(KMAland) — What was Iowa like when the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago?
John Pearson, an ecologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said 28 million acres of Iowa was covered in tall grass prairie. “Lots of forest and savanna, adding up to about 7 million acres,” he said. “Lots of different kinds of wetlands along the rivers and particularly in the center of the state (were) prairie potholes — all these supporting abundant wildlife populations.”
Bison, elk, black bears, grey wolves and many different kinds of waterfowl were plentiful. Pearson says the tall grass prairie and native flowers that formed most of Iowa’s landscape in 1776 had roots that typically reached at least two to four feet into the soil. “In some cases we have records of roots going down to 15 or 20 feet,” Pearson said. “That’s not uncommon to encounter those kind of root depths throughout an intact tall grass prairie.”…