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The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States (Bur Oak Book) Paperback – May 1, 2009

by Chris Helzer (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 28 ratings
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Most prairies exist today as fragmented landscapes, making thoughtful and vigilant management ever more important. Intended for landowners and managers dedicated to understanding and nurturing their prairies as well as farmers, ranchers, conservationists, and all those with a strong interest in grasslands, ecologist Chris Helzer’s readable and practical manual educates prairie owners and managers about grassland ecology and gives them guidelines for keeping prairies diverse, vigorous, and viable.
     Chapters in the first section, "Prairie Ecology," describe prairie plants and the communities they live in, the ways in which disturbance modifies plant communities, the animal and plant inhabitants that are key to prairie survival, and the importance of diversity within plant and animal communities. Chapters in the second section, "Prairie Management," explore the adaptive management process as well as guiding principles for designing management strategies, examples of successful management systems such as fire and grazing, guidance for dealing with birds and other species that have particular habitat requirements and with the invasive species that have become the most serious threat that prairie managers have to deal with, and general techniques for prairie restoration. Following the conclusion and a forward-thinking note on climate change, eight appendixes provide more information on grazing, prescribed fire, and invasive species as well as bibliographic notes, references, and national and state organizations with expertise in prairie management.
      Grasslands can be found throughout much of North America, and the ideas and strategies in this book apply to most of them, particularly tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies in eastern North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, northwestern Missouri, northern Illinois, northwestern Indiana, Iowa, southwestern Wisconsin, and southwestern Minnesota. By presenting all the factors that promote biological diversity and thus enhance prairie communities, then incorporating these factors into a set of clear-sighted management practices, The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States presents the tools necessary to ensure that grasslands are managed in the purposeful ways essential to the continued health and survival of prairie communities.

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  1. Print length
    208 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University Of Iowa Press
  4. Publication date
    May 1, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781587298653
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1587298653
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Chris Helzer’s Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States is an excellent guide for prairie managers, restorationists, and prairie enthusiasts. Helzer covers many more aspects of prairie biology and function than previous authors, including macro and micro organisms, plant communities, fire and herbivory, and the effects of fragmentation on genetic flow and prairie wildlife. He also covers seed selection, determining fill, planting methods, and weed control and has a section on methods for invasive control rarely mentioned in prairie restoration books. This book is a welcome aid to any serious prairie enthusiast.”—Stephen Clubine, grassland biologist, Missouri Department of Conservation



“Chris Helzer’s book is the first I’ve seen that plainly defines the contents of prairies and then tells you how to care for them. Smart, well researched, practical, and to the point, this book is one-stop shopping for anyone who cares about grasslands, now or in the future.”—Joel Sartore, contributing photographer, National Geographic Magazine, and author, Rare: America’s Endangered Species

About the Author

Chris Helzer is the program director for The Nature Conservancy’s Eastern Nebraska Project Office in Aurora, Nebraska, where he oversees the management and restoration of approximately 5,000 acres of conservancy-owned land as well as research and conservation programs for most of the eastern third of the state.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1587298651
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University Of Iowa Press; 1st edition (May 1, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781587298653
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1587298653
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 28 ratings

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Chris Helzer

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4.8 out of 5 stars
28 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book to be an excellent introduction to prairie management, particularly noting its informative treatment of grazing regimes. Moreover, the book is readable, and one customer mentions it includes many beautiful pictures of prairies.

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7 customers mention "Information quality"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides excellent information about prairie management, particularly noting its detailed treatment of grazing regimes. One customer mentions it offers useful insights adaptable to short grass prairie management.

"...and do suggest many more in depth materials and several websites for those interested in restoring and/or maintaining prairies in the Central United..." Read more

"...The treatment of grazing regimes is very informative, innovative (in the useful sense), thoughtful, and most importantly doable...." Read more

"For Naturalists and prairie lovers, this book is a great place to begin to understand both what early American (pre-European) prairies were like and..." Read more

"A very scholarly but intimate treatment of a 'scape America could love more if known and understood better...." Read more

3 customers mention "Readable"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable, with one noting it is concise and another describing it as clear.

"...The book is well written and very readable with many beautiful pictures of prairies...." Read more

"This is an excellent, readable, understandable work for ranch managers interested in prairie restoration...." Read more

"This book is clear, concise, and easy to follow. I got the Kindle version, but wish I had invested in the hard copy for the better quality photos." Read more

3 customers mention "Visual quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the visual content of the book, with one mentioning its many beautiful pictures of prairies.

"...The book is well written and very readable with many beautiful pictures of prairies...." Read more

"...Clearly the work of someone who loves the topic, the place, the sounds, sights, smells of a national treasure." Read more

"A great book about prairies, beautifully illustrated...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • gt surber
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to management of prairies
    Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Review

    The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States

    Chris Helzer has written an outstanding book on the art of managing a prairie. He has the experience and knowledge to manage prairies, being the Program Director for the Nature Conservatory Office in Aurora, Nebraska. From there he oversees approximately 5000 acres of conservancy owned land, mostly prairie, and research and conservation programs in the east third of Nebraska.

