The Grass Doctor

Are you all sad that the farmers raped the Midwest??

80% of the land in Illinois is plowed. It has to be more in Iowa. Being a travling truck driver, I try to imagine what all that space used to looked like. History books tells me it used to be tall grass prarie, short grass prarie, and even wetlands. Then came the John Deere plow from Moline Illinois to rid the grass. Drainage ditches took care of the wetlands. Many animals left the heatland for good, from the buffalo too the prarie chicken. Shure, some state parks grows some prarie grass. Even a few home owners might grow an acre or two, but I wanna look out from the top of a crown and look out 15 miles and see that gold touch the sky. Everybody want to save the coast line, the swamps of the south, and the rain forrests that are half a world away. What about the Prarie??

Public Comments

1. Because people need to eat..
2. No, I like eating. Without the farmers using that land, eating would be far to pricey to do it on a regular basis. Yes, I do regret that the grass prairie went away, but I admit it, I am hooked on food.
3. Not really because that's where our food comes from.
4. Are you nuts?!?That is the Breadbasket of America! And I would much rather look at corn fields and wheat fields than parking lots and McMansion housing projects!
5. So, you hate eating. Seriously, why do you think those prairie lands have been plowed. Do you like the bowl of cornflakes you eat? Do you like that steak (grains used to feed livestock if your having trouble with that one)? So, do you want natural prairie land or do you want to eat?
6. very sad, will the next depression fix it like the last one or will this be the last, but i have to ask does it not all tie together when it all falls
7. you really have no clue what the heck your talking about... nasa a few years back took all the land used here in the United States and pushed it together on a computer map.. it took up Texas and Florida... leaving the rest of the US... not used.. take a ride in an airplane.. over the mid-west... really you see some farms.. but alot of trees.. when you first see it... it throws you for a hoop... another thing.. the road ways will always be developed.... thats the way it is... many miles away from the roads there is nothing...
8. i volunteer at the state park since i cant keep a job there i harvest the wetland seeds my yard is full of bird houses on a 13 ft pole i have an owl nesting box a 7 by 9 foot nesting platform on 4 pilars i cant even count how many trees bushes and wildflowers i planted along with prarie grasses i dont mow my back yard i have a floating nesting plat form with eggs in it and another bird just made a 12 in nest in my yard with a huge egg in it ive seen a mountian lion and im not telling athoritys were it is so they can kill it so far ive not had any problems with wolves or cyotes but they sing all the time i saw these people on there roofs waving for help because the landscape collapsed arround them there is alot of areas that just need to be left alone or at least left alone and restored so i git nice progress and some yahoo neibor desides they want to call the local govt to stop on by they have been hurrassing me and telling me what to do on private property with out the just compensation they think its cute to keep up there games with there threats of we can escalate this matter and i can git 400 dollars in fines and jail time all while erodeing my rights tell me what that postal worker thought of people keeping up there nonsense im not the one starting it im keeping to my self but who ever that jackhole is that they wont give me there name they better be really glad im not a conservation officer im getting sick of these evil deitys krap they better stop because i really dont want to awake my better thinking cause i know it will only git into trouble but im in the smell muck for you unemployed but created a job for my self cause the mouther earth needed my help last weekend i got 2 full recycle bins full of garbage i found in the tributaries of lake erie and its on its way to being recycled i took the kyack and a 2 person boat and picked up scrap metal along the waters edge i left it all for the metal scavengers that come arround all week taken care of its just better drinking water now but today i saw a dump truck with workers picking up trash they have a good idea but if they are not recycleing it they should just leave it there there making a big avalanche of garbage heading towards my house im working on it i might be one little person but im making a difference i got 3 big packets of wildflower seeds and alot of trees coming from the usda soil conservation district and a real good number and once this gits rockin this will be some habitat i have nesting platforms on pilars and in trees and on post on the ground i use some of the 10 cents cans i find in the environment and buy trees with it and flowers and vegetables and but them in my landscapeing and if the animals eat all of it so what ill plant more next time for me if this dont cheer you up some i dont know what will later
9. very good points to bring up and ploughing compacts the soil,with the heavy machinary raising the salt levels,and laying the top layer of soil broken and open to the elements killing micro organisms that usually build the soil as well as drying it out in the sun and making it vulnareble to wind erosian ,the final result is desertification ,after the chemicals have done their job and the ground water has run out . very modern farmers are turning back to the very old method of no till farming. and you would be much more sad if you knew in how many places this is happening in China 900 vilages are burried under the sand ,and the survivers are running for their lives from the now yearly encroaching all consuming dust storms humanity in its greed for wealth never seems to learn in truth thes grass lands ,the praries would have been much more productive in a natural and sustainable way if the bufalo still roamed ,but then under management in Africa the grasslands which supported a great variety of all kinds of animals and in fantastic quantities would have been a thousand times more productive and profitable ,in the natural state if they had been left alone and had been managed ,than the cows and the corn that is destroying the country side now. people are very stupid grass lands are great resources if we considder raising game instead of domestic animals ,so are swamps so is all of nature if we include Eco tourism ,there is no better harvest than a restaurant full of eating and drinking tourists .