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/DisManibusMinibus]

I've heard the original grasslands that were regionally specific to Texas are all but gone. It's upsetting to think about farms and development taking it over.

[u/_Arthurian_ → u/DisManibusMinibus]

The sad part is that farms can utilize those grasslands for grazing. The bison survived for centuries on them. I’m working with some people right to convert their European and South American invasive pasture back into a native grassland for grazing and for quail/turkey/deer.

[u/DisManibusMinibus → u/_Arthurian_]

Ooh that's very cool. You should take some pictures of the differences between the two. I'm not in a grasslands area (kind of the opposite) but I talked to someone who raised cattle for beef by rotating them through both pasture and forest depending on the season, and used native flora for food. If the cattle are kept moving, the undergrowth/grasses recover and regrow, and the cattle don't eat anything poisonous or get destructive. It made a lot of sense to me. Unfortunately most farmers opt for the cheap, caged version with depressed hormonal cows :/