6:00 p.m. - Prairie Heritage Reception
Mingle with prairie enthusiasts and enjoy St. Luke’s Prairie with refreshments
Sponsored by Friends of the Tallgrass Prairie Center and St. Luke’s
7:00 p.m. - Screening of American’s Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie
Showing of the award-winning documentary film telling the rich and complex story of the most astonishing alterations of nature in human history. A discussion of future prospects for the tallgrass prairie will follow. This award-winning documentary film (David O’Shields Director & Daryl Smith Producer) tells the rich and complex story of one of the most astonishing alterations of nature in human history. Prior to Euro-American settlement in the 1820’s, one of the major landscape features of North American was 240 million acres of tallgrass prairie. But between 1830 and 1900 – in the space of a single lifetime – the tallgrass prairie was steadily transformed to cropland. This drastic change in the landscape also brought about an enormous social change for Native American; in an equally short time the cultural imprint was reduced in essence to a handful of place-names appearing on maps. The extraordinary cinematography of prairie remnants, original musical score and archival images create a moving viewing experience about the natural and cultural history of America.
A discussion of the message of the film, current prairie restoration activities and future of the tallgrass prairie landscape will follow.