Farm-community entrepreneurial partnerships in the midwest

When aboriginal peoples settled the tall grass prairie, it provided pasture for ruminants, rivers for fish and amphibians, and a vast diversity of plants for gathering. The savanna was a mosaic of bluestem, oak, and hickory, with occasional closed canopy forests, usually found near water bodies that inhibited fires (Lauenroth, et al., 1999). Native American nations managed the ecosystem through fire (Sauer, 1950) and species-specific hunting (Hames, 1987). The tall grass prairie supported a large, dynamic human and plant population (Schleister, 1994).