What Would You Do if You Had a Rare Prairie Reserve in Your Back Yard? Finding Splendid Nature in My Old Stomping Grounds

I had a goulashy feeling of joy, anticipation and dread returning to the Old Plank Road Prairie, which was just around the corner from my old high school.

While I felt enlivened by experiencing something rare and wonderful in the stolid, teutonic town where I was raised, (Matteson, Illinois) there were fractured memories of my adolescence. It’s better ex…