DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — Door County may not have any native prairies, but that doesn't mean they can't thrive here.
We spoke with Door County Prairie Company to learn more about the effort to bring prairies to Door county, watch below:
Now in its second year, Prairie Fest is all about bringing grasslands to life in Door County.
"These old fields that are sitting fallow really aren't very productive," Bob Bultman the owner of Door County Prairie Company said.
Bultman says the abundance of open land in Door County offers a great opportunity to create prairies.
"So if we're not raising crops or raising animals on that land, we have the opportunity to create all this diversity," Bultman said.
It goes beyond creating natural beauty Bultman says these spaces are crucial for local wildlife.
"Places like this provide habitat for those native insects that need that habitat because A, we've lost most all the prairie, and B, our agriculture gets more and more industrialized all the time," Bultman said.
Samantha Koyen at Crossroads at Big Creek says creating prairies here isn’t about replanting the past it’s about using native species that still belong in the landscape.
"So when we talk about Door County’s prairies, we’re talking about keeping flowering plants that are native to at least northeastern Wisconsin, if not Door County," Samantha Koyen said.
Koyen says Prairie Fest helps people understand why native plants are vital for the environment and local wildlife.
"We're working to provide information and tools, and we've seen a huge push in the native plant movement which is a really exciting time, really," Koyen said.
The two day festival kicks off Friday night, with guided tours of various prairie sites in northern Door County on Saturday."
