Silvermine Prairie State Natural Area holds open house

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - The Silvermine Prairie State Natural Area; Filled with bluestems and butterflies lies deep into Silvermine Drive and today hikers were able to discover the depths of it. With the Lower Chippewa River Alliance hosting this event, Chairman Sean Hartnett say these tours give people exposure to the natural beauty of the area.

“The main reason to do this open house was to let people know about these properties. You know, I had a group from the sierra club, most of them in town, most of them pretty astute, and only a couple of them had been down here. So it’s a nice property close at hand. So it’s part of the the educational process and then people know about these.” says Prof. Hartnett.

Ranging from 70 to 7 years old hikers on the tour were able to see the full lay of the land. Hiker Joe Knight recalls his time on the trail.

“We hiked through the prairie, saw some butterflies. One little girl saw a snake we couldn’t identify. Then we were down by the river, hiking along the river’s edge through a woodland trail. We saw the floodplain forest. This is a very nice spot.”, says Knight.

The other reason for this open house is to recognize their award for 2022 Local Conservation Organization of the Year given to the LCRA from The Wisconsin Conservation Congress. With this newfound recognition they plan to use it to prepare for the future.

“This award was kind of a surprise, but it’s a little bit of recognition. If there’s anything we could do with the recognition that this brings is one of our initiatives is working on the next generation of conservationists. And so we’ve been involving with some say some younger folks out here involved in it. And that’s that’s one of our initiatives to use the recognition as a way to open the door to future conservation issues.”

Conservationists with the LCRA have been working to maintain and preserve the land of the Silvermine Prairie since 1993.

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