Grasslands LIVE
Rolling acres of grassland used to stretch across the U.S. Historically the shortgrass, mixed-grass and tallgrass prairies covered about one-fifth of North America. Today, much of the historic range of grasslands has been lost, but grasslands continue to provide rich habitats for birds, fish mammals, insects and plants as well as key ecosystem services, such as capture of carbon and water. Learn about this ecosystem and how scientists, citizens, local ranchers and farmers are working together to manage and conserve this important habitat.
Learn About:
- Grasslands habitat
- Citizen science projects
- Birds and animals in grasslands
- History of grasslands
- Conservation
Webcasts
-
Check out this live distance learning adventure from Pawnee National Grassland held on May 17, 2017. Learn about the grassland ecosystem and how scientists, citizens, and local ranchers are working...LIVE from Pawnee National Grassland in Colorado
Check out this live distance learning adventure from Pawnee National Grassland held on May 17, 2017. Learn about the grassland ecosystem and how scientists, citizens, and local ranchers are working...
Related Videos
-
2011 Ferret Release: Connection Youth to Conservation
In late fall 2011, the Prairie Learning Centre worked with Parks Canada and the Chinook School Division to bring 70 students in on another black-footed ferret release within Grasslands National Park. The students played a key role in introducing another 15 ferrets into the Canadian prairie.
America’s Grassland
This is the story of our National Grasslands. These wind swept seas of grass and wildflowers have witnessed the pageant of the frontier, the Dust Bowl, and their reclamation. Managed for sustainable multiple-use as part of the National Forest System, these lands total almost 4 million acres. The USDA Forest Service contributes to the conservation of grassland ecosystems while producing a variety of goods and services which, in turn, have helped to maintain rural economics and lifestyles.
America’s Grasslands: A Threatened National Treasure
From Prairie Public Broadcasting
Grasslands are one of the most threatened biomes on the planet – a biome that is in our own backyard. This video explores the uniqueness of this resource, the complicated reasons we’re losing grassland, and the efforts of ranchers and conservationists to protect it.
Chihuahuan Desert Grasslands of Mexico
From Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
The Bird Conservancy of the Rockies collaborates with private landowners there to support working ranches and improve grassland habitat for birds and other wildlife.
SK PCAP “Conservation Conversations” Video
From the Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan
Join us and learn about the valuable role that ranching plays in Saskatchewan’s prairie conservation. The environment and agriculture are closely intertwined. Raising livestock on native prairie grasslands can be a way of sustaining prairie ecosystems, species at risk habitat, and many ecosystem goods and services that benefit all.
Tallgrass Prairie Center Videos
Why Prairie Matters
From Missouri Prairie Foundation
Through increased prairie conservation, restoration, and outreach we can protect and create more wildlife and pollinator habitat, clean more water, sequester more carbon, and bring more beauty home in the landscaping of our communities. Tallgrass prairie and other temperate grasslands of the world are the most threatened, least conserved major terrestrial habitat types on earth. Learn about the many benefits of native prairie and native plants in this video.History
The grass was eternal, teeming with abundant bison herds, elk and other wildlife. It was also home to many tribes including: Sitting Bull’s Hunkpapa Sioux, Apache, Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Atsina, Bannock, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Ojibwa, Bungi, Comanche, Cree, Crow, Hidsata, Kiowa, Klamath, Kootnei, Mandan, Metis, Modoc, Pawnee, Santee, Shasta, Shoshone, Teton, Wichita, Yankton, and Yanktonia.
The United States acquired most of the Great Plains and Great Basin from France with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Until the late 1860s, the Great Plains region was America’s last frontier.
The Homestead Act of 1862 brought almost six million settlers by 1890 who tried to replace grass with crops more beneficial to economic aspirations. The settlers soon discovered, however, that while these vast grasslands were productive in wet years, they were also subject to serious drought and bitter winters. Land that should never have been plowed yielded its topsoil to incessant dry winds. Dust clouds rose to over 20,000 feet above parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and the Dakotas. Ten-foot drifts of fine soil particles piled up like snow in a blizzard, burying fences and closing roads.
