A fresh look at Rogers and Bentonville
We think of prairies as the once great grasslands to our west, the landscape stuff of cowboy and Indian movies, the place where buffalos (once) roamed. Most of us don’t think of Northwest Arkansas as the home of prairies. Each time you drive U.S. 62 west heading toward Northwest Arkansas Community College or the junction of Interstate 49, you pass factories, motorcycle dealerships, quick stops and other business that sit on what once was part of a 10,000+ acre prairie.
Today, only a tiny remnant of that unique biological habitat exists. And when you pass all of those other businesses, schools and factories on that flat stretch of U.S. 62, you pass that prairie remnant on the northwest corner of U.S. 62 west and Dixieland Avenue. There is a sign there, but many people don’t notice it.
The property, managed by the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, is known as Searles Prairie –12 and-a-half acres – a remnant of the 10,000-acre tall grass prairie that covered the area. Perhaps about 8,000 years ago, during a warmer, drier period, this area was more desert-like with only clumps of vegetation. Wind piled-up soil creating small mounds, technically known as “nebkhas” and referred to as prairie mounds.
Searles Prairie is at the height of blooming right now, and many of us don’t even notice it as we go about our business driving down the highway. Searles Prairie is home to big bluestem grass, little bluestem grass, and a host of attractive wildflowers. Currently it is a palate of purple and yellow, with thousands of purple wands of three-foot-tall prairie blazingstar (Liatris pychnostachya) blooming, along with showy yellows of ashy sunflower (Helianthus mollis) and compass plant (Silphium laciniatum). Mixed in are prairie plants such as rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) and the wet meadow-loving buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis).
There is a trail that goes through the property, accessed from the west side of Dixieland Avenue. The best time to visit is early in the morning, just after sunrise, or in the evening around 7:30, just before sunset. Although there is no parking at the site, itself, during off business hours one can park at closed businesses in the vicinity.
This is a small piece of paradise tucked into an urban setting that you must make a point to visit. The beauty of this living museum will astonish you.