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rairie grasslands are considered North America’s most endangered ecosystem. Chris Helzer, The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Nebraska director of science, says they suffer from an image problem. And he’s out to fix that with, well, images.
“What most people see is just a bunch of boring grass,” Helzer says. This viewpoint breeds disinterest and hinders those who are working to preserve prairie, he says.
According to Helzer, that “boring grass” offers plenty of benefits to people, such as clean water. Prairies also provide habitat to a number of species, including many pollinators. And they can store carbon in more long-term ways than forests, thereby helping to mitigate climate change.
Helzer embarked on his year-long Square Meter Photography Project in 2018 to highlight the beauty of prairies, from the aesthetic power of a huge landscape to their small-scale complexity. The project, which aims to draw awareness and appreciation to this ecosystem, is set within a single square meter of Lincoln Creek Prairie in Aurora, Nebraska.
