Or could that lawn become something better, more natural?

From that thought grew the native prairie project at Crivitz High School.

In 2010, the district’s head of maintenance, Tom White, suggested the cost in gasoline and labor to keep a 1-acre area as lawn at the school’s entrance might not be the best use of resources, former Crivitz science teacher Paul Matty explained.

While White suggested planting trees, Matty and the Crivitz High School Science Club set their sights on a different makeover — to establish a “totally natural, native” prairie.

A BUMBLE BEE and skipper butterfly sip nectar from one of the blooming plants in the 1-acre prairie at Crivitz High School in Crivitz, Wis. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

While other sites might carefully cultivate small local “ornamental” prairie gardens, this would be a full acre, with plants considered typical for a Wisconsin grassland, Matty said.

They sold the idea to the school board, promising it would be paid through donations and would cost the district nothing. The village in turn was willing to amend its noxious weeds ordinances for the school project.

They paired with local partners, such as Loyal Lawncare, to till and clear the ground of plants that might otherwise linger in the soil and re-establish themselves if given the chance. The science club hosted fundraisers to cover the cost of supplies.

They researched the plants best suited for growing an authentic Wisconsin prairie in sandy soil, spending about $2,000 on seed from Agrecol Native Nursery LLC of Evansville, Wis.

In September 2010, they planted a “dry prairie, short stature.” The mix was roughly 50% grasses, 43% wildflowers, 7% legumes that could fix nitrogen in the soil and 1% sedges. It included such species as nodding onion, Allium cernuum; butterfly weed; sky-blue aster; black-eyed Susans; sunflowers; two varieties of goldenrod.

In 2011, the project earned the Crivitz High School Science Club a $1,000 “green gift” from telecommunications provider Cellcom to further enhance the prairie. A school board member a few years later convinced them to add more wildflowers.

Now after a dozen years, the Crivitz school prairie is thought to be home to more than 60 plant species, Matty said.

The prairie area has managed to draw several animal species as well, some unique to grasslands, such as a sharp-tailed grouse, Matty said. With a donation by Jane Meisner, they placed bluebird boxes at the four corners of the plot.

Though he retired from teaching in about 2013, Matty continues to help maintain the prairie along with White, who still works in the district.

One aspect of tending the prairie that they had to learn along the way was the crucial role of fire. Without regular burning, undesirable species can get a foothold in the grasses, crowding out the prairie plants, Matty said.

“Native prairie has evolved with fire,” he explained.

So the Crivitz Fire Department agreed to do a controlled burn on the prairie annually when possible. The prairie plants have deep roots that allow them to survive while others perish in the flames.

The burn wasn’t able to be done this year, however, as the weather didn’t cooperate, Matty said. That and a relatively dry summer has the prairie looking tattered and brown, without the usual heavy bloom, he said.

But prairie plants are built to withstand periods of drought, he explained. So it should bounce back when conditions improve.

The switch from lawn to prairie initially met with some resistance, with a few village residents complaining about the “weed field.” But one aim of the prairie project was to educate not only the school’s students but the community that what might be viewed as a weed actually is a beneficial native plant, Matty said — and that a manicured lawn shouldn’t be the ideal.

“We mow so much … it (a grass lawn) takes so many resources and it wastes them,” Matty said, adding, “There’s a perception that everyone’s lawn needs to be a golf course.”

Now, the prairie is considered an asset, he said. “That (negative view),” he said, “has gone by the wayside.”