The Dunn Ranch will be hosting a Missouri Nature Conservancy event on Friday and Saturday, June 26 and 27. The event is open to the public and will be fun for the whole family. At the event, which is called Prairie Days, attendees will take part in bison tours, which have become a staple attraction of the Dunn Ranch, nature walks, and education programs.
The Dunn Ranch is located at 16970 W. 150th St., Hatfield.
Before the event kicks off on Friday night, there will be a social beginning at 8 p.m. and lasting until dark, when movies will be projected against the side of the barns. The films will have themes relating to conservation and prairie life, as the event is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Saturday morning, from 5:30 to 7:30, there will be a bird hike at Pawnee Prairie, along with talks from conservationists about the birds and protecting them. Then, from 8 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. at the Dunn Ranch, there will be five bison tours, along with programs involving prairie life.
These include plant identification hikes, grazing nutrition education, prairie critter searches, and ecology education. Those in attendance will also be able to view the Topeka Shiner population at the Ranch.
Celebrating life on the prairie
Prairie grasses and wildflowers once waved in summer winds throughout northwest Missouri. Trees grew in scattered groves in the grassland ecosystem along streams and some ridges. But the grasses and wildflowers provided the main food base for bison, elk, prairie chickens and butterflies. Very little prairie remains today after 200 years of settlement and farming greatly changed land uses.
Prairie Days, however, will give visitors a look back in time and an update on what public-private partnerships are doing to preserve and restore grassland ecosystems.
Camping will be available at Dunn Ranch without hookups. Harrison County Lake offers camping with some hookups and primitive sites. Motel lodging is available in Eagleville and Bethany. Booths or demonstrations will be offered by Missouri Prairie Foundation, Missouri River Bird Observatory, Pure Air Natives, Inc., Missouri Master Naturalists and Hamilton Native Outpost.
Prairie Days will also showcase the public-private partnerships in the Grand River Grasslands. The cooperative effort spanning the Missouri and Iowa state line helps private landowners with grassland management for better production returns and in ways that help grassland species, such as Missouriâs endangered prairie chickens.
Harrison Countyâs earliest settlers might be surprised to learn that prairie chickens and the grasses that supported them became scarce.
âOriginally about three-fourths of the land of Harrison County was prairie and one-fourth timber, according to the âHistory of Harrison Countyâ published in 1921. âThe timber was generally along the streams of water, and some on hilly tracks roughened and divided by ravines.â
The book describes extensively tree species and uses in the woodland areas. Incredibly diverse native wildflowers and grasses that dominated the landscape did not get a similar description. Only in a maturing conservation movement in recent decades has the rich productivity and beauty of prairie plants and wildlife become appreciated.
Pioneers did value wild game for food and for money from the fur trade.
âWhen the county was first being settled game was plentiful, such as deer, turkeys, prairie chickens, quail and there were some elk,â according to the history. âIt was reported about this part of the county that David Travis was one of the best hunters among the early settlers and in addition to other game occasionally killed an elk.â
Bison were found in Missouri prior to the arrival of European trappers and settlers, but apparently not in large numbers, according to âThe Wild Mammals of Missouri,â by Charles W. and Elizabeth R. Schwartz. But MDCâs Pawnee Prairie and TNCâs Dunn Ranch were in their final range.
âBy 1840, only remnants of this magnificent animal were found in the northwestern and southeastern sections of the state,â the Schwartzâs wrote, âand these soon disappeared.â
TNC has restored a bison herd to a fenced range at Dunn Ranch. Studies at the ranch include how the bison and prairie species interact on an ecological basis. MDC conducts research and restoration for prairie species on both public and private lands in the Grand River Grasslands.
Late June is a pretty time to visit Missouriâs prairies as many flower species are in bloom, such as coneflowers.  For more information about Prairie Days, visit http://mdc.mo.gov/NWprairiedays, or call T.J. Peacher, MDC conservation education supervisor, at 816-271-3100.