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Table of Contents
Introduction
Introduction
Grasslands come in many forms depending on factors such as altitude, soil types, rainfall, and unique species.
These include biomes such as prairies, meadows, steppes, and the Sahel.
Why Grasslands Matter
Why Grasslands Matter
Signage for Prairie Plantings
Signage for Prairie Plantings
One of the most heartbreaking things that can happen after pouring hours of work, money, time, and sweet into rehabilitating grassland, is for people who don't understand their value to come along and "help out" by spraying pesticides or mowing important plant species down. To help prevent this, some organizations and artists offer plaques and other types of signage to help educate people of the unruly-looking grass's purpose. That the plant life's presence is in fact wanted.
Types of Grassland
Types of Grassland
Keystone Species
Keystone Species
International
International
Ants
Ants
Ants are a keystone species around most of the world, acting as both ecosystem engineers and tiny predators.
Europe
Europe
How to Plan for Reconstruction
How to Plan for Reconstruction
How to Plan a Prairie Reconstruction
How to Plan a Prairie Reconstruction
11:10 minute video from the Tallgrass Prairie Center talking through the planning phase: research, obtaining/storing seeds, and weed removal. Then goes on to talk about what to expect in the first few years as the species composition changes.
Resources
Resources
Prairie Reconstruction How-To Videos This video collection is provided by the Iowa Tallgrass Prairie Center
Invasive Control
Invasive Control
Invasives can be controlled a number of ways. Many conservation organizations use glyphosate, which is dangerous to human health and the environment, but may be needed for particularly aggressive species, before rewilding can begin.
Controlled burning and grazing are another option which require care and planning.
Weed whackers and hand weeding, especially at specific points in an invasives life cycle can be effective but more intensive physically. The video to the right demonstrates the need to take the entire top off a flowering plant to avoid the remaining stalks from flowering, but plants with deep tap roots may need to be properly dug up or poisoned. Pouring hot water on the roots may help.
To turn an invasive tree into a snag that can help wildlife, I've had the limbs cut off, then gone around the tunk with a blade to cut through the bark. Since nutrients move up under the bark, this makes it harder for the tree to regenerate, but it is important to check around the base and limbs often to remove any buds, stems, or leaves that the tree may try to put out. Constantly removing the new growth will eventually starve the plant to death.
Warning: Do NOT use salt to kill weeds. "Salting the Earth" can make the soil toxic to plants for hundreds of years or more.
North America
North America
Prairie Restoration Project
10:55 minute video talks about the methods used to till and seed the farmland into prairie, and shows how the landowners deal with invasive plants.
Rewinding Locations
Rewinding Locations
Parks
Parks
Africa
Africa
Virunga: Africa’s Oldest National Park "The park recently saw the homecoming of about 580 African Savanna Elephants, thanks to recent and critical conservation efforts in its central savanna. Now the elephants are rewilding the landscape, pummeling invasive plants and transforming it back to a fully functioning grassland, allowing the return of grazers and other wildlife species that have been largely absent from the park for the last two decades."
North America
North America
USA
USA
#SupportTheReturn: "Help us return one million acres of land to the buffalo
Join us in returning healthy lands, healthy lives, and healthy economies to Indian Country
You can also choose to stay up to date with the legal issues facing rewilding work such as the Bison testing bottleneck that it currently preventing US tribes from adopting new bison from Yellow Stone Park - read here for more info, then remember to vote and contact your representatives when bills such as the H.R.2074 - Indian Buffalo Management Act "
Rewilding the American West study includes maps of areas that would have a major impact if protected and rewilded.
Montana
American Prairie: Map & Guide PDF shows existing park sections, the local national park, and reservation
Resources, Tools, & Guides
Resources, Tools, & Guides
International
International
The WILDLABS "platform and its many programmes are designed with conservation tech users and makers in mind. Using our community-based research as a guide, WILDLABS aims to create a space where questions can be answered, ideas can turn into collaborative projects, and innovations can turn into solutions. By understanding where conservation technology is headed, what barriers community members face in leveraging technology effectively, and how technology can still improve, WILDLABS is able to offer programmes that address the community's needs and lift their work to a new level."
Africa
Africa
South Africa
South Africa
Bird Species List: Haenertsburg Grasslands and Associated Habitats
Friends of Haenertsburg Grasslands List of Indigenous and Invasive species in the WGG which is a critically endangered ecosystem.
