Grassland Conservation and Restoration

Grasslands, often called prairies in the United States, are habitats where the dominant vegetation type is grass. Though trees may be present, there is often not enough precipitation to support a forest ecosystem. Grassland habitats are typically maintained through a combination of limited precipitation, fire, and grazing animals (National Geographic Society n.d., Buisson et al. 2022). Intact grasslands support high levels of biodiversity and have high conservation value from the numerous benefits they provide, including pasture forage, water regulation, erosion control, support for pollinators, and carbon storage and sequestration. However, grassland habitats have been severely degraded in many areas of the world and continue to be threatened by land cover conversion to agriculture, woody encroachment, altered fire and grazing regimes, urbanization, invasive species, and climate change (Buisson et al. 2022; Török et al. 2021). In the US Great Plains region, more than half the original grasslands have been lost (Buisson et al. 2022). Grassland restoration is important given the amount of these habitats that have been lost and the immense value they provide. Despite their value, there is relatively little focus on grassland restoration research compared to that for forests, wetlands, and rivers (Buisson et al. 2022; Török et al. 2021).