Free Prairie Day Event Coming Next Month to Harrison County

A free Prairie Day event is coming to Harrison County next month.

The beauty and diversity of Missouri’s native grassland heritage will be celebrated at a free Prairie Day event on Saturday, September 9, at Dunn Ranch Prairie and Pawnee Prairie, west of Bethany in Harrison County.

Bison tours, nature exhibits, a guided birding hike, and stories about Native Americans on the prairies are just some planned activities.

Prairie Day will begin with a guided birding hike from 7 to 9 a.m. at MDC’s Pawnee Prairie Conservation Area northwest of Dunn Ranch.

Activities at the Dunn Ranch picnic shelter will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Wagons pulled by tractors will take visitors on tours of the prairie and to see bison herd grazing on the grasses.

MDC experts will be on hand to discuss conservation ranching and ways to utilize native warm-season grasses in cattle forage rotations profitably.

Missouri Western State University professors and students will be on hand for walking tours or displays about prairie plant identification, prairie reptiles and amphibians, and prairie mammals.

All ages and families are welcome, and no registration is required.

Lunch concessions will be available onsite.

For more information on Prairie Days, call MDC’s Northwest Regional Office at 816-271-3100.