Amy Crouch with “The Nature Conversancy” and “Litle Sioux Project Director,” presented “Why Prairie?” During the 1-hour presentation Crouch shared insights into “why and how prairies formed, how they’ve persisted for 10,000 years and why they are endangered. She also offered helpful hints to ensure prairies have a future.
Crouch offered both natural forces as well as manmade concerns for the loss of prairie, describing its size 8,000-10,000 years ago as Saskatchewan to Texas and Rocky Mountains to east of the Mississippi (170 million acres). Her description of the food web and how it also works to minimize the threat from (pest) invasions work to make the prairie a near fortress against the natural world. Diversity was the theme for prairie health. Three things that influence the health of a prairie are climate, fire and native animal life, specifically grazers and browsers.
The greatest current challenges to prairies thriving according to Crouch are fragmented landscape, invasive species, loss of diversity and changing weather patterns.
Crouch gave a PowerPoint presentation to show examples of her subjects.
One cause mentioned that contributes to major environmental change was erosion, speaking about the Rocky Mountains.
Crouch offered ideas for what she referred to as sustainable that worked on adding diversity to the landscape, even including cropland and planting methods for clean water.
Fifteen people attended.