Steve Chaplin, Senior Conservation Scientist with The Nature Conservancy, gave a biology seminar talk on May 20 titled “Prairie Conservation in Minnesota.”
Native prairie in Minnesota has declined by over 98% since the 1860s. The challenge for prairie conservation planners is to devise strategies that will result in functioning prairie systems that can maintain viable populations of the state’s prairie fauna and flora.
A coalition of 10 agencies and conservation organizations has addressed this challenge and produced Minnesota’s first prairie conservation plan. This plan advocates a three-pronged approach:
- A set of functioning prairie core areas
- Corridors to connect the core areas, and
- “Wildlife friendly” conservation practices throughout the rest of the agricultural region of the state
All three of these approaches include an expansion of grass-based agriculture to drive the conservation changes.