It’s a story that was too good to pass up.

University of Minnesota professor Michael Osterholm bought a cornfield in Iowa with the intention to turn it into a prairie. But when a neighbor told him he’d once caught a brook trout in that very spot, Osterholm determined to find the creek that had long been filled in with dirt. Using an old photograph, he marked the creek’s path in the field, and then excavated the earth, discovering the original creek bed. He built it up with rocks and native prairie grasses. It was a labor of love, with no promise of a return.

And the water remembered.

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