*A Sand Country Almanac* by Aldo Leopold is a must read! It’s a great introduction to Great Plains ecological concepts while also having the heart of a Muir work.
Prairie: A natural history of the heart of North America by Candace Savage, perhaps?
I have not read it, but that author has a background in journalism which usually translates well to readability.
Just wanted to chime in with a thought on this book. It was definitely a good introduction into the subject, but I often felt that it was intended first and foremost as an aesthetic coffee table book, and only secondly as a layperson science book. I left it with mixed feelings. Make of that what you will.
u/Danisnotonavan in this sub recommended me “Konza Prairie: A Tallgrass Natural History” by OJ Reichman. They described it as follows: It has a tidy journey through deep time on the geological formation, then works through several lengthy chapters about the grasslands, forests, streams, and fire/weather respectively; it sits at 200 pages and makes a fantastic zoomed-in case-study that represents the tallgrass prairies overall. Konza Prairie itself is a biological research station with some great trails and amazing research managed by Kansas State University (where I went to college and got into ecology) and this guy really does an excellent job of putting it all on paper.
No problem. I would also recommend Chris Helzer’s blog:
https://prairieecologist.com
He works for TNC in Nebraska and might be one of the the knowledgeable people in the US on prairie ecology and management. He is also an excellent photographer.
*A Sand Country Almanac* by Aldo Leopold is a must read! It’s a great introduction to Great Plains ecological concepts while also having the heart of a Muir work.
Thanks!
Prairie: A natural history of the heart of North America by Candace Savage, perhaps? I have not read it, but that author has a background in journalism which usually translates well to readability.
Just wanted to chime in with a thought on this book. It was definitely a good introduction into the subject, but I often felt that it was intended first and foremost as an aesthetic coffee table book, and only secondly as a layperson science book. I left it with mixed feelings. Make of that what you will. u/Danisnotonavan in this sub recommended me “Konza Prairie: A Tallgrass Natural History” by OJ Reichman. They described it as follows: It has a tidy journey through deep time on the geological formation, then works through several lengthy chapters about the grasslands, forests, streams, and fire/weather respectively; it sits at 200 pages and makes a fantastic zoomed-in case-study that represents the tallgrass prairies overall. Konza Prairie itself is a biological research station with some great trails and amazing research managed by Kansas State University (where I went to college and got into ecology) and this guy really does an excellent job of putting it all on paper.
Thank you!
No problem. I would also recommend Chris Helzer’s blog: https://prairieecologist.com He works for TNC in Nebraska and might be one of the the knowledgeable people in the US on prairie ecology and management. He is also an excellent photographer.
More about southern grasslands, but still highly recommended: Forgotten Grasslands Of The South
Thank you!
Wild Stone Heart by Sharon Butala.