Husband and wife, Dave Ferraro and Veronica Santee, of Franklin took an afternoon walk through the prairie at Jennings Environmental Education Center Tuesday. Prairie flowers will be discussed during a free tour Sunday at Jennings.

Jennings Environmental Education Center is having its annual guided prairie bloom hike Sunday that will showcase a majority of the park's plant species — including the blazing star — in full bloom.

The Brady Township center's staff maintains the prairie throughout the year through prescribed fires and regular trimming.

All the regular park maintenance pays off around this time each year, when the dozens of plant and flower species populating the prairie are in full bloom for a few weeks.

“We have over 30 flowers blooming now,” said Wil Taylor, manager of the Jennings center. “Now is the time to see it, now or over these next several weekends.”Jennings plans an annual guided tour of the prairie to coincide with blooming season, and it is scheduled at 2 p.m. Sunday.According to the Jennings' website, a combination of the glacial history of the area and climatic changes that took place over the past million years allowed the midwestern prairie plant community to extend into Pennsylvania. The park itself was established specifically to protect an individual plant species, the blazing star.

Taylor will lead the hour-and-a-half tour, and will discuss different plant and animal species distinct to Jennings.“We'll identify the different flowers,” Taylor said. “We'll talk about the endangered massasauga rattlesnake.”Taylor said another of Jennings' primary goals is environmental education, so nature preservation and environmental stewardship will be topics on the tour.He said the maintenance the prairie undergoes regularly will be a topic on the tour.“It's an early open successional habitat, so we have to keep an eye on the brush and shrubs,” Taylor said. “We'll be talking about the fire.“We have a couple goats on site, so we'll talk about those,” he added.Taylor said the tour is normally well-attended, but he is not sure how popular it will be this time because last year's event was canceled.The free tour begins at 2 p.m. in the prairie parking area, and does not require prior registration. For more information, visit Jennings Environmental Education Center's website.

Blazing Star. Jennings Environmental Education Center. Harold Aughton/Butler Eagle

Goats Sammy and Sai are now living in the prairie at Jennings Environmental Education Center.