The Wild Frontier: What Remains of the Great American Grasslands

In North America we have three great grassland ecosystems: the shortgrass, mid-grass, and tallgrass prairies. Some people claim that there are differences between meadows and prairies, but they are ecologically the same kinds of ecosystems.

Most people would be surprised to know that there are even fewer native prairie ecosystems remaining than forest ecosystems. Yet, grasslands have few protections compared to forests and are disappearing even faster. The vast grasslands of the plains and prairies once stretched from the eastern slopes of the northern Rockies to east of the Mississippi and from southern Canada to Texas. Most of it has disappeared under the plow for agricultural crops and urban development.

The shortgrass prairie was replaced by the rangelands popularized in the scenery of our classic Western movies. Iconic grasses such as blue grama and buffalograss characterize the shortgrass, which is found in the high plains of western Canada, east of the Rockies, and all the way through Texas. We raise our cattle where the bison used to roam.

The mid-grass prairie formed a vast grassland between the short and tallgrass prairie from central Canada all the way to central Texas. It was dominated by a high diversity of medium-sized grass species like little bluestem and other flowering species such as scarlet globemallow and sage. We have plowed these perennial grasses under and replaced them with the annual grasses that feed us, such as wheat, barley, oats, and others.

The tallgrass prairie is the rarest of the remaining prairie ecosystems. There is less than 4% of its historic range remaining. It is the easternmost grassland and used to cover most of Iowa and Illinois and extended from southern Manitoba to Texas. Pioneers would have traveled through 6-foot swathes of big bluestem, indiangrass, black-eyed susans, and coneflowers. It has been extensively lost to development and most of the remaining is plowed for a different tall grass: corn.

In 1837, John Deere invented the steel plow, which made it possible for pioneers to farm the thick, densely rooted prairie soil and make a life for themselves on the great plains of North America. But this also changed the fate of prairies forever. When the deep roots of the perennial prairie grasses were pulled from the earth by plow, it was said that it sounded like a volley of gunshots.

Because much of a prairie's biomass is below ground in the roots, once we rip it out, it is very difficult to replace it. We can add back some of this lost diversity by planting native meadows, which will help restore environmental benefits. Meadows build deep roots, stabilizing and enriching the soil. They provide important habitat for many animals and bring beauty and joy to us.