Prairie ProfileThe grasslands of North America once covered an area greater than 500,000 square miles from the Mexican border to central Canada. These prairies are considered to have been one of the most ecologically rich landscapes on Earth and held wildlife spectacles to rival anything in living memory. Tragically, in the past 150 years, the prairie region has experienced some of the most dramatic environmental degradation that mankind has ever executed. The rise of landscape-scale agriculture in the early twentieth century stripped North America of its ecological heartland, but, despite the shadow of its former self, the Once-Great Plains still has matchless beauty, spectacle, and mystery to offer.
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Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
In March 2018, I started work as a field technician on a Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) translocation project in southwestern North Dakota. Sage-grouse populations have experienced range-wide declines in recent decades, especially in peripheral areas of their range like North Dakota. Beginning in April, we moved birds from a healthy Wyoming population to a site in North Dakota, south of the town of Marmarth. A handful of translocated hens were fitted with satellite transmitters that allowed their movements and survival to be monitored remotely. The remainder of birds received radio transmitters since they are less costly; however, they require manual, on-the-ground monitoring... or, in this case, in the air! A significant part of my responsibility for the spring/summer was to monitor the radioed birds via airplane since this technique is significantly more efficient -you can locate up to 30 birds in a matter of hours, which would take days on the ground. This efficiency is also thanks to North Dakota Game and Fish's (NDGF) expert pilot, Jeff Faught, without whom this photo project and the sage-grouse project would not have been possible.
Although the project's goals were to help recover North Dakota's sage-grouse numbers, the proximity of the release site to Montana and South Dakota meant that translocated birds were not guaranteed to remain in the state. Our study area was loosely defined since we would go where the birds went, which turned out to be across the entire tri-state area. In my time in the air tracking the Sage-grouse, I had the privilege of an unprecedented perspective of this region of the Great Plains. To watch the seasonal changes from the air -bone-chilling winter to lush spring to desiccating summer- was an unforgettable and inspiring experience, and I hope this photo collection inspires you.