Chris and I drove to Tall Grass Prairie to meet our senior’s walking group. We would be walking in “my territory” and I could not miss this. On the way in we saw  a gray wolf standing majestically right beside the road. This was a very exciting find.

We met the group at the Loewen interpretive Center then drove out to the Agassiz Trail where we went for a walk and I acted as the interpreter since I knew the place better than most or all of our walkers. We saw many wild flowers including the following: Western Wood Lily, Bergamot, Harebell, Black-eyed Susan, Western prairie fringed orchid in a spent condition, Common milkweed, Swamp milkweed, Camas, Thistle, Meadow Blazing Star, Purple Prairie Clover, and Culver’s root(at the interpretive Centre wild flower garden).

Culver’s-root (Veronicastrum virginicum)is a a provincially threatened plant found in Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and in 36 American states. It has been declared “a threatened speices under the Endangered Species Act of Manitoba.This plant reaches its northwestern limit in southern Manitoba near the Minnesota border. According to the Manitoba Conservation Data Centre considers Culver’s-root to be very rare in Manitoba (S1). In Manitoba, much of Culver’s-root habitat has been lost or fragmented by conversion to agriculture. Current threats include road allowance maintenance such as mowing and herbicide spraying, grazing by deer and picking or digging. Culver’s-root was listed as threatened in 2001 by regulation under Manitoba’s Endangered Species Act. To survive its habitat much be protected. That means farmers must to some extent back off. I think this would be well worth it.

I was particularly pleased to find a Fritillary butterfly enjoying the nectar from a Meadow Blazing star while I enjoyed the beauty of the two together.