A Backyard Prairie: The Hidden Beauty of Tallgrass and Wildflowers - Softcover

Both Fred Delcomyn and James L. Ellis serve on the board of directors of Grand Prairie Friends, a conservation organization in east-central Illinois involved in prairie restoration projects. Fred Delcomyn, a certified master naturalist and professor emeritus of the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois, is the author of Foundations of Neurobiology along with numerous scholarly articles on insects. James L. Ellis, a botanist with the Illinois Natural History Survey, manages and maintains the University of Illinois Natural Areas . He has published extensively on prairie ecology, conservation, restoration, and management.
 

Introduction
 
It’s safe to say that the foundations of the backyard prairie, this book, and the friendship of the coauthors were laid in the year 2001. Fred Delcomyn and James Ellis did not know each other then, but in that year Fred and his wife Nancy bought a five-acre tract of land just south of Urbana, Illinois. Half the tract was wooded, mainly black walnut and hackberry with a house nestled among the trees; the other half was being farmed.

The transformation of the farmed half to prairie was accomplished over the space of two years. Visitors to the backyard prairie occasionally ask how it came to be. After all, most people, when buying five rural acres, do not immediately think, “Let’s plant a prairie!” Fred and Nancy, though, being avid outdoors people, thought that it would be interesting if the half being farmed were restored to a landscape resembling the prairie that once covered more than half the state of Illinois. Since they love natural places and were well acquainted with the long history of prairie in east central Illinois, it was an obvious step to think that planting something resembling the tallgrass prairie that had covered the land two hundred years ago might be both interesting and visually appealing. As it was, walking out the front door and seeing soybeans or corn just beyond the flower garden was not very appealing, and the income from farming was minimal.

In 2003, after some research and with help from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and its Acres for Wildlife program, the farmed area was seeded with prairie grasses and wildflowers. The adventure had begun.

A critical element in historical prairie was fire. That’s where James came into the picture. Fred and Nancy knew that their new prairie should be burned periodically. Some investigation soon identified Grand Prairie Friends, a local conservation group, as an organization that could provide not only advice but also help in managing prescribed burns. James was a little taken aback by Fred’s initial email, which we can paraphrase as, “Your website is outdated; are you still a viable organization?” It was not quite that brusque (Fred is usually more polite), but that was the message James remembers. James was then (and is still as of this writing) the president of Grand Prairie Friends, and he enthusiastically agreed to help manage the new prairie. His day job at the time, a botanist with the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute, gave him a unique perspective on prairie plants and what it takes to keep them healthy.

Volunteers from Grand Prairie Friends conducted the first burn of the entire prairie in late February 2005, two years after the initial seeding. It was a complete success, although at one point it was a bit unnerving to see smoke and flame nearly obscuring the nearby house. Grand Prairie Friends, an organization Fred and Nancy quickly joined, has burned a portion of the prairie every year since then, keeping the prairie ecosystem in good health. The annual burns also provide a wonderful spectacle that has been awe-inspiring to many friends.

To understand the origins of this book, fast forward to 2010. Fred and Nancy periodically showed visitors their flourishing prairie, not only people affiliated with Grand Prairie Friends, but also others who had no special interest in prairie. Reactions ranged from great surprise that such a beautiful prairie could exist near a city to wondrous appreciation of a reconstructed natural area. Because the reaction to the prairie was keen interest from both friends and prairie experts, Fred and James decided to write an article on the prairie for a local magazine. The article was a great success, and led to the idea that many more people could gain an appreciation of small prairie if we were to write a whole book about it.

There are other books on prairie. However, these typically concentrate on prairies that encompass hundreds or thousands of acres. Consequently, the books inevitably leave the impression that only very large projects are being undertaken and only large projects can lead to an appreciation of the enormous expanse of prairie that once covered most of central North America.

Our experience with this one small 2.5-acre recreated prairie, and with small remnants of original prairie in east central Illinois and elsewhere, leads to a rather different conclusion. The beauty of nature is everywhere – you just have to know where to look for it and how to appreciate it.

The goal of our book is simple: to show the beauty found in a small prairie. We meet this purpose through photographs and text. Most of the photographs were taken in or near the backyard prairie, and the text flows from the experience of observing this prairie over a decade and a half.
We hope that by looking through our eyes and reading our words you will also appreciate this beauty and will be inspired to visit and take a closer look at the small remnants of prairie that can be found throughout Illinois and its neighboring states where the tallgrass prairie once thrived. If you are, this book will have more than fulfilled its purpose.