A nature hike that celebrates the efforts of three regional conservation organizations to save a Grant County prairie from agricultural development is 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, at a site southwest of Fennimore.
Organizers say the tour of Borah Creek Prairie Nature Preserve, 11949 Mount Ridge Road, will give the public "an opportunity to step back in time to see a rare natural landscape with a great diversity of prairie plants including a federally endangered species."
Before the purchase of the native prairie earlier this year, the previous owner was about to plow it for crop production.
The prairie is a rare 138-acre remnant of Grant County landscape largely unchanged since pre-settlement times. A partnership among The Prairie Enthusiasts, Driftless Area Land Conservancy and the Mississippi Valley Conservancy saved the prairie from destruction and preserved the land for the public.
These groups accomplished the $300,000 purchase with grant funding from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
