Our nation is 250 — but 250 years ago, Iowa was a world apart. An ecologist takes us back to a yesteryear’s landscape of endless tallgrass prairie, bison, elk and whooping cranes, and explains why Iowa is now the most ecologically altered state in the nation. A historian discusses the Indigenous nations living here in 1776 and why the American Revolution mattered enormously to people who may not have even known it was happening. And the tribal historic preservation officer of the Meskwaki Nation joins the program to discuss on her people's presence in Iowa.
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Larger-than-life bison sculptures made of bronze will make a stop at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History on March 15 as the exhibit heads to Washington, D.C. It's one of several ways Iowa is participating in the 250th anniversary celebration of the U.S. -
Prairie experts Jim Pease and Mark Muller talk about what we can learn from the prairie and the wildlife that live in it. -
Since 2000, a small team at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has been collecting, cleaning and distributing seeds to reconstruct prairies across the state. One of their longest running partners to help fill orders is Iowa’s Department of Corrections.
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The Mann family in Marshall County has created a lasting legacy by transitioning the family farm to public land, restoring it to its native wetland ecosystem.
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While corn and soybeans dominate the Midwestern landscape today, some farmers are integrating strips of native prairie back into their fields. This conservation practice has expanded to more than a dozen states. -
Justin Roberts didn't set out to be a children's musician, but his tunes and inventive lyrics brought him success and national attention.
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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.
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Host Charity Nebbe and wildlife biologist Jim Pease observe the prairie chicken mating dance and discuss the species' precarious situation in Iowa on this encore episode.
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Tall grass prairie once covered about 85% of the land we now know as Iowa. It now makes up less than one-tenth of a percent.
