Stopping to smell the flowers on the Holland Sand Prairie could be a little more informative thanks to the work of three Holmen Girl Scouts who unveiled a flower identification guide last week.

Pam Betthauser, Corona Kenowski and Rachel Seebach — all eighth graders at Holmen Middle School — spent a year walking the prairie, snapping photos, researching plants and producing an informational brochure. Their guide shows 83 separate flower species found on the sand prairie, sorted by color, bloom time and height.

The girls got the idea for the brochure after working on the prairie last year on a seed collection project for the Mississippi Valley Conservancy.

“We were looking at a flower and we had no idea what it was,” Kenowski explained.

The girls presented 300 copies of their color glossy brochure to the the Friends of the Holland Sand Prairie at a ceremony Nov. 12. “The Easy to Handle Guide for the Holland Sand Prairie’s Flowers” will be available at the prairie in a kiosk to be constructed by a local Boy Scout.

The 8th graders designed the brochure as a requirement for their Silver Arrow, the second-highest award in Girl Scouting. They visited the Holland Sand Prairie at least once a week for the past year, they said, but while they might slow down their return trips now, the project was worth it.

“It’s a really pretty place and it deserves attention,” Betthauser said.

The Mississippi Valley Conservancy and Friends of the Holmen Sand Prairie helped the girls research their project.

Simply Entree, Rudy’s Feed N Seed, Chuck Olson and Associates, Cordell’s Standard of Excellence, Pizza Corral, Beaver Builders Supply, First National Bank and Fed Ex/Kinkos all contributed towards the printing of the brochure.

The MVC and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point contributed some photographs for the brochure, but many were snapped by Seebach. Although she came out with her camera once a week, the task of capturing all of the Holland Sand Prarie’s flowers was not easy.

“A lot of them only bloom for a few days,” Seebach said.

Contact Adam Bissen at 786-6813 or adam.bissen@lee.net.