Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
It’s hard to fathom, but in just 250 years, some 2.5 million acres of coastal prairie that once blanketed in southwest Louisiana have dwindled to just 200 in scattered parcels.
The journals of early settlers give us a peek at what it was like: “plentiful game,” “seemingly infinite range for livestock forage,” “long growing season.” As the human population grew, with its concomitant increase in trade, the prairie’s demise ensued. By 1920, overgrazing and large-scale land clearing, primarily for rice production, had reduced the prairie to a fraction of its former self. This loss has had substantial effects on avian species such as Bachman’s, Texas olive, and Henslow’s sparrows, mottled duck, dickcissel, whooping crane, and Attwater’s greater prairie-chicken, now extirpated in Louisiana.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Lost and found: Louisiana’s coastal prairies |
| Series title | Birdscapes |
| Issue | Fall |
| Year Published | 2003 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Contributing office(s) | National Wetlands Research Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center |
| Description | 4 p. |
| First page | 14 |
| Last page | 17 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Louisiana |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |