“Evenings in the Prairie,” a free event that invited the community to come walk along trails located in different locations around the community, held its last trail event for the year.

There were three walks included in this event series, one in July at the AGM Nature Preserve, one in August at the UWO campus and the last one on Sept. 14 at the Fond du Lac campus.

The Gottfried Prairie has over 50 acres of land that feature native plants that have been restored throughout the years, and the walk is a mile and a half on the Prairie Edge Trail Loop that follows along the Gottfried Prairie and the Arboretum.

Bradley Spanbauer, the sustainability director on campus, came up with the idea for the walks.

“I wanted to do an event that showcased our wonderful prairie areas on our campuses and on a piece of property that is becoming more widely used by the UWO community,” he said.

Each walk involved looking at the environment in the area.

“At each site, we covered the history of the location and the native species found there,” Spanbauer said. 

At the Gottfried Prairie, they feature many native plants of Wisconsin along the different trails for people to explore. 

There were about 10 to 20 people at each event, and Spanbauer enjoyed watching people enjoy the scenery as they walked along the trail. 

“My favorite parts of the events were seeing folks just enjoy the beauty of the prairies, as well as being able to ask questions about plants they might introduce to their own yards,” he said. 

“It was fun to see people learning and taking information with them,” Spanbauer said.