The landscape is a sea of chest-high grasses, dotted with clumps of oak and hickory trees. In the distance, a herd of bison graze, while elk nibble on woody shrubs. Fast-forward 100 years. The large herds of bison and elk have been hunted out of the area. White settlers inhabit the land, suppressing the fires which for hundreds of years maintained the grassland.
Forest now covers what was once prairie.
Now jump another 80 years. Now move up another 20 years. It's 1995 and biologists have enclosed a 750-acre portion of Land Between The Lakes which encompasses the first prairie discovery. In so doing, they will demonstrate the complicated process of habitat renewal. It is a daunting task and we aren't doing it alone.