During the same time, bison were largely eliminated by westward expansion. Ranchers filled the large open ranges of the plains and the Great Basin with cattle and sheep. Soldiers, prospectors, railroad builders, and a host of others seeking the West helped push back the last frontier as they crossed and settled these lands. By the early 1930s, the broad midsection of America was in trouble. Not only because of the Dust Bowls, but the Great Depression was reaching its economic depths.
Emergency measures were taken to save the farmers and settlers. The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act of 1935 allowed the federal government to purchase and restore damaged lands and to resettle destitute families. From these disastrous days, a hundred years after the Homestead Act on June 23, 1960, the National Grasslands were born.
Resources
Grass is the key to maintaining the productivity of these areas. Remove it, and the soil blows away. When rain falls, the barren ground can’t absorb water and it runs off quickly carrying silt into streams and ponds. These grasslands must be used wisely for the benefit of the land and its inhabitants.
Our nation’s 20 National Grasslands managed by the US Forest Service are an outstanding conservation success story. They are examples of progressive agriculture in arid grass country. Revegetated to provide for soil and water conservation, these intermingled public and private lands are managed to complement each other and to conserve the natural resources of grass, water and wildlife habitat.
Clean water flows off restored watersheds to be used miles downstream. Wildlife, including many declining, threatened or endangered species, thrive in reborn habitats.
Under a nurturing shield of vegetation, once wounded soil rebuilds its fertility. The construction of livestock ponds has expanded the range of many wildlife species by providing water where none existed before. The scattered watering ponds allow more cattle grazing throughout the grassland and also benefit wildlife habitat. Private farmlands within the National Grassland boundary add diversity to the prairie habitat.
The presence of prairie dog colonies creates habitat favorable for such wildlife as burrowing owls, which use the abandoned burrows. The almost extinct black footed ferret used to prey on the prairie dogs and use their burrows as well. Rattlesnakes are the only poisonous snakes found in the grassland. They are seldom seen during the heat of the day.
National Grasslands are rich in mineral, oil and gas resources. They also provide diverse recreational uses, such as mountain bicycling, hiking, hunting, fishing, photographing, birding, and sightseeing. Fossils, prehistoric and historic resources, as well as many cultural sites are being discovered. The National Grasslands are being managed to protect these important legacy resources. The National Grasslands are important lands managed for sustainable multiple uses as part of the National Forest System. They have made important contributions to conserving grassland ecosystems while producing a variety of goods and services, which, in turn, have helped to maintain rural economies and lifestyles.
What is a Virtual Learning Adventure?
Distance learning adventures and live, electronic field trips (EFTs) bring the excitement of learning right to you, your classroom or your non-formal learning event. You don’t need to load up buses, worry about the weather, or collect money. The experts, topic and location are brought to you electronically via the Internet.
GrasslandsLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure brings the information and resources right to your classroom, nature center, visitor’s center, house, or wherever you are. Just like an in-person field trip, students can ask questions of the experts or post comments on Facebook and Twitter during the webcast. For teachers, the program and resources on the web site will enable you to meet science education standards.
There are several things you can do before the webcast to help you get the most from the electronic field trip and take advantage of the experts’ knowledge during the program.
GrasslandsLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure provides teachers, students and the general public with informative and interactive ways to learn about grasslands. Join us to:
- Get students and the public involved in grasslands.
- Educate students about the importance and conservation of grasslands.
- Develop an understanding of grasslands as a unique ecosystem.
- Understand the role of citizens, public land management agencies, and non-governmental organizations in protecting and conserving natural resources.
- Meet national science education standards as they relate to grasslands.
Goals & Objectives
The goal of GrasslandsLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure is to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of grasslands.
The objectives of this distance learning program are to:
- Educate students and the general public about the management, importance, and conservation of grasslands.
- Learn about birds and other animals that depend on grassland habitat.
- Understand the connection between grasslands in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.
- Understand the role of citizens, public land management agencies, and non-governmental organizations in managing, protecting, and conserving natural resources.
- Increase participation in and understanding of citizen science programs related to grasslands so that students learn the importance of being a good steward.
- Meet national education standards as they relate to grasslands.
Glossary
View All Glossary-
Audubon Rockies
Audubon Rockies offers a plethora of free resources for educators in Wyoming and Colorado.
-
Education Programs and Resources
From Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan
Check out the teacher resources from theSaskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan and those related to: agriculture; climate change; environment; plants and animals; and soil, water and wetlands. -
Grassland Ecosystems & Black-footed Ferrets
From the Toronto Zoo
The lessons help students: learn to describe changes or problems that could result in the loss of some kinds of animals; identify positive and negative impacts that different kinds of human activity have on animals and where they live; investigate the ways in which a variety of animals adapt to their environment; and more. -
Grasslands: A Home for Wildlife and People
From the Bird Conservancy fo the Rockies
Habitat loss and degradation threaten the viability of grasslands to support healthy populations of wildlife and, in turn, healthy human communities. Grassland birds, in particular, have seen the sharpest declines of any birds in North America. Birds serve as important indicators of environmental health; they control insects and rodent populations, pollinate plants and are enjoyed year-round for their intrinsic beauty. This curriculum focuses on grasslands and the birds that rely on them for survival. Its place-based theme (“You live in a grassland”) is ideal for integrating all academic subjects into a curriculum that will engage learners in the place they live and their role in its future. -
Bison Benefits
From the U.S. Mint
The United States Mint offers free, complete lesson plans for grades K-12. Use coins as a jumping-off point to teach science, social studies, math, and more. For example, in Bison Benefits students will be able to identify the role of the American bison in the life of the American Indians and identify animals as natural resources. -
Create a Prairie Roadside
From the Living Roadway Trust Fund of Iowa
This lesson is designed to create an awareness of the roadside prairie that can be found throughout Iowa (and other states). The idea is to turn a portion of a hallway into a roadside prairie with the road being the hall and the walls being the roadside. However if that is to possible a bulletin board of a wall in the classroom will also work. The objective is to become more familiar with Iowa’s roadside plants. -
Natural Inquirer
From the US Forest Service
Search grasslands and/or prairies for resources. The Natural Inquirer is a middle school science education journal! Scientists report their research in journals, which enable scientists to share information with one another. This journal, The Natural Inquirer, was created so that scientists can share their research with middle school students. Each article tells you about scientific research conducted by scientists in the USDA Forest Service. -
Prairie Resources
From the Living Roadway Trust Fund of Iowa
Students will discover that although humans often use the word “weed” as a derogatory term, many weeds do offer benefits to wildlife and humans. Students will identify the resources prairies provide for life forms and the environment. The value of a prairie will be deduced based on its resources. -
Bison Mystery Box
From the National Wildlife Federation
Students will investigate the many uses of bison in Native American culture. -
Natural Inquirer
Search grasslands and/or prairies for resources. The Natural Inquirer is a middle school science education journal! Scientists report their research in journals, which enable scientists to share information with one another. This journal, The Natural Inquirer, was created so that scientists can share their research with middle school students. Each article tells you about scientific research conducted by scientists in the USDA Forest Service.
-
Soil Activity
A soil activity in which students will observe and experience that soil covered with grass has less runoff.
-
Interdisciplinary: Prairie/Forest/Decorative Arts/Historic Native American – Natural Dyes from Plants
From the Illinois State Museum
After viewing the web modules of MuseumLink and doing this activity, students will be able to: explain and show how the dyeing traditions express the culture of the people; relate the similarities and differences in cultural traditions regarding coloring of functional objects and art objects; tell how people can change or lose or gain traditions when in contact with other cultures; ï explain how changes in technology affected cultural traditions (use of natural dyes); explain processes by which one can extract and use dye from plant materials; demonstrate specific effects achieved by varying the processes and materials used in the same; tell and demonstrate how settlers and Native Americans used plants to make dyes for their everyday objects (clothes, fabrics, leather, mats, yarns). -
Adopt a Rancher – An Interactive, Hands-on Learning Program
From Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan
The Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan has developed a curriculum-supported, action-orientated environmental education program called Taking Action for Prairie. -
Grasslands
From Environmental Education in Wisconsin
Grasslands explores the tall grass and short grass prairie flora and fauna that used to cover southern Wisconsin. Many of the lessons are based on the availability of prairie gardens at which to study. -
How Many Bison?
From the National Wildlife Federation
Students will learn to use a standard sampling technique to determine a bison population. -
Prairie Grasslands
Climate change will affect the prairie grasslands ecoregion by pushing temperatures higher and decreasing rainfall in certain areas. Check out these activities: Wetlands/Migration Simulation; graphing/data analysis; and landsat activity.
-
Save the Black-footed Ferrets STEM Teaching Kit
From Auburn University and the National Science Foundation
Through building an energy self-sufficient town, students will realize that as people expand we can easily get what we need without taking more space away from other animals. We do not need to build large power plants and expansive wire grids anymore. It is not only the black footed ferret that is negatively affected from habitat loss and conversion, but almost every other endangered species such as: tigers in India; pandas in China; and lions, elephants, and gorillas in Africa. If people can learn to utilize the space they occupy in the most efficient manner using renewable natural resources, we can not only increase space needed for other species but create a healthier world.
Lesson Plans
Grades K - 12
Grades K - 5
Grades 4 - 5
Grades 4 - 8
Grades 4 - 12
Grades 6 - 12
History
The grass was eternal, teeming with abundant bison herds, elk and other wildlife. It was also home to many tribes including: Sitting Bull’s Hunkpapa Sioux, Apache, Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Atsina, Bannock, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Ojibwa, Bungi, Comanche, Cree, Crow, Hidsata, Kiowa, Klamath, Kootnei, Mandan, Metis, Modoc, Pawnee, Santee, Shasta, Shoshone, Teton, Wichita, Yankton, and Yanktonia.
The United States acquired most of the Great Plains and Great Basin from France with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Until the late 1860s, the Great Plains region was America’s last frontier.
The Homestead Act of 1862 brought almost six million settlers by 1890 who tried to replace grass with crops more beneficial to economic aspirations. The settlers soon discovered, however, that while these vast grasslands were productive in wet years, they were also subject to serious drought and bitter winters. Land that should never have been plowed yielded its topsoil to incessant dry winds. Dust clouds rose to over 20,000 feet above parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and the Dakotas. Ten-foot drifts of fine soil particles piled up like snow in a blizzard, burying fences and closing roads.
During the same time, bison were largely eliminated by westward expansion. Ranchers filled the large open ranges of the plains and the Great Basin with cattle and sheep. Soldiers, prospectors, railroad builders, and a host of others seeking the West helped push back the last frontier as they crossed and settled these lands. By the early 1930s, the broad midsection of America was in trouble. Not only because of the Dust Bowls, but the Great Depression was reaching its economic depths.
Emergency measures were taken to save the farmers and settlers. The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act of 1935 allowed the federal government to purchase and restore damaged lands and to resettle destitute families. From these disastrous days, a hundred years after the Homestead Act on June 23, 1960, the National Grasslands were born.
Resources
Grass is the key to maintaining the productivity of these areas. Remove it, and the soil blows away. When rain falls, the barren ground can’t absorb water and it runs off quickly carrying silt into streams and ponds. These grasslands must be used wisely for the benefit of the land and its inhabitants.
Our nation’s 20 National Grasslands managed by the US Forest Service are an outstanding conservation success story. They are examples of progressive agriculture in arid grass country. Revegetated to provide for soil and water conservation, these intermingled public and private lands are managed to complement each other and to conserve the natural resources of grass, water and wildlife habitat.
Clean water flows off restored watersheds to be used miles downstream. Wildlife, including many declining, threatened or endangered species, thrive in reborn habitats.
Under a nurturing shield of vegetation, once wounded soil rebuilds its fertility. The construction of livestock ponds has expanded the range of many wildlife species by providing water where none existed before. The scattered watering ponds allow more cattle grazing throughout the grassland and also benefit wildlife habitat. Private farmlands within the National Grassland boundary add diversity to the prairie habitat.
The presence of prairie dog colonies creates habitat favorable for such wildlife as burrowing owls, which use the abandoned burrows. The almost extinct black footed ferret used to prey on the prairie dogs and use their burrows as well. Rattlesnakes are the only poisonous snakes found in the grassland. They are seldom seen during the heat of the day.
National Grasslands are rich in mineral, oil and gas resources. They also provide diverse recreational uses, such as mountain bicycling, hiking, hunting, fishing, photographing, birding, and sightseeing. Fossils, prehistoric and historic resources, as well as many cultural sites are being discovered. The National Grasslands are being managed to protect these important legacy resources. The National Grasslands are important lands managed for sustainable multiple uses as part of the National Forest System. They have made important contributions to conserving grassland ecosystems while producing a variety of goods and services, which, in turn, have helped to maintain rural economies and lifestyles.
What is a Virtual Learning Adventure?
Distance learning adventures and live, electronic field trips (EFTs) bring the excitement of learning right to you, your classroom or your non-formal learning event. You don’t need to load up buses, worry about the weather, or collect money. The experts, topic and location are brought to you electronically via the Internet.
GrasslandsLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure brings the information and resources right to your classroom, nature center, visitor’s center, house, or wherever you are. Just like an in-person field trip, students can ask questions of the experts or post comments on Facebook and Twitter during the webcast. For teachers, the program and resources on the web site will enable you to meet science education standards.
There are several things you can do before the webcast to help you get the most from the electronic field trip and take advantage of the experts’ knowledge during the program.
GrasslandsLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure provides teachers, students and the general public with informative and interactive ways to learn about grasslands. Join us to:
- Get students and the public involved in grasslands.
- Educate students about the importance and conservation of grasslands.
- Develop an understanding of grasslands as a unique ecosystem.
- Understand the role of citizens, public land management agencies, and non-governmental organizations in protecting and conserving natural resources.
- Meet national science education standards as they relate to grasslands.
Goals & Objectives
The goal of GrasslandsLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure is to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of grasslands.
The objectives of this distance learning program are to:
- Educate students and the general public about the management, importance, and conservation of grasslands.
- Learn about birds and other animals that depend on grassland habitat.
- Understand the connection between grasslands in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.
- Understand the role of citizens, public land management agencies, and non-governmental organizations in managing, protecting, and conserving natural resources.
- Increase participation in and understanding of citizen science programs related to grasslands so that students learn the importance of being a good steward.
- Meet national education standards as they relate to grasslands.
Sponsors
-
FSNatureLIVE
The USDA Forest Service, Prince William Network and partners bring nature learning to you through our series of webcasts, webinars, and online education resources. No matter where you are in the world, visit our LIVE programs for exciting, on-site learning about bats, butterflies, climate change, wetlands, and more!
Visit Partner -
USDA Forest Service
Established in 1905, the Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Forest Service manages public lands in national forests and grasslands. Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the Forest Service, summed up the mission of the Forest Service "to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run." National forests and grasslands encompass 193 million acres of land, which is an area equivalent to the size of Texas.
Visit Partner -
Prince William Network
Prince William Network (PWNet) is a part of Prince William County (Virginia) Public Schools and provides quality, distance-learning opportunities to students, educators, and communities across Virginia and the nation. PWNet is a leading provider of live, electronic field trips for students and has won numerous national awards. Electronic field trips bring the excitement of learning to remote places with the ability to converse with experts.
Visit Partner -
CBS Denver
CBS Denver is providing the technical production for a GrasslandsLIVE webcast to be held May 17, 2017.
Visit Partner -
Whiting Petroleum Corporation
Whiting Petroleum Corporation is a Denver-based independent oil and gas company that acquires, exploits, develops and explores for crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids primarily in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. We are consistently a top oil producer in North Dakota. We control one of the largest acreage positions in the Bakken/Three Forks resource play in the Williston Basin with 443,839 net acres in the oil productive sweet spots of the basin encompassing approximately 5,300 potential gross drilling locations. In the new and large oil prone sweet spot of the eastern DJ Basin of Colorado, we have 132,184 net acres.
Visit Partner -
Pawnee Buttes Seed Inc.
Pawnee Buttes Seed, Inc. provides native and introduced grass, forb, shrub, wetland, small grain, and alfalfa seed for turf, pasture, reclamation, CRP, CREP, WHIP, and EQIP. Our emphasis is on educating our customers on proper management techniques to ensure grass stand longevity and conservation of natural resources.
Visit Partner
Partners
-
Reserva de la Biosfera de Janos
In December 2009, the federal government of Mexico declared Reserva de la Biosfera de Janos, which covers 526,482 hectares in the Janos Valley in the state of Chihuahua. The decree represents the first time that Mexico is protecting grasslands and allocating funds for that conservation. The reserve includes some Mexico’s best remaining shortgrass prairie.
Visit Partner -
Channel 44/Canal 44 El Canal de las Noticias
XHIJ-TDT, known as Canal 44, is a Spanish-language affiliate of Cadenatres serving the Ciudad Juárez-El Paso-Las Cruces metropolitan area.
Visit Partner -
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
The mission of the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies is to conserve birds and their habitats through science, education and land stewardship. Bird Conservancy of the Rockies conserves birds and their habitats through an integrated approach of science, education and land stewardship. Our work radiates from the Rockies to the Great Plains, Mexico and beyond. Our mission is advanced through sound science, achieved through empowering people, realized through stewardship and sustained through partnerships. Together, we are improving native bird populations, the land and the lives of people.
Visit Partner -
The Nature Conservancy - Reserva Ecologica El Uno
The Nature Conservancy has been working with local partners to create a protection strategy for the Janos Valley grasslands. Thanks to the work of the Conservancy and local partners, the Mexican federal and Chihuahua state governments recognized the Janos Valley as a conservation priority. And on Dec. 8, 2009, the 1.3 million-acre Janos Biosphere Reserve was decreed. This declaration marks the first time that Mexico is officially protecting – and allocating resources toward – grasslands that benefit people and nature.
Visit Partner -
CONANP
The mission of the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (Conanp) is to conserve the natural heritage of Mexico through protected areas, fostering a culture of conservation and sustainable development of the communities in their environment. Society must be involved in conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity, ecological processes, natural changes and ecosystem services that enable the continuity and evolution of life, development and welfare of human society, through a set of policies and measures of protection and management, including sustainable use and restoration.
Visit Partner -
Aves Argentinas
Aves Argentinas es una entidad civil sin fines de lucro que trabaja para revalorizar el vínculo de las personas con su entorno natural, brindando un espacio para los amantes de la naturaleza y desarrollando proyectos y actividades de conservación, investigación, educación y difusión.
Visit Partner -
Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan
The Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan (SK PCAP) Partnership brings together 30 agencies and organizations representing producers, industry, provincial & federal governments, environmental non-government organizations, research and educational institutions working towards a common vision of prairie and species at risk conservation in Saskatchewan.
Visit Partner -
Environment for the Americas
Environment for the Americas was created as a result of International Migratory Bird Day’s success. Created in 1993, the celebration has grown to become much more than a one day event. Over 700 events are now hosted from South America to Canada, materials are available year-round, and other projects and programs have been developed to increase bird conservation education.
Visit Partner -
Soapstone Prairie Natural Area
Soapstone Prairie Natural Area is owned by the City of Fort Collins. Soapstone is extraordinary with over 28 square miles of wide open vistas, nearly pristine grasslands, miles of trails and world-renowned cultural resources.
Visit Partner