We stopped for lunch and a 3-hour hike through the grasslands and prairie to enjoy the beauty of the landscape. I reflected on the change in the American landscape over the last 200 years. In the 18th century, at the time of our nation’s founding, there were >60 million American bison ranging over the landscape. Today, there are about 500,000 bison on private land and about 30,000 wild bison on public land. There are 100 million acres of wetlands in the lower 48 states of the US today. In the 18th century, this same landscape contained >200 million acres of wetlands. The loss of wetlands over the last 200 years produces consequences today for the ecosystem, flood risk management, and drought resilience.
