John Latimer had the chance for an extended conversation with the ebulliant Megan Benage. She's a regional biologist who specializes in prairies and grasslands. You can check out the Prairie Pod Podcast here.
And check out the Recreation Compass from the DNR'swebsite that Megan mentions.
![](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a88fde5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/340x340+0+0/resize/880x880!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fkaxe%2Ffiles%2F202007%2Fprairie_pod.jpg)
She wrote this in the MN Conservation Volunteer:
It's tough for me to pinpoint the exact moment I found my soulmate, the tallgrass prairie. My mentor at Purdue University, where I studied wildlife science, would say it was when he caught me smelling grass and flower seed as I was sorting batches for a prairie reconstruction project. He said only ecologists stop to smell seed like that.
megan_benage_extra_071420.mp3
In this extra conversation John finds out how Megan Benage realized she wanted to study prairies as a biologist.