Oh, Bluestem.
I have known you all my life, but I have not known much about you. I have seen you in the ditches along the county and township roads. I have seen you in the meadows of the farm where I grew up, where you were harvested for livestock feed. I have seen you along the railroad tracks almost everywhere in southeastern Minnesota. Some places you grew to more than 8 feet tall. Recently I have learned that there are two of you, Little Bluestem and Big Bluestem, and that you are a native grass and were here to greet the pioneers who settled this land many years ago.
Now you have been honored by the Stewartville Trail Study Group, which recently decided you to name the future trail between Rochester and Stewartville as "The Big Bluestem Trail." Now you take your place alongside the Shooting Star Trail and other trails named after prairie flowers. My wish is that the trail study process to determine an alignment proceeds quickly, that someday the trail can be constructed and Big Bluestem grass planted in abundance along the trail.
Dave Rossman
Member of the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee
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Rochester
