The prairie’s beauty has moved philosophers and painters throughout history — while its fertile soil has inspired restless settlers and industrious farmers. Today, the world’s grasslands are home to nearly 800 million people. They provide food, medicine and economic opportunities to countless millions more.

But less than five percent of all grasslands globally have been protected for conservation. And these landscapes face ever increasing threats:

• The spread of invasive species, such as molasses grass (Melinis minutiflora) in the Cerrado grasslands of Brazil and leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) throughout the Great Plains of North America. 
• The suppression of naturally occurring fire, which negatively affects the health of grasslands and the services they provide and leads to more dangerous wildfires.
• The conversion of the landscapes for agriculture and urbanization.

The Nature Conservancy is working with partners to conserve the world’s imperiled grasslands by using all the tools of conservation — including science, partnership, acquisition, land management and restoration.

The Durian Steppe: Protecting a Treasure

Stretching in a broad swath from eastern Europe across Mongolia to China, the Eurasian steppes have sustained nomadic herders for millennia. The Durian Steppe, a temperate grassland in Mongolia, represents the best and most intact example of an undisturbed steppe ecosystem remaining on earth.

This immense, fertile prairie looks as it did thousands of years ago — kept intact by migrating herds of more than one million seer (Mongolian gazelle) that thin the Durian Steppe's vegetation and turn its soil.

Unfortunately, the Durian Steppe and other Asian grasslands are under increasing threat from overgrazing, conversion for cultivation, and exploitation of natural resources.

The Conservancy has answered a direct invitation from Mongolia's prime minister to help develop a nationwide conservation action plan to protect what remains of Mongolia’s steppes.

South America: Promoting Sustainable Agriculture

South America is home to some of the most spectacular grasslands on Earth. These include Brazil’s famed Pantanal — one of the world’s largest flooded grasslands — and the Cerrado, a tropical grassland that covers much of Brazil and parts of Paraguay and Bolivia.

In the Cerrado — an area with higher plant diversity than any other savanna in the world — conversion of the land for agriculture has decimated nearly 80 percent of the native vegetation. A recent United Nations study warns that the lush Pantanal grassland is facing dire challenges from farming, urbanization and climate change.

The Conservancy is working with other organizations as well as farmers, agribusiness and governments to address these issues. We are promoting sustainable agricultural practices such as zero-tillage crop and pasture rotation that could halt deforestation and protect South America’s grasslands.

The Great Plains: Fire, Seed Banks, Community Outreach and More

The Great Plains — temperate grasslands extending from Nebraska to Texas — became known as “America’s breadbasket” in the 19th century for the ceaseless bounty of crops they could yield.

But the conversion and fragmentation of these lands (as well as the suppression of fire and the spread of invasive species) has made them into a patchwork landscape that is a mere shadow of its past glory. The remaining prairie system is at risk from growing populations and shifting global climates.

At the 56,000-acre Niobrara Valley Preserve in Nebraska, the Conservancy is working at broad scale with public and private partners to create a lasting model of vibrant grassland management. The preserve — which protects a 25-mile stretch of the Niobrara Scenic River — is grazed by hundreds of cattle and bison that contribute to the health of the grasslands.

In Texas and Oklahoma, the Conservancy is implementing a variety of land-management strategies for grasslands. These innovative techniques include prescribed fire, rotational cattle and bison grazing, native grass seed banks and community outreach to conserve and restore the last remaining stretches of the Blackland Prairie.

People are the Solution

There is still hope for the long-term survival of our world’s grasslands, but only if we increase our efforts and our commitments. The Conservancy’s grassland preservation strategies are based on the belief that no matter what the conservation challenge, people form the core of the solution.

The successful conservation of these important landscapes depends upon finding meaningful ways to blend the needs of grassland plants and animals with the needs of humans for the vital goods, services and livelihoods that grasslands provide.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Scott Warren (Brazil's Cerrado); © Mark Godfrey (Butterfly);
© Mark Godfrey (Black-tailed Prairie Dog)