Hill Prairies

                                                                               

     The hill prairies cling to the side of the bluff.  These native grasses sway in the wind on their oblique slope.  I walked through one on a skinny trail, careful not to step off and tread on their delicate stalks.  I had never heard of hill prairies until I visited the Salt Lick Land and Water Reserve.

     The midwest used to be covered entirely with these native tallgrasses.  Now they are few and far between.  Numerous hours of hard work has paid off for the people that have worked to restore prairies like the one above.  They must pull out invasive plants that threaten to overtake the native grasses.  

     Hidden on top of bluffs, where they like to grow, they are like a little haven.  Illinois only has about five hundred healthy and high quality acres of hill prairie.  Approximately forty percent of those prairies grow in between Dupo and Prairie du Rocher.  It is very interesting to imagine that our backyards used to be covered in grasses up to our waists.