TY - JOUR T1 - A long, long time ago… JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 104A LP - 110A VL - 59 IS - 5 AU - Elliott West AU - Greg Rurak Y1 - 2004/09/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/59/5/104A.abstract N2 - Riparian areas—land adjacent to a streambank or other water body—filtering nonpoint source pollution. Unfortunately the riparian areas of today, include only narrow bands of forests, or no woody vegetation. This greatly minimizes their ecological function. In deciding how to manage these areas, knowing the natural riparian makeup before humans settled in the area is vital. Management essentially is then restoration. While some argue that the Great Plains were dominated by grasslands and that riparian woodlands were rare, others contend that trees would logically have occurred in riparian areas due to favorable microenvironment conditions. Historically, what native plant communities were found in riparian zones of the Great Plains? The answers to this question depend to a large extent on what time period is used as a reference of pre-settlement conditions. The US. Fish and Wildlife Service (1981) drew upon conditions in 1905 for insight and concluded that trees were “wholly absent” or consisted of scattered cottonwood and willow. However, such a view rests on a flawed and incomplete reading of the record. Indeed, by 1900 most … ER -