Restoring Roots Prairie Artscape

04/13/2026

04/13/2026

An anonymous person donated this sculpture to our prairie project. Thank you!

01/01/2026

https://kansasreflector.com/2025/12/31/smoky-valley-ranch-provides-exportable-conservation-model-for-kansas-cattle-ranchers/

Smoky Valley Ranch, owned by the Nature Conservancy, is home to lesser prairie chickens, pronghorn antelope, and black-footed ferrets. The Nature Conservancy provides custom grazing leases to cattle ranchers in the region.

12/31/2025

Woody encroachment is threatening to collapse the grassland ecosystem and render the landscape unusable for cattle ranchers. Historically, fire kept woody species in check

12/29/2025

Prairie is being converted to forest as trees expand across the landscape, at the expense of grassland species. Ranchers, conservationists and ecologists in Kansas have been documenting this shift for decades.

11/08/2025

California has found a brilliant way to tackle two crises at once — drought and energy demand. Engineers are installing solar panels directly above the state’s massive irrigation canals, an idea that simultaneously prevents water evaporation and generates renewable electricity.

This project, known as Project Nexus, is being developed by the Turlock Irrigation District in partnership with the University of California, Merced. By shading canals with solar panels, the state could save up to 63 billion gallons of water annually — enough to supply 2 million people — while producing clean energy to power thousands of homes. The panels also reduce algae growth and land use since they’re built over existing infrastructure.

If scaled across the state’s 4,000 miles of canals, this approach could mark a revolution in sustainable engineering — turning old water systems into powerful energy networks that fight both climate change and water scarcity.

11/08/2025

Light pollution poses a serious problem for migrating birds by compounding other hazards.

11/01/2025

10/27/2025

About 97 percent of the land in the state is privately owned. Meet the people helping to make it friendlier for native bugs.