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Re: [iowa-native-plants] Last Stand

Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie is scheduled to be shown on Iowa Public
Television at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24.

Bill Stansbery

----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn Pollock" <pollockg@radiks.net>
To: <prairie@mallorn.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 2:35 PM
Subject: [iowa-native-plants] Last Stand


> People I think this is of interest to us.
> Glenn Pollock
>
> Press Contact:
> Gabrielle Torello, gab@rothenberg-pr.com <g*@rothenberg-pr.com>
> Karen Reynolds, Karen@rothenberg-pr.com
> SUZANNE ROTHENBERG COMMUNICATIONS, (212) 431-6623
>
> Lyle Lovett Hosts
> Michael Murphy Narrates
>
> "Last Stand Of The Tallgrass Prairie"
>
> A Stunning New Documentary About
> North America's Most Endangered Ecosystem
> Premieres in April on PBS
> Hauntingly beautiful, with its pristine sea of grass and vast horizons,
> America's tallgrass prairie once stretched over a third of North America.
> Once the romantic domain of the American cowboy, the Plains Indians, Abe
> Lincoln, Davey Crockett, Willa Cather's pioneers, and other national
> legends, the prairie now covers less than five percent of the continent.
> Scientists warn that it is, in fact, in danger of disappearing
completely --
> taking with it not only the evidence of much of our national heritage, but
> also nature's most important secrets to producing food and cleansing our
> atmosphere.
> Hosted by Lyle Lovett and narrated by Michael Murphy, Last Stand of the
> Tallgrass Prairie, a one hour documentary about North America's most
> endangered ecosystem, premieres on PBS, Friday, April 20, at 9 PM ET.
(Check
> local listings.)
> Filmed over five years in the serene and beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas,
> and in former prairies from Minnesota to Texas, Last Stand of the
Tallgrass
> Prairie chronicles the history of this imperiled ecosystem through the
lens
> of the last remaining stretch of America's grasslands.
>
> Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie/2
> While it took nature millennia to build the prairie soil, in only 150
years
> since European settlement in the tallgrasses, 95 percent of the former
> prairie has been turned into row-crop agriculture. Converted prairies are
> now the core resource for feeding hundreds of millions of people around
the
> world each year with corn and wheat, domesticated cousins of the native
> grasses.
> "The irony is that prairie grasses, with their dense, intricate root
systems
> and belowground biological processes, are the creators of the tremendously
> fertile soil that has made America 'the bread basket of the world'," said
> Aimée Guignon Larrabee, producer, with John Altman, of the documentary.
> "As important," said Altman, "is that this ecosystem of prairies and
grasses
> has the potential to pull tons of carbon from the atmosphere and sink it
> into the ground, playing a major role in combating global climate change."
> Listening to the Prairie: The Konza Prairie Biological Station
> What has remained unplowed in the American prairie now supports a thriving
> cattle ranching industry, a land use that is often criticized for its
> perceived environmental impact.  Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie
reveals
> the irony of that perception as well, as scientists concerned with
> preserving the prairie now identify grazing as the ideal use of the land.
> It is grazing that mimics the natural processes started by migratory herds
> of bison well before humans existed on the continent, and that were later
> adapted by Native Americans, North America's first settlers.
> After 25 years of rigorous study sponsored by the National Science
> Foundation, scientists at Kansas State University's renowned Konza Prairie
> Biological Station in the Flint Hills -- the world's leading grasslands
> research site -- have determined that the Plains Indians' historic
practice
> of setting fire to these grasslands and covering them periodically with
> bison and other grazing animals is, indeed, the key to their survival.
> The Konza Prairie Biological Station draws scientists from around the
>
> Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie/3
> globe to study ways to preserve the Pampas, Steppes, and Serengeti - all
> grasslands that have been diminished by soil erosion and mineral
depletion.
> Ranchers and Cowboys:  A History of the American Prairie
> Informed by the cutting-edge science of the Konza prairie, Last Stand of
the
> Tallgrass Prairie leads viewers into the economic and social history of
the
> tallgrass prairie -- from the culture of the Plains Indians, the arrival
of
> European explorers and settlers and the eradication of the bison, to the
> creation of row-crop farming, to the beginning of a vast new ranching
> industry based on cattle, and the mythology and realities of the cowboy
> culture, which survives to this day.
> Excerpts from more than 30 hours of filmed interviews with scientists from
> around the world, spiritual leaders of Plains tribes, ranchers and
cowboys,
> are intercut with voice-over narration by actor Michael Murphy.  Music
> includes audio performances by Lyle Lovett, folk singer Connie Dover,
> guitarist Roger Landes, and Native American flutists, intertwined with an
> original symphonic score.
> The magnificent film footage may be the biggest surprise to many viewers,
as
> they witness the subtle yet powerful beauty of this all-but-forgotten
> ecosystem. But viewers will soon feel at home on the prairie: after all,
the
> film posits, all humankind is a species that lives only because of its
> relationship to the grass, a relationship that it is now imperative to
> remember.
> Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie is written, directed, and produced by
> award-winning filmmakers John Altman and Aimée Guignon Larrabee of Inland
> Sea Productions, through Kansas State University.  Altman and Larrabee are
> joined by key members of the nationally ranked Division of Biology at
Kansas
> State University:  David Hartnett, Ph.D.; John Blair, Ph.D.; and Alan
Knapp,
> Ph.D., who lead the scientific team at Kansas State University's renowned
> Konza Prairie Biological Station near Manhattan, Kansas.
> The film uses the wide range of research undertaken for more than 20
>
> Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie/4
> years at Konza, which is the longest continuously operating Long-Term
> Ecological Research (LTER) site of the National Science Foundation and is
> jointly operated by The Nature Conservancy and KSU's Division of Biology.
> The Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie project includes a companion art
> book written by Aimée Guignon Larrabee and John Altman and published by
> Barnes & Noble.  A national touring museum exhibit, Listening to the
> Prairie: Farming in Nature's Image, funded by the USDA and the W.K.
Kellogg
> Foundation, has been mounted by the Smithsonian Institution's National
> Museum of Natural History.  The exhibit will travel to libraries
throughout
> the United States from May 2001 to August 2004.
> Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie is written, directed and produced by
> John Altman and Aimée Guignon Larrabee of Inland Sea Productions, Inc
> through Kansas State University.  Major funders include the National
Science
> Foundation, Archer-Daniels-Midland Foundation, Koch Industries, National
> Endowment for the Arts, Environmental Protection Agency, Region VII, and
the
> Smithsonian Institution.
> #   #   #
> Press Contact:
> Gabrielle Torello, gab@rothenberg-pr.com <g*@rothenberg-pr.com>
> Karen Reynolds, Karen@rothenberg-pr.com
> SUZANNE ROTHENBERG COMMUNICATIONS, (212) 431-6623
>
>
>
>

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