Prairie: a Natural History of the Heart of North America, by Saskatoon author Candace Savage, is a love letter to the largest ecosystem on the continent, revealing beauty and fascination that are hiding in plain sight.
The first edition of Prairie was released in 2004. Happily, the basic content and structure of this book have withstood the test of the last sixteen years. After all, the prairies have been blowing in the wind for more than ten thousand years, and the fundamentals of grassland ecology have not changed. That said, there were facts and figures that needed to be refreshed for 2020. This new edition brings the reader up to date on the plight of endangered species, the area of surviving natural grasslands, changes in policy and practice that affect the health of prairie ecosystems, and more. Beyond that, the book also responds to our ever-more-urgent understanding of the role natural grasslands can play in mitigating both the climate emergency and the global biodiversity crisis. Grasslands are resilient, and resilience is a source of hope.
Prairie is published by Greystone Books. Purchase Prairie via Greystone’s online store here. Candace Savage is a member of CPAWS-SK’s board of directors. You can see her bio here.