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Stories in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota

Grasslands: Where Resilience Takes Root

Among the most at-risk ecosystems on Earth, grasslands offer climate solutions, vital habitat and a way of life.

A golden grassland with a single tree.
Aurora Prairie The Prairie Coteau is one of the nation’s largest and best remaining grasslands. © Richard Hamilton Smith

Grasslands once stretched unimpeded from North Dakota to Texas, extending into Canada and Mexico. These vast seas of prairie were home to enormous biodiversity: switchgrass, bluestem, meadowlarks, bobolinks, bison, badgers, prairie chickens, butterflies and so much more thrived in these habitats. Deep roots enabled a sprawling underground ecosystem, which enriched the soil, filtered water and held carbon for centuries.

Today, much of North America’s original grasslands have been lost to agricultural, industrial and residential development. But those that remain continue to provide for people and nature alike. Across the Great Plains, grasslands are helping to keep water clean, supply nutrition for livestock, offer rich opportunities for recreation, and provide habitat for wildlife and pollinators.

Grasslands in the Region

Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota

  • Prairie grass icon.

    96%

    Most of the northern tallgrass prairie has been lost to conversion. It once covered parts of western Minnesota and eastern North and South Dakota.

  • Prairie grass icon.

    50%

    Half of the mixed-grass prairies in the northwest Great Plains, including North Dakota and South Dakota, have been lost to conversion.

  • Prairie grass icon.

    700M

    Across 31 species, 700 million grassland birds have been lost since 1970—a 53% decline in total population.

  • Prairie grass icon.

    100M

    The Nature Conservancy has a goal of helping protect 100 million acres of grasslands across the Great Plains to benefit people and nature.

Grassland Cover Current grassland cover in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota is far less than its historic extent. © Shyam Thomas/TNC

Here’s what we’re doing to protect and enhance this treasured ecosystem for all its inhabitants—two-legged, many-legged, rooted and rambling.

How we’re helping

  • Coneflowers in bloom with the sun setting in the background.

    Protecting & restoring grasslands.

    We’re working to preserve remaining grasslands and restore what has been lost. Learn more

  • A monarch butterfly flying to a purple flower.

    Supporting biodiversity & resilience.

    We’re reconnecting habitat, rehabilitating prairie streams and supporting ranchers to keep grazing animals on grasslands. Learn more

  • A bison in a snowy prairie.

    Bringing home bison.

    We're helping return bison to Native Nations and communities by supporting Indigenous partners working to preserve this historical, cultural, traditional and spiritual relationship for future generations. Learn more

  • Grasses in the prairie bent in the wind.

    Advocating for healthy grasslands.

    We’re helping advance public funding and policy supporting grassland protection and restoration and the ranchers who steward our grasslands. Learn more

Protected Grasslands

Cattle in a grassland with ranchers on horseback in the background.
Cattle Grazing Grazing cattle are essential for keeping grasslands healthy. They mimic the role that bison once played on the landscape, and ranching is an essential practice to keep our grasslands working and wild. © Richard Hamilton Smith
A man and his daughter standing in a field with cows in the background.
PEOPLE We work side by side with farmers and ranchers. Through land protection agreements, landowners can protect working lands in perpetuity. © John Gregor

Explore Our Work in Grasslands

The other side of prairie life

How a tiny fish made a big comeback in southwest Minnesota’s prairies.

Growing horse-high grass

A North Dakota rancher conducted a controlled burn on his property. The results were unbelievable.

Slowing down water

South Dakota ranchers are investing in unconventional grazing tactics and river stream health with support from TNC and partners.

Regenerative cattle ranching

How one historic ranch turned over a new leaf and improved profitability, soil health and their quality of life.

Flowers blooming in the prairie.
Sunset A variety of prairie wildflowers illuminated by the setting sun. © Richard Hamilton Smith

The Climate Connection

In a shifting climate, our grasslands are more important than ever.

Prairie roots reach deep into the soil, extending even farther than their stems reach above ground. This means the majority of grassland life is held underground, where the roots convert and store atmospheric carbon dioxide in the soil. If that grassland is converted for agriculture or development, the buried carbon is released back into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.

That’s why grassland protection is a climate solution. We’re working to keep grasslands intact by partnering with ranchers to support conservation practices, bringing bison back to their homelands and advocating for good grassland policies.

Grasslands are already experiencing the effects of climate change. We’re focused on supporting greater species and genetic diversity to boost the resilience of grasslands. One way we’re doing that is by sourcing prairie seed for restoration projects from many species and multiple sources to facilitate gene flow between different populations of native species, mimicking the way that seeds used to move freely across wide expanses of unfragmented grassland. This variability increases the potential for adaptation to changes in the environment that is needed for resilience in a changing climate.

Coneflowers in bloom.
Prairie Wildflowers Echinacea flourish at Plover Prairie in Minnesota. © 2014 Richard Hamilton Smith