(no subject)
I am was a tree person. Well that’s not to say that I hate trees or anything now, its just that I don’t have the crazy fevor in me that I used to for forests and forestry. That’s what I did my masters in-forestry and I had fully intended to go back to India and continue the work I had done for a while with the original tree huggers. Somewhere along though, I got sidetracked and here I am in the middle of the country, “fly-over land” no forests and I love it.
I discovered a whole new kind of ecosystem, the prairie, that I never experienced in India and I never realized just how rich in biodiversity it is. When I first got here, driving through the state all I saw were miles and miles of fields, corn and soybeans interspersed with dairy farms. Then I wandered further out west to some of the amazing MN parks and I was blown away. They were beautiful, all that gorgeous plant life-bluestem, buffalo grass, indian grass, drop seed, sage brush. The list is endless. And then the flowers, prairie smoke, pasque flower-love this one and have it in an avatar, cone flowers. It really is a magical place. I haven't mentioned the animals, of which there are many including that very awesome bison and then myriad of bird species.
It really is sad that these prairie ecosystems, even now, are not as valued as the forests are. Tall Grass prairies once covered 142 million acres and there are only 1% of this left. In Iowa even less, just 0.1%. In my view this is a real tragedy. When I travel through Minnesota and I see acres of farmland I can only imagine what the land must have looked like, covered in prairie. I am glad that there is some effort being made to restore this wonderful ecosystem, but it will never be quite the same.
I discovered a whole new kind of ecosystem, the prairie, that I never experienced in India and I never realized just how rich in biodiversity it is. When I first got here, driving through the state all I saw were miles and miles of fields, corn and soybeans interspersed with dairy farms. Then I wandered further out west to some of the amazing MN parks and I was blown away. They were beautiful, all that gorgeous plant life-bluestem, buffalo grass, indian grass, drop seed, sage brush. The list is endless. And then the flowers, prairie smoke, pasque flower-love this one and have it in an avatar, cone flowers. It really is a magical place. I haven't mentioned the animals, of which there are many including that very awesome bison and then myriad of bird species.
It really is sad that these prairie ecosystems, even now, are not as valued as the forests are. Tall Grass prairies once covered 142 million acres and there are only 1% of this left. In Iowa even less, just 0.1%. In my view this is a real tragedy. When I travel through Minnesota and I see acres of farmland I can only imagine what the land must have looked like, covered in prairie. I am glad that there is some effort being made to restore this wonderful ecosystem, but it will never be quite the same.