The Prairie Farmers Preserving the Most Threatened Ecosystem – Forever

Summary

This story is one in a series about the confluence of capitalism, conservation and cultural identity in the Mississippi River Basin. It is part of Waterline and is sponsored by the Walton Family Foundation. Dallas May spotted the first shoots of grass a few months after a wildfire tore across the ranch he runs with his family in Lamar, Colorado, in 2022. Propelled by winds up to 70 mph, the blaze killed some of his livestock, destroyed 42 miles of fencing, and burned through vegetation and beaver lodges along the creek. “It was a moonscape,” May recalls. “Everything was charred and gone.” Before the fire, May had barely noticed the spindly stalks of needle and thread grass amid the many types of grass on his pastureland. But after the rain came, the sprouts shot up from the scorched ground. Over the following months, a succession of different grasses sprouted from seeds stored in the soil. “We had an entire natural seed bank,” May says. That’s because for decades, May and his family have managed May Ranch near the Arkansas River — a major tributary of the Mississippi River — to encourage native habitat to thrive alongside their cattle. This region is part of a swath of grassland that sweeps from central Canada to northern Mexico, vital to many species of birds that migrate across North America. A Horned Lark at May Ranch, which has been granted the National Audubon Society’s “bird-friendly land” certification. Credit: Evan Barrientos/Audubon. But today, these temperate grasslands are considered the most threatened major ecosystem in the world. Less than 40 percent of the region’s 550 million acres of historical grasslands have survived, and an average of two million acres are lost annually, converted for development or cropland. Ranching, though, is a natural fit on this landscape. Grazing cattle help keep wild grassland healthy, subduing woody and invasive species. And through conservation-oriented practices, ranchers like May are not only preserving habitat for bi...