NWF Blog
August 12, 2024
Every year, an estimated 2 million acres of United States’ grassland and sagebrush shrublands are lost or degraded—on average, an area about triple the size of Yosemite National Park. A recent map developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology starkly shows how rapidly grasslands have succumbed to a combination of urban development, conversion to cropland, and degradation by invasive species. This destruction of grasslands has had dire consequences for wildlife and climate change, not to mention those who depend on healthy grasslands for their livelihoods (like cowboys!).
