LEROY – "I want to emphasize how important you have made people from small communities feel," Eileen Hutchins said.

Friday, April 27, 2001

LEROY – "I want to emphasize how important you have made people from small communities feel," Eileen Hutchins said.

The president of Prairie Visions was explaining the significance of the Federal Highway Administration’s environmental excellence award.

The state of Minnesota won three of the 13 awards made this year and the Scenic Byways-Wildflower Route of Highway 56 across Mower County was one of them.

Right-of-way vegetation along Highway 56 contains some of the best remnant native prairie in southern Minnesota.

In 1981, a population of Prairie Shooting Star was found in the right-of-way. This population was the only known location for the species in the state.

By working together, management practices were adapted to protect the Shooting Star and to enhance the prairie vegetation along the route.

Mowing and use of herbicides have been reduced and substituted with periodic controlled burns conducted by the Minnesota departments of Transportation and Natural Resources in cooperation with local volunteer fire departments.

The efforts of the agencies along with the local communities of LeRoy, Taopi, Adams and Rose Creek and Prairie Visions are protecting the prairie.

The Scenic Byway has provided travelers with a historic, cultural and natural resource in which they can view the agricultural landscape, which was shaped by the tall grass prairies.

According to the FHA, the cooperative ventures shows how a community can preserve its natural and historical resources while creating a diverse, sustainable economy based on transportation, agriculture, tourism and small business.

Prior to the regular Prairie Visions meeting Thursday night at the LeRoy Community Center, dignitaries from MnDOT and the DNR held an awards presentation.

The other state projects winning national accolades from the FHA were a CD-ROM selection system for roadside landscape plants and the city of Bemidji’s Highway 197 environmental assessment process.

MnDOT’s Barb Bauer, the state’s Scenic Byways project manager, and Carrol Evans, Dale Fleming and Dale Shaw were singled out for praise in contributing to the success of the Shooting Star Wildflower Route nomination, as well as the DNR’s Kathryn Bolin, Craig Blommer and Peter Schafer.

Locally, the praise went to the LeRoy, Adams and Rose Creek volunteer fire departments, plus Hutchins and Margie Meier of the Prairie Visions organization.

David Hillier, chairman of the Mower County Board of Commissioners, congratulated Prairie Visions in a letter and Ray Tucker, Second District county commissioner, extended his personal congratulations at Thursday night’s award ceremonies.

Prairie Visions is a joint ventures organization combining the efforts of volunteers from four communities along Highway 56.

According to the MnDOT’s Bauer, Prairie Visions’s success story has become a model for other volunteer agencies seeking to improve the quality of life in their communities and rural areas

Hutchins said the DNR’s Bolin was the very first person to visit the area and notice the wildflowers and see the potential for the route to become the state’s first designated Scenic Byway.

That "accidental" discovery now has brought national attention to the four prairie communities in Mower County.

"Who could have envisioned back in 1989 that someday we would win a national award for what we do?" Hutchins observed.

Prairie Visions. That’s who.