Episode 19: American Prairie

On a new Wild For Change podcast, we will be talking about America’s historic prairie ecosystem, with Daniel Kinka, Senior Wildlife Restoration Manager of American Prairie.  American Prairie’s mission is to conserve the largest ecosystem in the contiguous United States.   It is working to connect and preserve more than 3 million acres of habitat on the Northern Great Plains of Montana. This is the equivalent to the size of the state of Connecticut.  Prairies are found in regions where there isn’t enough rain to support a forest but not so little that a desert forms.  Many of these prairies or grasslands have been converted into agricultural use and are one of the fastest disappearing ecosystems in the world.   Globally, less than 2% of prairies have been preserved.  Losing prairies threatens the wildlife living there, water quality, and carbon stores that helps to mitigate climate change, which is why the work of American Prairie is an important contributor to preserving one of North America’s most important ecosystems.  During this podcast, we discover;How American Prairie actually works to connect, restore, and protect the prairie ecosystem and thereby supports the full ecological process of the prairieWhat it means to rewild the ecosystem through indirect rewilding and collaborationHow American Prairie works with neighbors to support and sustain large scale wildlife conservationHow American Prairie’s Bison Restoration Program is key to the restoration of the prairie ecosystemYou can learn more about American Prairie at www.americanprairie.orgWebsite: http://www.wildforchange.comTwitter: @WildForChangeFacebook: /wildforchangeInstagram: wildforchange