Despised by pioneers, shunned by tourists, dismissed today as “flyover land,’’ the North American prairie is nonetheless one of the richest ecosystems on Earth. The 32 million acres of grassland that lie between Minnesota and western Montana contain 1,600 plant species, 220 varieties of butterfly, some 1 billion grassland birds and many of America’s most iconic creatures, including bison, grizzlies, elk, and coyotes. A new body of research shows that just one cubic yard of prairie soil contains so many grasses, sedges, flowers, burrowing mammals, invertebrates and soil microbes that it rivals the Amazon rainforest for biological diversity.
And yet today we are plowing up our remaining grasslands faster than we’re destroying the rainforest – 1 million acres a year because of the nation’s misguided food system.
Sea of Grass tells the natural history of this extraordinary landscape and sounds the alarm about the environmental threats it faces today — but also profiles the farmers, ranchers, scientists and conservationists who are trying to protect the continent’s remaining grasslands and promote farming practices that are better for the planet and wildlife.
Dave Hage oversaw environmental and health reporting at the Minneapolis Star Tribune for a dozen years, editing projects that won a Pulitzer Prize and an Edward R. Murrow Award, among other honors. His previous books include No Retreat, No Surrender: Labor’s War at Hormel, and Reforming Welfare by Rewarding Work. A Minneapolis native, he lives in St. Paul with his wife.
Josephine Marcotty is an award-winning environmental journalist who has spent her life in the Midwest. She was a reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she covered complex, science-based topics. Sea of Grass is a natural expansion of her reporting on the vanishing prairie and the consequences of intensive agriculture. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband.