Prairies

Iowa’s prairie has dwindled to a tiny fraction of its original size, but some Iowa gardeners are trying to change that — and so can you.

Land that was once purchased for a nuclear power plant is now 6,000 acres of restored prairie at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Jasper County. One day, it hopes to reach 8,650 acres.

Less than 0.1% of Iowa's tallgrass prairie remains today, which once covered 85% of the state's land prior to European-American settlement.

Prairie chickens, a native species to parts of the Midwest and the Great Plains, were extirpated from the state through habitat destruction and hunting. The species was reintroduced in the 1980s with varying levels of success. There are now fewer than 100 wild prairie chickens living in the state.

Host Charity Nebbe and wildlife biologist Jim Pease observe the prairie chicken mating dance and discuss the species’ precarious situation in Iowa.

An Iowa woman is using art — and TikTok — to spread awareness of endangered and lesser-known species in Iowa.

Listen back to Charity Nebbe's 2020 conversation with Scott Fisher about his experiences in running a rural bed and breakfast. Later, a closer look at a tallgrass prairie

Farmers till their land to prepare soil for planting, but a new study published in the journal “Earth’s Future” found topsoil in the Midwest is eroding on average nearly 2 millimeters per year.

Charity Nebbe talks to landscape ecologist and MacArthur Genius Lisa Schulte Moore, of ISU, about prairie strips and bringing together agriculture and ecology.

Lisa Schulte Moore is a professor at Iowa State University and, as of last month, a MacArthur genius. She talked about her work and the honor on River to River.