Photo Credit: Schaumburg Park District
As I look out onto the amber waves of the waning fall prairie landscape, in an area humans have deemed as “Spring Valley,” I can’t help but recall a time when my fellow bison and I were 60-million strong, grazing gracefully across the plains. Although my I was once on the endangered list, I now stand proudly as a thriving bison set within a play space dedicated to developing humans as stewards of the land and promoting a deep understanding of the balance needed for plants and animals to live in harmony.
I notice the caretakers of this patch within the Schaumburg Park District have divided the land into three areas representing the sunken wetlands, majestic prairie, and tree-covered savannah, with opportunities to learn about each. Small crowds of humans gather in a circular clearing at the base of the hill to hear words of wisdom from their leaders. They become riled up and excited, taking in messages scratched onto the ground, and aligning the plants, animals, and land of their desired path before travelling through the entry gateway, signifying their training is to begin.
Majestic Prairie
While their patterns are difficult to predict, they typically start in the prairie. They are met by fallen logs and stumps that they deftly balance across. They add to the sounds of nature’s prairie with music of their own, playing chimes and drums softly in unison. They spring across enormous flowers, bees, and grasshoppers (apparently too large to move but seemingly quite friendly), set among swaying grasses and showy displays of prairie wildflowers. Looking through the dragonfly kaleidoscope, they witness the world through the compound eye of an insect. They call to each other through tubes shaped like giant earthworms (which have yet to be eaten by the raptors flying overhead), and they build small sculptures while sifting in the sandy beach for unique stones of the earth. The elders gather beneath the shade of a great wooden structure (apparently made just for them) in the center of all the activity, where they watch diligently to keep their calves close.