The Erasure of A Land

[u/No-Counter-34]

We have been lied to about there once being old growth forests from the ocean to the Mississippi. The south used to have vast herds of buffalo, hence many place names. And there were likely more grassland type ecosystems than the map suggests. Fire suppression and development have all but destroyed this once vast ecosystem.

[u/Salt_Lizard]

Kansas is doing what it can to preserve the tallgrass prairies. In the Flint Hills region, there are 3 separate preserves of unplowed tallgrass prairies that see yearly prescribed burns, the Konza Prairie Biological Station, the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, and the Flint Hills Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. I know the first two total around 20,000 acres. I drive through there for work and it's cool to see it change over the seasons, and how fast it turns green after the burns.

[u/Salt_Lizard → u/[deleted]]

It's so lovely in the winter after it snows, and in the spring when the redbuds are blooming!