“By the early 1900s, more than 96 percent of America’s tallgrass prairie had been turned into farms and grazing lands.” Sneed B. Collard III documents efforts to reclaim a piece of America’s lost landscape as he describes the work to restore tallgrass prairie on the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa. The comprehensive project has involved the work of scientists, rangers, and numerous volunteers who have all worked to establish and maintain the ecosystem that now supports many prairie flora and fauna. Collard’s highly readable narrative is focused around the work of two specific scientists: biologist Pauline Drobney, who manages the prairie project, and Diane Debinski, who saw the project as a chance to try to bring the rare Regal Fritillary butterfly back to Iowa. Collard’s captivating pictures show the restoration work in progress and also capture the sweeping beauty of the prairie lands. (Ages 7–10)

Barely a century ago a vast tallgrass prairie covered America’s heartland. Bison, elk, coyotes, and bear roamed this wilderness. Hundreds of species of prairie plants supported an explosion of birds and insects, including hundreds of kinds of butterflies. By the early part of the twentieth century, however, the tallgrass prairie was gone, its rich soils converted to farms to feed a growing world population.

Here, author Sneed B. Collard III tells the remarkable story of an effort to bring back part of the native tallgrass prairie. By following scientists who are working on the 8,000-acre Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa, readers will learn where the vision for a new prairie came from and how a dedicated group of scientists and volunteers is working to turn this vision into reality, from locating seeds of native prairie plants to using fire to drive out weeds to "bringing home” bison, elk, and one of the prairie’s most spectacular butterflies, the Regal Fritillary.