The South historically included open treeless prairies, rocky barrens and glades, pine and oak savannas, coastal prairies, wet grasslands (e.g. bogs and fens), and high-elevation mountaintop meadows called balds. Today our remaining grasslands represent “the last 1%” of what once were unbelievable Southern landscapes. They persist as small fragments, occupying fencerows, powerline corridors, roadsides, corners of old fields, and small clearings among forests. The loss of Southern grasslands has contributed to plummeting populations of many iconic species of animals (Bobwhite quail, Monarch butterflies, Eastern meadowlark) and plants.

The good news is that the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), in partnership with various hunting, fishing, scientific, and environmental organizations, has developed the North American Grasslands Conservation Act, modeled after the successful North American Wetlands Conservation Act . The Grasslands Act would create a landowner-driven, voluntary, incentive-based program to conserve, restore, and improve management of grasslands across the country through a partnership-based approach that will help sustain them as working lands for wildlife and people. This national grant program would provide the multi-faceted support that grasslands need to continue to fight climate change, support rancher livelihoods, and serve as habitat for species in decline. Your elected officials need to hear that you support that kind of effort!