List of protected grasslands of North America
The protected grasslands of North America consist of
Canadian First Nations, state wildlife management agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private nature reserves.[1]
Generally speaking, these regions are devoid of trees, except for
Sierra Nevada on the west and the Rocky Mountains
on the east.
The
expansion of the United States onto the frontier decimated the population of the indigenous people and the bison.[5] Bison occupy less than 1% of their historical range with fewer than 20,000 bison in conservation herds on public, tribal or private protected lands. Roughly 500,000 animals are raised for commercial purposes.[6]
The plowing of the tallgrass prairie to plant crops destroyed the natural habitat. Less than 4 percent of the prairie is left according to most estimates.[7] Intensive farming, urbanization, and the spread of trees - that were formerly limited by periodic fires - continue to contribute to habitat loss.[8] Studies estimated in 2018 that grasslands in the U.S were being lost at a rate of more than one-million-acre per year (0.40×10 6 ha).[9]
Protected areas
Cemetery prairies
Cemetery prairies are remnants of native North American prairie.
- Bigelow Cemetery Preserve, Ohio[10]
- Brown School Road Cemetery, St. Joseph, Michigan[11]
- Brownlee Prairie Cemetery Nature Preserve, Illinois[12]
- Calvary Catholic Cemetery, St. Louis[13]
- Clay Prairie, Allison, Iowa[11]
- German Methodist Cemetery Prairie State Nature Preserve, Lake County, Indiana [14]
- German Settler Cemetery, La Paz, Indiana[11]
- Goewey Township Cemetery, Osceola County, Iowa[15]
- Harrison Cemetery Prairie, southwest Michigan[11]
- Hess Cemetery near Eagle Point, Illinois[16]
- Horton Township Cemetery Prairie Preserve, Osceola County, Iowa[15][17]
- Johnson Cemetery, Hillsdale County, Michigan[11]
- Loda Cemetery Prairie, Illinois[18]
- Mount Hope Cemetery, Barry County, Michigan[11]
- Munson Township Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve, north of Cambridge, Henry County, Illinois[19]
- Pellsville Pioneer Cemetery, Butler Township, Vermilion County, Illinois[18]
- Prospect Cemetery State Preserve[20]
- Queen Anne Prairie Cemetery, Woodstock, Illinois[11]
- Rochester Cemetery, Cedar County, Iowa,[21][22] established 1830s on 13.5 acres (5.5 ha; 0.055 km2) of hills in sand prairie-savanna grassland near the Cedar River[23]
- Smith Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve,[10] Darby Township, Madison County, Ohio[24]
- Sumnerville Cemetery, Cass County, Michigan[11]
- Tomlinson Cemetery, Champlaign County, Illinois[25]
- Weston Cemetery Prairie, Yates Township, McLean County, Illinois
See also
- Bison herds topics
- Bison hunting § Resurgence of the bison
- History of bison conservation in Canada
- U.S. National Grasslands
- Pre-Columbian savannas of North America
- United States Grasslands Reserve Program
References
- ^ Tarnow, Anna (February 18, 2019). "More than just grass: US prairies make a comeback". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ "Deserts and xeric shrublands | Biomes | WWF". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
- ^ Wuerthner, George (September 3, 2020). "Bison ecology, ecological influence, behavior, and decline". The Wildlife News. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ "Restoring prairie and fighting wildfire with (drone launched) fire(balls)". Ecotone. Ecological Society of America. August 1, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
- ^ Tutton, Mark (November 27, 2019). "How bison are bringing life back to the prairie". CNN. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Akcakaya, H. Resit (November 7, 2019). "To Save Species from Extinction, We Must Consider More than Just Numbers". In These Times. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
- ^ Berger, Joel; Beckmann, Jon (May 1, 2020). "America's Native Big Open Was Anything But Lonely Or Empty". Mountain Journal. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
- ^ Webber, Tammy (August 25, 2023). "North American grassland birds in peril, spurring all-out effort to save birds and their habitat". AP News. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
- ^ McBride, Bekah (November 15, 2018). "Grasslands among the best landscapes to curb climate change". UWMadScience. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ Project MUSE.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Pleznac, Christine (1982). R. Brewer (ed.). "Michigan cemetery prairies and their flora" (PDF). Proceedings of the Eighth North American Prairie Conference. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Western Michigan University: 130–132.
- The Rock Island Argus. May 12, 1985. p. 10. Retrieved January 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Archdiocese of St. Louis. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
- ^ "German Methodist Cemetery Prairie". The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
- ^ a b ""Efforts Underway to Resore Forgotten Horton Township Cemetery"". Sioux City Journal 30 Jul 2001, page 4. Retrieved January 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Horton Township Cemetery Prairie Preserve". Watchable Wildlife Sites in Northwest Iowa. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
- ^ ProQuest 1926287833.
- ^ "Prairie tour will be today". Quad-City Times. June 26, 1994. p. 64. Retrieved January 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Midwest Wilderness Connections - Prospect Prairie Cemetery State Preserve". sites.google.com. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
- Iowa Outdoors. Photographs by Clay Smith. Iowa Department of Natural Resources. pp. 29–35.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sidoti, Liz (October 15, 2000). "Prairie Could Return, State Aims to Add 3 Patches". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 28. Retrieved January 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Pioneer Graveyard Site of Champaign County's Best-Preserved Prairie". The Times. Munster, Indiana. November 30, 2001. p. 20. Retrieved January 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.