Dawn's first light paints a gorgeous palette of colors over a Pickaway Plains prairie near Circleville, Ohio. The local landowner put about 1,000 acres into native tallgrass prairie about a decade ago. The results have been stunning. On this quick visit, there were several Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls, and a few dozen Eastern Meadowlarks, among many other species. Since this ground was restored to prairie, the spike in biodiversity, perhaps most noticeably birds, has been breathtaking.
The Pickaway Plains was once one of Ohio's great prairie provinces. The region was about seven miles long and three miles wide, centered on the Scioto River and stretching from approximately the city of Circleville south into Ross County. Over 99% of the former prairie has been converted to agriculture or otherwise developed. This grassland shows that if you restore it, they will come.
1 comment:
Absolutely breathtaking sunrise.
I wish all people had the foresight (hindsight??) to convert land back to its original forms.
Up north of me, a few folks have donated land back upon their deaths to be put back to it's original state. Their families should be proud.
I chuckle all the time---in my own area, everyone is avid hunters--putting in "feed plots" to attract wildlife. I've allowed my own 20 acres to "go wild"---and the transformation over the past 8 years has been awesome. I have pine, oak , wild cherry, and beech trees coming up like mad. There's neat grasses, sumac, you name it-it's coming up. And guess who has all the deer, turkey, grouse?.......yup, me! --And I don't allow hunting. Drives em batty around here.
It's the little things....
:D
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