Field Trip to Everything Prairie
Originally published in the August 2022 issue of the WildFlower News
By Liz DeLeeuw
On Sunday, July 10th Cherry Dodd and myself, Liz Deleeuw, led a walk of about 8 people to Everything Prairie which is located east of Fort Saskatchewan. Everything Prairie is one of a number of prairie remnants found within sight of a rail line.
These remnants likely survived because of the rolling terrain, the sandy soil, and their proximity to the rail line.
The area has a lot of oil field and pipeline activity. The land is likely leased or owned by the oilfield companies but we are unsure of ownership. We only venture onto land that is not fenced and is accessible from the road.
We met at a roadside pullout at noon and explored for a bit at what we call Railway Prairie. Railway Prairie is the area that was first discovered by early members of what was then the Edmonton Naturalization Group. They noticed native grasses growing along the roadside and when they explored the area they found intact prairie. Since that time parts of these intact landscapes have been disturbed by pipeline building activity. Some were bulldozed for pipeline installation. Some succumbed to excess piles of fill material being dumped on them. Nevertheless some still survive.
The walk to the prairie is challenging because of uneven ground, dense vegetation, and a big population of Reed canary grass to get through. The grass reached the top of our heads at times. When we got to the prairie some rested, some wandered around and more than a few expressed their disbelief at all of the species with many individual plants spread across the area. That is why we call it Everything Prairie. Gaillardia, False dandelion, Purple prairie-clover, Wild bergamot, White evening-primrose, Low milkweed, White cinquefoil, Spear grass, Needle-and-thread grass, June grass, Meadow blazingstar, Harebell, and Kinnikinnick are some of the species I remember.
Some of the group were busy finding the Prairie crocus plants and found a whole bunch. Early spring would bring all of those into bloom.
The Wild bergamot was especially special. It was everywhere. The Indigenous people say that every plant has a year when it thrives. This year is Wild Bergamot for sure.
The prairie is an invaluable seed source for us as it provides genetic diversity from which to collect seed. The government of Alberta needs to amp up its protection of these special landscapes as presently there are very little protections in place. Development proceeds with very little consideration of the rarity of these special landscapes.
I always think about how the Indigenous people and early settlers saw the land in the past. This prairie gives us a brief glimpse. About four hours after we started we were back in the parking area and on our way out of the past and back to the present.
