
Most American prairies are gone. These people are working to bring them back
From a field on an Illinois university campus, to rare, untouched land in Texas, here are some efforts to replant once-abundant prairie in the Midwest and Great Plains.

From a field on an Illinois university campus, to rare, untouched land in Texas, here are some efforts to replant once-abundant prairie in the Midwest and Great Plains.

State of Change 2025 airs Thursday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m. on WILL-TV.

While corn and soybeans dominate the Midwestern landscape today, some farmers are integrating strips of native prairie back into their fields. This conservation practice has expanded to more than a dozen states. Between two corn fields in central Iowa, Lee Tesdell walks through a corridor of native prairie grasses and wildflowers. Crickets trill as dickcissels,

DECATUR – Workers cut down a large tree at Rock Springs Conservation Area in southwest Decatur. They’re clearing invasive tree species to make way for re-seeding something that is now rare in Illinois—native tallgrass prairie. Less than one-tenth of 1% of Illinois’ native prairie still exists. According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois