This is way late... But I worked as a prescribed burner - Western Minnesota, maybe we did some in SD and Iowa, because it was so close. Anyway, burning is great to maintain a prairie. But it's a dangerous operation. Does burning go on in your area - that is, is it a regular practice on any lands already (for whatever purpose). If so, then it might not be that much of a problem. Prescribed burning means just that - it's only done with a prescription - all the conditions must meet certain criteria. Can't be too windy (and for some properties the wind must be from a certain direction, or not from a particular one), temps must be moderate, humidity not too low, etc. Incidentally, we did not work when there was no wind either, because then, you never knew where a wind that started would come from. We worked on the downwind side and set fires to form a burned strip area where the later large fire could not cross. Then we went around and eventually started the up-wind side, and let it go. It would burn to the already-burned areas and that was it, hopefully anyway. We never had an escape. We did have a couple where we ran a lot. The year was unusually hot and dry, and we had to burn many at night. Not what we wanted, but boy did that make the scene spectacular. We did this in late Winter - Early-Mid Spring. That way most non-fire-tolerant species were killed or suppressed and the fire-tolerant species would thrive. I worked for the Nature Conservancy. I think some of the places were private (though maybe they had a conservation easement? or were adjacent to TNC or other protected lands). I think they would be a great place to contact. Dept of Natural Resources or what ever your state calls that would be another place to contact. We worked with them. Doing this on your own would be a huge task.
Then - other ways to establish prairie. It is hard. I've been trying for years with my front yard and really have gotten hardly anywhere, except to eliminate some really troublesome weeds (sweetclover is my bane - and now alfalfa of all things). But I have gravel for soil, and practically no rain all summer! (and alfalfa thrives - probably gets it's roots down to the water table, or at least moisture which is likely about 5 feet down).
However I have found that there are some things to do. Make little sites within the nascent prairie that are perfect for a particular species and plant it there. You can use seed or plants - likely both in different areas and for different species will work best. Then you aren't trying to plant the whole site. Once these areas are thriving, they will supply seed to establish in other sites. You can dig and divide some plants too, once they get going.
The other thing is to control the real problem plants (weeds - or plants you don't want there). This will be difficult on a large acreage, but not impossible. I use herbicides when I have to. Judiciously and with spot treatments. You really have to know your plants! It's been very successful in some areas. If you don't want to use these, then you will need to dig them, cut them, etc. depending on the species. The burning can help too, as long as there are species already there ready to take over. You can sometimes get help with noxious weeds from the County (true in most states) - check to see. Chose your battle, some plants may seem like weeds, but are they 'taking over'? - if not ignore them. The real problems are those that are really taking over and not allowing for prairie species to establish. You can seed with prairie grasses after a fire too (season and species matter). Get seeds from as local a source as possible. Even going to an established prairie and gathering them (with permission of course) would be best.
