The Great Plains, embracing all or parts of ten states and constituting over one-tenth of the total land area of the United States, were once covered with lush grasses sprung from soil carried by rivers (above) that began with a rush high in the Rocky Mountains and ended in broad meanderings across the horizonless flatlands. In less than a hundred years of occupation by the white man, the delicate balance between the grasses and their environment was badly upset. The story of that near-disaster and of the hopeful restoration now well begun is told on the next fourteen pages. The photographs are by Steven C.Wilson; the words, for the most part, are those of men and women who down through the years have known and loved the Plains.

— The Editors