    The book is well written and very readable with many beautiful pictures of prairies. The information provided is deliciously selected and abstracted as example of the decisions that have to be made in managing prairies.

    Chris lays out the rational for keeping prairies. There is an excellent discussion of the role of disturbance in the history and current maintenance of prairies. This is followed by a discussion of animals which live in the prairies.

    Then the meat of managing prairies utilizing varying disturbances of the prairie – grazing, mowing, fire, controlled herbicide is discussed with examples of each. This is more of an art than a science at this time, although people like Chris are advancing our knowledge of prairie ecology and maintenance so that it is becoming a science. Balancing the various plants, animals, the effects of weather changes, and the issues man brings in are incredibly complex, calling for constant observation and balanced reaction every season of the year.

    There are extended discussions of the roles of grazing for biodiversity on the prairie. As well as there being excellent discussions of each of the other disturbances – fire and mowing. The chapter on invasive species is brief, but informative, but could be an entire huge book in itself.

    Chris closes with a chapter on climate change which he says will probably affect the prairies less than many other ecological landscapes, but the associated more extremes of weather and storms, the invasion of more and different invasive species and the changing natives based on the temperatures will definitely change the management needs of the prairie.

    The appendices are very helpful and do suggest many more in depth materials and several websites for those interested in restoring and/or maintaining prairies in the Central United States. There is an extended discussion of grazing practices as they relate to biodiversity of the prairie. Chris suggests other books for the meat production aspects of grazing practices.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Michael Bain
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Prairie Management Guide
    Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This is an excellent, readable, understandable work for ranch managers interested in prairie restoration. I manage a ranch in north central New Mexico where the high plains meet the Rocky Mountains, and even though the focus of the book is on the central tall/mixed grass prairies, I find a wealth of useful information adaptable to short grass prairie management. The treatment of grazing regimes is very informative, innovative (in the useful sense), thoughtful, and most importantly doable. This volume will certainly become a valued reference for me.

    I would hope that the Nature Conservancy would encourage (and fund) Mr. Helzer to produce, and Bur Oak Book publishers to publish, a work focused on the short grass prairie to round out the effort. It is sorely needed in this time of severe drought.

    Michael Bain
    Glorieta, New Mexico
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Arthur Digbee
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting introduction to prairie ecology
    Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2020
    Chris Helzer has written this book for land managers who find themselves managing an American prairie, thinking mostly in terms of tallgrass and mixedgrass prairies. I am not part of that audience but found the book interesting. The first half, which provides an introduction to the ecology of prairie ecosystems, will be most useful for non-managers.

    Helzer does not limit himself to grasses, forbs, and birds, as do many other writers on this ecosystem, but makes a point of discussing insects, reptiles and amphibians, and the small rodents that many people overlook both literally and figuratively. Diversity of habitats, structures, and species make a prairie resilient, which provides a central focus of this book.

    On the management side, Helzer backs into his preferred technique, patch-burn grazing. While he recognizes that other approaches may better serve some sites and management constraints, this is his preferred default. He draws not only on his own experiences but also the experience and research by The Nature Conservancy on their prairie holdings.

    This small book also has lots and lots of color photos at both the large scale and small, as well as diagrams to illustrate different kinds of patchiness, different management strategies, and everything else. It’s an interesting introduction to prairie ecology.
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  • John Blair
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great book about prairies, beautifully illustrated.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    A beautiful book by one of the country's foremost prairie ecologists and photographers.
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  • OldNav2
    5.0 out of 5 stars How prairies work and how to care for one
    Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    For Naturalists and prairie lovers, this book is a great place to begin to understand both what early American (pre-European) prairies were like and how to manage and preserve what's left. It also addresses what's needed to re/create a prairie. Helzer gives insight into prairie ecology - how the assemblage of plants and animals actually work together to produce a prairie, particularly the importance of size, shape and connections between prairie plots. We purchased a 1 acre lot (2/3 forest, 1/3 un-treed soil with the thought of creating a mini-prairie. Thanks to the book, we understand that the lot is too small to have a self-sustaining prairie, instead requiring annual management. Our project is still worth doing but we now will not be disappointed when continuing human intervention is needed.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Linden Bates
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well organized, great info
    Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    A very scholarly but intimate treatment of a 'scape America could love more if known and understood better. Clearly the work of someone who loves the topic, the place, the sounds, sights, smells of a national treasure.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Shyde
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting
    Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This book is clear, concise, and easy to follow. I got the Kindle version, but wish I had invested in the hard copy for the better quality photos.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Mitchell Renteria
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great information for prairie education and restoration
    Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I enjoyed this book because of the information regarding prairie restoration. It exceeded my expectations due to the large volume of information included in such a small book.
    One person found this helpful
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