North America
North America
USA
USA
California
State Wildlife Action Plan "A plan for conserving California's wildlife resources while responding to environmental challenges"
Iowa
Educator Resources "The links below have been created by the staff of the Tallgrass Prairie Center and Green Iowa AmeriCorps members over the years and provide a range of information, lessons, activities, and other resources for the formal and informal educator. The aim of this page is to assist teachers of all varieties with options and ideas to connect youth to the outdoors and our lost and limited landscape of Iowa tallgrass prairie."
Prairie Reconstruction How-To Videos This video collection is provided by the Iowa Tallgrass Prairie Center
Tallgrass Prairie Seed Calculator "Welcome to the Tallgrass Prairie Seed Calculator, a free online tool that allows you to build a custom native prairie seed mix, estimate the cost for each mix and view contact information for Iowa's top native vendors. Created by the University of Northern Iowa Tallgrass Prairie Center. Click Overview for more usage details."
Missouri
Missouri Prairie Foundation: Native Plant Database "Pick the right native plant for the right place. This searchable database of 300+ plants native to the lower Midwest includes trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, sedges, rushes, and wildflowers suitable for landscaping as well as species for creating wildlife habitat, stabilizing streams, and for other ecological purposes. Most plants in the database are available from Grow Native! professional members who sell plants. A few species in the database are not readily available for sale, such as common violets found in yards, but are included here because of widespread interest."
Organizations
Organizations
International
International
Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) is a network of researchers and conservationists interested in Palaearctic natural and semi-natural grasslands. It was established in 2008 as the successor of the German Arbeitsgruppe Trockenrasen. It is now a working group of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) and a member of the European Forum for Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP)." They host workshops in Eurasia and Northern Africa.
The International Grassland Congress (IGC) "is a worldwide gathering of leading scientists, students, industry, extension and primary producers that meet every 3-5 years to share their research results and their experiences."
The Rewilding Institute "We live for the day when Gray Wolves and Grizzly Bears have connected habitat from Mexico to Alaska, when Pumas have reclaimed their homelands East and West, when salmon and other migratory fish swim freely up and down our continents’ rivers, when the oceans are teeming with whales and sharks, and when all native species regain natural patterns of abundance and distribution."
Africa
Africa
Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) is a network of researchers and conservationists interested in Palaearctic natural and semi-natural grasslands. It was established in 2008 as the successor of the German Arbeitsgruppe Trockenrasen. It is now a working group of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) and a member of the European Forum for Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP)." They host workshops in Eurasia and Northern Africa.
Kenya
Kenya
Grassland and Rangeland society of Kenya (GRASK) "is a professional society that brings together researchers, professionals, practitioners and resource users to address the challenges facing grasslands and rangelands in Kenya and the IGAD region. The Society unifies, stimulates and fosters focus and interest on grasslands and rangelands for their sustainable development to play the rightful role in national and regional economic development."
South Africa
South Africa
Friends of Haenertsburg Grasslands "FroHG arose from a small group of volunteers called HEMAG (Haenertsburg Environmental Monitoring and Action Group). As an informal grouping, HEMAG agreed to give way to FroHG in order to gain the benefits of a formal constitution. In August 2007, FroHG finalized its constitution and on 24 September 2007, FroHG was officially launched. FroHG's constitution was amended in 2015, and again in 2021.
FroHG is a nonprofit organization (209-267 NPO; PBO No. 930067337) based in Haenertsburg, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Our mission is to advocate for the conservation, rehabilitation, study and sustainable use of the critically endangered Woodbush Granite Grasslands (WGG), its associated indigenous forests and water catchments.
Although FroHG places special emphasis on the Haenertsburg Nature Reserve, where the largest remaining portion of WGG is formally protected, our focus extends to the numerous smaller remnants scattered on both public and private lands in the Magoebaskloof / Haenertsburg mountains."
Asia
Asia
Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) is a network of researchers and conservationists interested in Palaearctic natural and semi-natural grasslands. It was established in 2008 as the successor of the German Arbeitsgruppe Trockenrasen. It is now a working group of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) and a member of the European Forum for Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP)." They host workshops in Eurasia and Northern Africa.
Europe
Europe
Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) is a network of researchers and conservationists interested in Palaearctic natural and semi-natural grasslands. It was established in 2008 as the successor of the German Arbeitsgruppe Trockenrasen. It is now a working group of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) and a member of the European Forum for Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP)." They host workshops in Eurasia and Northern Africa.
Latvia
Latvia
GrassLife "Dabiskā pļava ir pelnījusi, lai to dēvētu par Superpļavu.
Taču šo Superpļavu Latvijā ir palicis gaužām maz. Pirms simt gadiem Superpļavas klāja 30% Latvijas teritorijas. Šobrīd no 30% pāri ir palikuši vien 0,7%. Šis ir pēdējais brīdis, lai glābtu Superpļavas un to vērtības.
Tāpēc mēs, projekta GrassLife komanda, apvienojot zinātniekus, lauksaimniecības praktiķus un uzņēmējus, strādājam pie Superpļavu atjaunošanas. Mēs pētām Superpļavas un rūpējamies, lai to vērtības vainagotos jēgpilnās idejās ar augstu pievienoto vērtību un biznesa potenciālu.
Mēs ticam, ka kopā ar Latvijas pļavām uzplauks arī Latvija."
UK
UK
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust "From surveying bumblebee numbers out in the field to taking toddlers on their first ever mini-beast hunt - our work spans from conservation at its most scientific right through to a child's first experience."
Grasslands+ "is a coalition of three charities who have come together to protect and restore the planet’s grasslands, savannahs, plains, heaths, steppes and meadows.
The coalition is made up of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation and Plantlife."
Northern Ireland
Scotland
REVIVE "is a coalition of like minded organisations working for grouse moor reform in Scotland." They are working to end the practice of burning deep peatland for grouse shooting."
North America
North America
USA
USA
Prairies Forever "is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to promoting the ecological and cultural significance of the American Prairie through education, outreach, and public engagement."
The Southeastern Grasslands Institute (SGI) "is saving the forgotten grasslands of the Southeast."
Tallgrass Prairie Center has provided videos on topics including restoration and prescribed burning.
Missouri
Camp Monarch "is a newly founded nonprofit committed to addressing the loss of vital habitats for the Monarch Butterfly and many other species across North America. Right now, we are a small but dedicated team of passionate individuals determined to take action for wildlife and biodiversity. Our work begins by laying the foundation for a network of habitat restoration projects, with a focus on empowering landowners to be part of the solution.
As we get started, we’re recruiting founding members who share our vision of restoring fragmented ecosystems and reconnecting wildlife corridors. Our work may still be in its early stages, but we know that with the right people, every small step will lead to big impact."Missouri Prairie Foundation "For over 55 years, the Missouri Prairie Foundation has been conserving Missouri’s prairies and other native grasslands—some of the most imperiled habitats on the planet."
Montana
American Prairie "American Prairie is conserving the disappearing shortgrass prairie ecosystem by piecing together 3.2 million acres of Montana's Northern Plains. We invite the public to explore our restoration work, plan a visit, and connect with nature on a truly grand scale." "Our main focus is to purchase and permanently hold title to private lands that glue together a vast mosaic of existing public lands so that the region is managed thoughtfully and collaboratively with state and federal agencies for wildlife conservation and public access."
Oceana
Oceana
Australia
Australia
Greening Australia "we don’t just plant trees, we rebuild ecosystem services. By restoring landscapes, we increase biodiversity, improve water quality, sequester carbon, and support local communities and economies.
To maximise our impact, we collaborate with First Nations Peoples, landholders, philanthropists, businesses, governments, universities and communities to make change happen on-ground.
We continually seek to improve and refine our methods, tools, and data to ensure our work meets the highest standards and delivers the best possible outcomes for both people and nature.
From utilising machine learning to analyse data captured via satellites and drones, to trialling planting designs and treatments that will help our plantings thrive in challenging environments and future climate scenarios – we are building on our decades of practical expertise to explore innovative, scaleable approaches to restoration."
South America
South America
Neotropical Grassland Conservancy "helps launch careers in conservation by providing grants and equipment to students and scientists working in grassland habitats in Central and South America."
Grants, Funds, & Incentives
Grants, Funds, & Incentives
North America
North America
Neotropical Grassland Conservancy "helps launch careers in conservation by providing grants and equipment to students and scientists working in grassland habitats in Central and South America."
USA
USA
The Southeastern Grasslands Institute (SGI) "is saving the forgotten grasslands of the Southeast."
South America
South America
Neotropical Grassland Conservancy "Our grant programs include Memorial Grants, Equipment Grants, and Student Grants.."
Maps
Maps
International
International
North America
North America
USA
USA
Stormwater Management and Restoration Tracking (SMART) Tool (Interactive) Tool tracks storm water management practices in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed which spans, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia
Grants & Funding
Grants & Funding
North America
North America
USA
USA
Missouri
Prairie Garden Grants Program "Gardening and other conservation groups, parks, schools, and other entities in Missouri and immediately surrounding states are invited to submit proposals to MPF’s Prairie Garden Grants Program. In 2024, MPF would like to award several grants to help fund the establishment or improvement of prairie gardens or plantings. Grants will not exceed $800 each. Those with smaller projects are encouraged to apply as well. Matching funds are not required, but proposals with secured matching funds may be evaluated higher than others."
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