail 8)

Although the range and quality of this habitat has been significantly depleted since the 1800s, there is hope. Restoration and conservation efforts across the state have begun to bring back the Indiana prairies and the animals that inhabit them. In 2009, all that was left of the Indiana tallgrass prairie were a few hundred acres. Now that number has grown to 22.5 thousand acres. Although these prairies are fractured and isolated in parks and preserves, they are a promise to heal our land and restore the unique landscape that makes Indiana so beautiful.