RESTORING THE TALLGRASS PRAIRIE: An Illustrated Manual...

RESTORING THE TALLGRASS PRAIRIE: An Illustrated Manual for Iowa and the Upper Midwest by Shirley Shirley (University of Iowa Press: $16.95; 330 pp., illustrated, paperback original) For more than 8,000 years, the tallgrass prairie covered more than 250 million acres of central North America, supporting vast herds of bison and other wildlife. During the 19th Century, settlers unwisely attempted to turn the prairie into farmland, damaging the fragile ecosystem and introducing exotic weeds. The movement to restore large sections of the prairie has gained strength in recent years, and Shirley explains how difficult it is to replace imported weeds with native flora.