Causes and Community

There are traces of ourselves sown into the land. Our relationship with geographies plays out in relationship to our maps — Indeed, we name ourselves after our places: Tucsonan, Californian, Chicagoan. No wonder, then, than that we also classify and understand our music through the lens of place: Appalachia, Seattle, Preservation Hall, Cabin in the woods of Wisconsin.

Surely there are important connections between places, people, and the music that we love.  But we only come to understand the intricacies of those connections if we continually work on maintaining them. For these reasons, we’re committed to digging in — to maintaining these ties by way of catalog and conservation. Part of Prairie Hymnal’s mission will be to seek out and build meaningful relationships with those who seek to preserve our geographies. We hope that this site will serve as an inroad for other likeminded folks to learn about and, if they please, support regional land-preservation and sustainability organizations.

Our goal, as we’ve stated, is preservation — and that extends to the land in which we put down our roots. We invite you to be our partners in preservation so that we all might reap the bounty and the beauties of the land together.

Prairie Rivers Network  is an organization in Illinois working towards river protection, conservation, and restoration as well as the reduction of pollution in Illinois river systems. They’re a not-for-profit working “to protect Illinois’ rivers for people, fish, and wildlife”. Learn more about how you can contribute here.

Grand Prairie Friends is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit, conservation organization working to preserve and restore tallgrass prairie and woodlands in east-central Illinois.