From TNC’s "Grasslands: Conserving These Crucial but Endangered Habitats":
The prairie’s beauty has moved philosophers and painters throughout history — while its fertile soil has inspired restless settlers and industrious farmers. Today, the world’s grasslands are home to nearly 800 million people. They provide food, medicine and economic opportunities to countless millions more.
But less than five percent of all grasslands globally have been protected for conservation. And these landscapes face ever increasing threats. …
In Texas and Oklahoma, the Conservancy is implementing a variety of land-management strategies for grasslands. These innovative techniques include prescribed fire, rotational cattle and bison grazing, native grass seed banks and community outreach to conserve and restore the last remaining stretches of the Blackland Prairie.
I recently read some exciting news about prairie chickens.
1) In 2007, the Nature Conservancy purchased more than 6,000 acres of West Texas short grass prairie as the heart of a lesser prairie chicken project.
2) For the first time, the USFWS released 50 of the nearly extinct Attwater’s prairie chicken on private ranch land. The Nature Conservancy is actively involved in this project as well.
Hooray for our little known grassland Texas grassland grouse species!