US Grasslands Campaign launches to protect this overlooked ecosystem

Stretching from coast to coast, grasslands cover nearly a third of the lower 48 states. Yet almost half of Americans know almost nothing about them, according to a new national survey released by the America’s Grasslands Coalition.

Grasslands—large expanses of land dominated by grasses, shrubs, and other flowering plants—are a source of clean water for millions of people in the US and play a vital role in supporting wildlife, storing carbon, sustaining food systems and rural livelihoods, and maintaining ecosystem balance. They currently cover nearly 1 million square miles of the US, roughly half of their historical range—and are continuing to disappear at an alarming rate. This decline, due to plow-up for row-crop agriculture, the spread of invasive plants, and development, threatens wildlife, fresh water, and climate resilience.

For generations, these landscapes have given everything and asked for very little in return. But the demands placed on them have begun to outpace what they can sustain. That’s why WWF and our partners in the America’s Grasslands Coalition launched the first-ever US Grasslands Campaign—to connect people with the country’s overlooked grasslands and to elevate them as a national conservation priority.

Learn more about the campaign at www.grasslanders.org. And tell Congress to enact policies that protect grasslands.