An Exaltation, by Matt White

Matt White is a history professor and a Blackland Prairie scholar who studies and grows prairie plants on his land near Campbell, Texas. He is currently writing a book of exaltations that will be used to influence policy changes that will preserve and protect prairies, beginning with Dallas and spreading across the state of Texas and the United States.

You can find more of Matt’s writing in his other books, Prairie Time, and The Birds of Northeast Texas, both published by Texas A&M University Press. You can also read his blog, More Prairie Time.

Many people don’t realize it, but the legacy of the land is deeply embedded into the cultural fabric of Dallas.

From time to time you still hear the argument that Dallas has no reason to exist because it wasn’t built on a major waterway, such as a port or a river. 

This is a perfect example of our species' environmental blindness.

As I explained in my book Prairie Time: A Blackland Portrait, Big D is where it is because of the tornado-shaped swath of rich black soil underneath it. 

This strip of fertile black clay extends from San Antonio north to the Red River.

There are only two or three other examples like it anywhere else in the world—one being in the Ukraine…

For twenty-five years I’ve argued this dark clay soil was Texas’ original black gold.

And Dallas was built on the heart of it—where it’s at its widest.

This vantage point allowed those who lived here to control the resources that it produced—cotton, wheat and hay and livestock.

This in turn became an engine of wealth and élan that still underpins the economy even in the Twenty-first century. 

Its style,

Its architecture,

Its art,

Its politics,

Its schools,

Its music,

Its energy,

Even its beauty,

And yes, its businesses too are all the result of it.

Growing up I heard people say “the business of Dallas is business.” 

The truth is that none of this would be possible without the rich black prairie soil.

The oceans of beautiful grasses and wildflowers that once held sway here have been evicted.

Once it was plowed that was the end.  The grasses and the flowers were gone.

Today less than one tenth of one percent of this original vegetation still remains.

We are fortunate that Dallas sits atop a seam of white rock too steep, and too rocky, to plow.

Unlike the Old World we have no buildings that date back to the Greeks or the Romans…

But what we do have are a few preserves that make these ancient civilizations look new.

And—this is essential to the story—these grasslands were also built by humans.

I want to pause to let that sink in….

Scholars now believe that fire was deliberately used by the Original Inhabitants to keep these grasslands from becoming forests.  This was done to attract game and perhaps even to preserve plants they used for food and for medicine.  It is not a stretch to say that prairie was like the Native American’s Costco or Walmart…

Just as antique buildings and cultural artifacts need interpretation, so do these remnants of Dallas’ prehistoric life—each a kind of living dinosaur—with the power to inspire the public.

Ecologists call these remnant grasslands prairie.

Prairie is a word meaning meadow that our ancestors borrowed from French.  Like old growth forests where the trees have never been cut, prairies are old growth grassland that have never been plowed.

Every one that remains has a story that needs to be told and also preserved.

In Prairie Time I sought examples of these prairies and told some of their stories.

And many times I’ve inscribed copies of my book with these words: “this is our history—it needs to be preserved!”

Why? 

Because they are our history.

Because they preserve organisms found nowhere. 

Because each is uniquely suited to local pollinators such as…

The birds,

The bees,

And the butterflies and moths.

Because for millennia these critters that inhabit them have depended on each other for survival.

Because they can also survive our winters (and the occasional snow-mageddon) 

Because they can survive our summers and long dry-spells. 

Because they belong here and should be replanted into our landscapes as an acknowledgment of what was once here. 

And finally they should be preserved because they are beautiful!

By preserving these remnants and by acknowledging their importance, and also by restoring original grasses and flowers into our legacy landscapes we are truly preserving the history of Dallas.

— You can find more of Matt’s writing in his other books, Prairie Time, and The Birds of Northeast Texas, both published by Texas A&M University Press. You can also read his blog, More Prairie Time.