Now, the Sheyenne National Grassland is a prairie island, a biological oasis in an intensively cultivated region. That's not to say the ancient delta is an unaltered throwback in time. The Sheyenne National Grassland has been significantly altered. As early as 1880, settlers drove livestock into the area. By the turn of the century, white-faced cattle grazing behind shimmering barbed wire fencelines were a familar sight.
Fire helps to recycle nutrients and sets the stage for diverse, healthy plant growth.
Controlled burns are used by range managers as a tool to revitalize prairie vegetation. While livestock grazing affected the land, its effects were less severe than plows and combines on surrounding farmlands. As a result, some grazed native prairies were spared the more damaging effects of busting sod. Even so, some of the delta's grasslands were plowed under. Armed with imported strains of wheat, homesteading laws and the wet years prior to World War I, area farmers plowed ancient delta lands into production.