Places to Go: Chapel View Prairie CA

Chapel View Prairie Conservation Area

It’s all in the name

Some conservation areas are named after donors, famous conservationists, nearby communities, or interesting natural features. Some names remain a mystery even to the people who work them, while others, like Chapel View Prairie Conservation Area (CA), have names that are beautiful in their simplicity.

“There’s a hilltop piece of that conservation area, and if you look to the west, there is an old, abandoned chapel you can see,” said MDC Wildlife Biologist Tom Foster.

Located on 384 acres of Henry County, Chapel View Prairie CA — as the beautifully simple name implies — is primarily native tallgrass prairie, which includes all the wildflower and grassland bird species associated with that habitat, Foster said.

“It’s a dry-mesic sandstone and hardpan prairie,” he said. “The populations are pretty vast and pretty diverse.”

In June, don’t be surprised to run into other visitors with binoculars and cameras.

“Birding would be big in June,” he said. “And then also, any wildflower enthusiast would go there.”

And spotting a fishing pole or two would not be out of the question, either.

“There are three pretty good-sized ponds on the prairie,” he said. “And I know that people fish at least two of them.”