Rangelands in the U.S. have also significantly deteriorated. Once our nation's rangelands reached as far as the eye could see, teeming with wildlife such as bison, bears, prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets and millions of birds. Now, more than half of the nation's grasslands, barren and savanna ecosystems, and one-quarter of our shrubland ecosystems, have declined by more than 98 percent. Among the types of rangeland that have declined by more than 98 percent since European settlement are longleaf pine savannas and canebreaks in the Southeastern Coastal Plain, tallgrass prairies east of the Missouri River, bluegrass savannas, and native grasslands of all types in California. The loss of wetlands is also severe and one of the better documented ecosystem declines.
Estimates are that more than half of the original wetlands in the United States have been destroyed.
Wetlands, like rainforests, are biological motherlodes. They are habitat for a tremendous number of plant and animal species. For instance, wetlands are critical breeding, feeding and overwintering grounds for waterfowl and migratory birds. In fact, the massive destruction of wetlands in the U.S. is a primary reason why the whooping crane is so critically endangered. Whooping cranes use wetlands for nesting and foraging.