Kids can get a look at Missouri's prairie history

If you want some hands-on experience with Missouri's pioneer prairie history, mark your calendar on Saturday, Sept. 21. That's when the whole family is invited to an expanded Prairie Day event.

(For a brief description of the evolution of Missouri prairies, see sidebar below.)

The Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Botanical Garden co-sponsor the event. It's to be held at the Garden's Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, Mo., just west of St. Louis.

The event, which is held every two years, celebrates a time when one-third of Missouri's land was in open prairie.

Tom Meister of the Conservation Department is a coordinator of this year's event. He said, "In terms of number of different stations, this will be bigger than ever before."

Among the stations will be many with special appeal for kids. There are chances to play pioneer games and take guided prairie hikes. You can win wooden nickels and use them at a trading post or watch a pioneer blacksmith at work.

Meister said there also will be displays of prairie animals. But, he admitted one breed of prairie animal will be missing this year. Those are the live bison or buffalo.

The sponsors decided to leave the bison on their home farms after the experience two years ago. That's when some bison escaped from handlers at the end of the Prairie Day.

Meister said it took searchers two weeks to recover all the animals. By that time, some had gotten all the way to Pacific, Mo. Before they were captured, some had to be shot with tranquilizer darts.

"It got pretty ugly," Meister admits. This year, the bison displays will be limited to hides, horns and other parts. And, of course, there'll be buffalo burgers at the concession stands.

But, there will be up to 30 other activities or demonstrations. The Prairie Day event is held at the Shaw Nature Reserve, which includes a 150-acre tallgrass prairie.

The reserve is located just south of 1-44 at the Gray Summit exit (#253). There will be signs directing visitors to parking areas.

Admission is $3 for adults. Children 12 and under as well as Botanical Garden members and MDC Nature Reserve passholders will be admitted free. No reservations are needed.

In previous years, an average of 5,000 people have attended. Hours of this year's event will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Several stations at Prairie Day will show examples of the animal, insect, reptile, amphibian and bird life that was plentiful on the early Missouri prairie. Besides bison, animals include the badger and prairie dogs. There also will be a demonstration station for draft horses that pioneers used to farm the prairies.

The St. Louis Zoo will provide examples of prairie insects. Songbirds from the prairie also will be shown, as well raptor birds such as hawks.

At the trading post, kids can take part in a scavenger hunt where they earn wooden nickels for finding various items. They can then use the nickels to "buy" trading post items.

Other "fun" stations include a place where your family can have a picture taken against a prairie background. Kids can play games that were popular in the pioneer days.

Family hikes through the 150-acre prairie will be led by a naturalist. They will identify different plants and explain how the Missouri prairies evolved.

Hands-on stations include a stamp station where kids use rubber stamps to make prairie pictures. There's also an archery shop that shows how bows and arrows were made.

There will be demonstration of horseshoe making, candle dipping, tomahawk throwing and Osage rock art.

Here are examples of other stations where you can learn about Missouri's pioneer prairie:

• Medicinal plants and natural dyes: There will be examples of prairie plants used by pioneers as medicines and for clothing dyes.
• Archeologist: There will be displays of Native American artifacts.
• Indian weaving: Displays of Indian weaving of rugs and blankets.
• Flint Knapper: An artisan will make useful objects from pieces of flint.
• Spinners: Other hobbyists will show how clothes were made from spun yarn.

How prairies developed in Missouri

Tom Meister of the Missouri Department of Conservation has written a brief history of Missouri's prairies.

He said the tallgrass prairie came to Missouri about 10,000 years ago. Before that, much of this territory was covered by woodlands more typical of Canada.

But, Meister said, "A combination of climatic warming and a growing human population set the stage for formation of the modern prairie."

After the retreat of the Wisconsin glacier 15,000 years ago, this area went into a period that was too dry and warm for many woody plants. That's let the southwest prairie grasses and other dryland plants move in.

Meister said the movement of Native American Indians into the area also speeded the prairie takeover. He said the Indians used fire to stimulate new grass growth which attracted wildlife.

Fire was also used by Indians to clear vegetation, manage nut and fruit crops and facilitate travel. He added, "It was also a tool of warfare."

"Our (prairie) landscape reflects the influence of thousands of years of human-set fire, augmented by lightning fires," he said. "In the absence of fire, the prairie degrades into weedy thickets of trees and brush," Meister said.

He said only about 90,000 acres of native prairie remains in Missouri today. Of that, 22,000 acres are in public lands, the other 68,000 acres are privately owned.

Now, Missouri has a program for restoring those public lands to as close to early prairie conditions as possible. Seeds from original plants and grasses are gathered and reintroduced.

The Shaw Nature Reserve's "experimental prairie" is an example of these reclamation efforts, he said. That's the site of this year's Prairie Day on Sept. 21, 2002.

A one-mile trail winds through the prairie and includes an observation deck which offers a panoramic view of the prairie. Family prairie hikes will be a part of the Prairie Day event.