Revealed: what we now know about the incredibly diverse grasslands of the Southeast and why ecologists often consider their loss the greatest threat to the terrestrial biodiversity of eastern North America.
Love to see this. Here in the Piedmont of South Carolina, I'm struggling to find native plants that are native to this area. There's one small nursery that has a small selection, but that's about it. Getting a local "ecotype" is very important, imo, but we need more universities to step up to the plate and at least help to make seeds available to property owners like myself who wouldn't mind growing a few things to help out. Plant Delight Nursery, in North Carolina, has a wonderful collection of almost unheard of native plants that they offer for sale, and the prices reflect what you might expect for such rare things. Sadly, even they can't make hardly a dent in the problem since they're just as constrained by business requirements as anyone else. Where do you get Smooth Purple Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata)? It's native to my area, and threatened, but the only time you hear any mention of it is a single piece on the Clemson U Extension website. Trying to find seeds or pots ready to plant is like finding hen's teeth! I'm "teaching" folks to take it slow and steady. While I'm not keen on using cultivars, that's often the only option since you can't get straight species locally, or you can't fit the straight species into your site requirements. I'd rather see people plant Carex pensylvanica "Straw Hat" than not plant any Carex pensylvanica at all. I'd rather they put in Panicum virgatum "Cheyenne Sky" than yet another stupid chicom grass. People want a plant rather than seeds, for the most part, so it's up to us to make those plants available. If we are going to save the ecosystems, we need to borrow from Dr. Doug Tallamy's "Homegrown National Park" idea, and spread things out over the millions of acres that are currently in turf grass and other home and commercial landscaping. And that means we need plants ready to go in the ground. Last year, I planted some Panicum and Carex in my yard. I also have pots on the porch filled with Rudbekia, New York Aster, Tickseed, and Shasta daisy. None of the plants are local ecotype because the local ecotype is just not available. Even the Asclepias tuberosa that I grew from seed is from a plant that I found in a convenient "native" planting in town, and very likely that plant was bought at a store that sourced it from some far off area. In other words, the situation is ridiculous, and we need to do better. The one thing I really like about Plant Delights Nursery in North Carolina is that they are offering plants for sale that are simply unheard of in the Trade. Sure, they have to pick their battles wisely, and I understand that their selection isn't native to my area, but who else is offering plants that are even close to where I live? Seeds and potted plants from the midwest or northeast are available online, but that's as far from my local eco-type as you could get. Where's Clemson and USC in all this? Where are the local Horticulture school programs when you need them? Right now, I need local Pachysandra procumbens, Asarum canadense, Allium cernuum, Packera obovatum or aurea, and wouldn't mind a dozen other plants. But you cannot find anyone who has them for sale or trade. That's a big problem and I'm not sure how we fix it.
It's sad to see our native grasslands disappear, but we do have the opportunity to plant these native grasses and wildflowers in our yards. I recommend Native American Seed - they're a company out of Junction, TX that sells native wildflower seeds.
I learned the "Myth of the Squirrel" a bit differently. The huge trees were in savannas with prairies, the trees so far spaced that you could drive a wagon through without cutting one tree but the limbs so huge and sprawling that a squirrel could travel for miles without touching the ground.
God I wish more people knew about this. Tired of suburbia and car centric development and the forest myth killing off our grasslands. Downright depressing how nobody has done anything until recently.
Instead of just documenting species in areas that will soon be destroyed-like the example towards the end of the video that was about to be wiped out in 30 days-why not attempt to transplant those species and/or cultivate them (even through tissue culture if necessary) to save them from extinction? Even taking samples of the soil from the site may save seeds stored in the seed bank that have not yet germinated.
HI there, thank you. When that video was produced we were at our beginning. It was us two co-founders, both with full time other jobs, with multiple kids, wives, and it was 3 hours from one co-founder's home and 9 hours from the other. We found it literally that very day and the emotions you see on the film are raw and real-time, not staged or expected. We knew the prairie was there and we intended to visit it like one of us had before a few times. But frequently we go back to our favorite places that aren't protected only to find them in the process of being destroyed or already having been destroyed. We filmed that in May 2017. Now several years later, we have more capacity and are doing what you recommend. We are working to collect seeds from sites, we have a volunteer coordinator to help work with volunteers to collect seeds or transplants, and we have more money to actually buy sites to protect. We are getting there.
In the southeastern United States, you can find several species of ticks in meadows and grasslands. Some of the common species include the Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum), the American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), and the Gulf Coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum). @@Winterascent
You named tick species, but failed to demonstrate the status of, "tick paradise" you claim native grasslands to be. I see you're here to troll, too. Your name indicates you simply are not worth any further attention. @@Billy420-69
