Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands Book

Barely a century ago a vast tallgrass prairie covered America’s heartland. Bison, elk, coyotes, and bear roamed this wilderness. Hundreds of species of prairie plants supported an explosion of birds and insects, including hundreds of kinds of butterflies. By the early part of the twentieth century, however, the tallgrass prairie was gone, its rich soils converted to farms to feed a growing world population.

Here, author Sneed B. Collard III tells the remarkable story of an effort to bring back part of the native tallgrass prairie. By following scientists who are working on the 8,000-acre Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa, readers will learn where the vision for a new prairie came from and how a dedicated group of scientists and volunteers is working to turn this vision into reality, from locating seeds of native prairie plants to using fire to drive out weeds to “bringing home” bison, elk, and one of the prairie’s most spectacular butterflies, the Regal Fritillary.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-Collard chronicles the prairie restoration project at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa. His explanation of the complexities of returning farmland to tallgrass prairie incorporates information about the prairie ecosystem and accounts of the work of scientists and volunteers. Among the projects he describes are the locating and collecting of seeds of surviving native plants, managing controlled burns, reintroducing bison, and building a population of Regal Fritillary butterflies. The author celebrates the successes without minimizing the hard work and patience required. He encourages and challenges readers to become ecologically involved in projects such as the butterfly garden developed at an Illinois school and featured in the book's final pages. The engaging text is accompanied by large, inviting color photographs. The suggested readings and Web sites supply additional information about prairies in general and this project in particular. An essential purchase for libraries in prairie regions and a worthwhile choice for others.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.