Marinette, Wis. — Late summer is the time when prairie flowers bloom and grasses turn golden, a wonderful time to spend an evening in the prairie.

Enjoy a leisurely stroll through the Harmony Arboretum Prairie on Wednesday, Aug. 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. to learn more about this unique habitat type.

Learn about prairie ecosystems, their importance to both wildlife and people, and how people restore prairies and why. You’ll also learn about typical prairie plants like coneflower, compass plant, big and little bluestem, bee-balm, and butterfly weed.

Prairies once covered two million acres of Wisconsin, but as Europeans settled here, they converted the treeless prairies into crop fields and learned to control wildfires — but without fire, invading trees and shrubs gradually turn grasslands into woodlands.

Today, less than 12,000 scattered acres of prairie exist in Wisconsin. As grasslands are lost, so are the animals that live there. In order to protect and maintain the biodiversity of prairie ecosystems, restoration projects and demonstration plantings like the one at Harmony Arboretum give grasslands a second chance.

Harmony Arboretum is located 7 miles west of Marinette on Hwy 64, and half a mile south on County Road E. This is a free program; please meet at the pavilion next to the parking area.

If inclement weather, event will be cancelled. For more information, contact Land & Water Conservation at 715-732-7780 or UW-Extension at 715-732-7510.