TY - JOUR T1 - The vanishing prairie JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 18A LP - 21A VL - 61 IS - 1 AU - Clay Ogg Y1 - 2006/01/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/61/1/18A.abstract N2 - Tall grass prairie occurred primarily in productive Corn Belt regions, and except for a few remnants, these vast, rich ecosystems have ceased to exist. Yet, the short grass and mixed grass prairie regions further north and west in the United States and Canada were mostly spared during the early settlement, due to stony soils, and a colder, drier climate, which until recent decades, created natural barriers to their conversion from grazing to crop production. In addition to the above natural barriers, agricultural policies in the United States underwent substantial changes during the past twenty years aimed at protecting the environment and supporting wildlife. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Swampbuster Program, and Sodbuster Program, as well as important initiatives in the U.S. and Canada to “decouple” (or sever the link) between commodity program payments and land or other input use, attempted to protect prairie species and certain parts of the prairie ecosystem (Ogg and van Kooten, 2005). … ER -