Restored Tallgrass Prairie

Cloudy Skies over the Tallgrass Prairie

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Homestead Heritage Center Sidewalk

Vast tallgrass prairie once covered 170 million acres of North America. Tallgrass prairie is highly diverse and provides food and cover for a variety of insects, birds, and mammals. Prairie soil is also extremely fertile, having been nourished for centuries by decaying plant material. For this reason, areas that were once tallgrass prairie are now some of the most productive agricultural lands in the world. This fact has contributed to the immense loss and fragmentation of the prairie habitat in the past 150 years, with less than 4% remaining today. To support and share this rare ecosystem, Homestead preserves 100 acres of restored tallgrass prairie.