Inventory Whooping cranes and trumpeter swans nest in potholes surrounded by an ocean of tall grasses and flowers.
Prairie chickens boom nearby.
Farther to the east, mountain lions stalk deer along a forested river bank. Indians cultivate plots of maize near summer homes. They travel onto the prairies to hunt game, crossing bluffs dotted with mounds built by their ancestors. This was Iowa, center of the continent's tall-grass prairie, a few hundred years ago. Less than a quarter of our woodlands and less than a tenth of one percent of our prairies remains today.