In 2002, a Kansas landowner began restoring 320 neglected acres with winter burns; 20 years later, native tallgrass and wildflowers had returned

When Mike Moddrell purchased 320 acres of land in southwest Douglas County, Kansas, in 2002, the land was tired. In the years of neglect, weeds and cedar trees had invaded the land. More than two decades later, that same patch is once again thick with native grasses and wildflowers. His method was simple: fire, set deliberately, late every winter. This story fits a wider pattern. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , tallgrass prairie across the Great Plains has declined by roughly 99 per cent, making a recovery story like Moddrell's truly rare.

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