The Importance of Prairie Grass

SWISS VALLEY NATURE CENTER, Dubuque, IA

This exhibit on the importance of prairie grass was created in collaboration with Look Who’s Beck and the Dubuque County Conservation Board. It can be seen at the Swiss Valley Nature Center in Dubuque, IA.

The display has interactive elements, including discoverable fossils (created by 3D scanning and 3D printing real ones) and a live ant farm. The artifacts you see in the display cases are on permanent loan from the office of the Iowa State Archaeologist and the State Historical Society.

Each panel tells a story—the story of how humans have interacted with the ecosystems of the Upper Mississippi River Valley over tens of thousands of years. Scroll through the galleries below to read the story and explore the exhibit.