In 2001, Fred and Nancy Delcomyn purchased a five-acre plot of land in central Illinois. With the help of Jamie Ellis, botanist at University of Illinois Prairie Research Institute, and the Grand Prairie friends, a local conservation group, Fred and Nancy now have a thriving two-and-a-half-acre grassland prairie. The Delcomyns wanted to convert the farmland back to its original state because “today, although Illinois still claims as its nickname the Prairie State, less than 0.01 percent of the original tallgrass prairie that once blanketed the state remains, tiny remnants almost lost amid agricultural fields, towns, and cities” (p. xiii).
The book's chapters lead the reader through the history, development, maintenance, and finally to the diversity of life present in a prairie. The first chapter, entitled “Glimpses of the Past, Reality of the Present,” explains how the grass prairies developed through the passing of glaciers, climate influences, and fire both nature...
