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Peter
Buesseler
State Prairie Biologist
I've
had the chance to live in some very different places growing up. I was
born in Bloomington, Minnesota. We lived in the city, but my family often
drove 'up north' to the farm where my dad was born and helped my uncle
with chores. On those visits, my cousins and I had a great time exploring
the woods, ponds, and fields around the farm. It was a 'wilderness' to
us.
In the middle of 3rd grade, we moved to Southern California. Quite a change! Here were oceans, tidepools, mountains, deserts, chaparral, rattlesnakes, horned toads, tar pits, and many other plants and places I'd never seen before. In high school, my family moved again. This time to Holland (The Netherlands). It was very flat with farms, peat bogs, and 'polders' (reclaimed land behind the famous Dutch dikes). In the 'bos' (forest) at the edge of town we'd find 'egels' (hedgehogs). These small, prickly mammals are found primarily in European countries. When you pick them up they roll up in a ball and turn into a pincushion. They look just like a sea urchin. Egels have a long pointy face with a nose that is always moving. They have long tongues, short legs, and not much of a tail. Really cool animals!
I returned to Minnesota to go to college. In my freshman year I took a course where graduate-level science students took us on field trips to show us "what biologists did". We helped extract teeth from deer to determine their age at a hunter check-station, went on birding trips, visited nature centers and wildlife areas, and met with many different professors and professional biologists doing research.
I was hooked. I changed my major to 'field biology' and took courses ranging from geomorphology to aquatic biology to entomology. (I even worked as a tour guide at the Bell Museum of Natural History!) The best classes I had were at the University of Minnesota Field Biology Station, located in Itasca State Park—the headwaters of the Mississippi River. I spent two summers and a spring session there. Most of these classes were conducted outdoors in the towering pine forests, bogs, lakes and streams of the park.
We also took field trips to the prairies west of the park. This was my first introduction to this fascinating habitat. On one occasion, Dr. Tester from the University of Minnesota showed us 'Mima Mounds' on the prairie. He discovered that these are strange hummocks are built by toads!
I began working for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in 1980 doing field habitat surveys of State Wildlife Management Areas. Since then I've also worked in state parks, state scientific and natural areas, and in the DNR's Office of Planning. I became the Minnesota State Prairie Biologist in 1987. My job is helping public and private landowners, organizations, and agencies learn about and protect our remaining native prairie lands. It's an ambitious task. Less than 1% of the state's native prairie remains, and it is home to over 40% of our rare species.
What I've learned over the past 12 years is that protecting prairies and prairie species requires me to focus on issues and concerns relating to lands and landowners surrounding the prairie - as much as the prairie itself. If there is a 'future for grasslands' in general, there is a future for our native prairies!
There is no better way to learn about prairies than to visit one. We are slowly developing a "Great Plains Natural Area Guide" to help you find a prairie preserve close to home. If you have more questions about prairies, you can email me at prairie.biologist@dnr.state.mn.us
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Last modified on May 23, 2002.