Prairie and Wood was started by Bruce Ambuell and Craig Sargent in 1975. They were awarded a grant for studying birds in the arboretum and were living in Farm House. They frequently invited professors’ children out to the house to go exploring. By the end of the summer they had spent so much time with the kids that they had neglected their study of birds and had to return the grant money. And so began the tradition of Prairie and Wood.