Prairies and the Environment

(Abby, host of FIND Iowa, is standing in front of a tall tree. She has shoulder length blonde hair and is wearing a dark red polo shirt and a pair of dark pants.)

[Abby Brown] Have you ever heard grown-ups talk about how important it is to protect and plant trees Well, that's because trees are awesome for lots of reasons. But one of the important jobs they do is to pull carbon out of the air and store it. Well, did you know that prairies also pull carbon out of the air and store it just like trees do? That job has a very cool name. It's called carbon sequestration.

(music)

(A field of tallgrass prairie blowing in the wind. There is a walking path cut through the field. )

(start animation)

(From top to bottom, we see a yellow circle with yellow u-like waves around it like what you would create if you were making a birthday streamer, the sun. Under the sun is the green prairie plant that looks like stalks of grass coming out of the ground like the green hair on a toy troll doll. Above and around the green prairie plant are blue bubbles representing carbon gas in the air.  To the right of the prairie plant are the words “Prairie plants take carbon gas out of the atmosphere.” 

There are three blue arrows in the center of the prairie plant. Each of the arrows point down and the last arrow is faded as if the arrow is going away. As the animation moves forward, the arrows move down the prairie plant over the long roots of the plant. The prairie plant roots look like spaghetti noodles that have been laid out to dry. The prairie plant roots are shown to grow down through five sections of soil.

Each brown section is a different color of brown. The top section is a dark brown, the next section down is lighter, the third section is a medium brown. Not as light as the second section and not as dark as the first section. The fourth section is also a medium brown. It is darker than the third section, but not as dark as the first section. The last section is as dark as the first section. There are  three individual roots of the prairie plant touching the bottom of the fifth section of dirt like a small child standing on tip-toes to reach an out of reach object.  

There are darker blue bubbles around the roots of the prairie plant starting in the third section of dirt all the way down to the last section of dirt. The bubbles are numerous in the third section and get less and less as you get closer to the last section of dirt like a bottle of pop that you have left out on the counter overnight. Words to the right of the animation starting at the bottom of the third section of dirt over the fading arrow say “Prairie plants store carbon in and around their roots, deep underground.”)

(end animation)

[David Erdman, Naturalist] Carbon sequestration is when prairie plants pull carbon out of the air and put it down into their roots. And prairie roots go really, really deep. So they're able to pull a lot out of the air.

(David is wearing a gray t-shirt with jeans and is standing in front of a field of tallgrass prairie.)

(music)

(A tallgrass prairied plant with a top like a small yellowish green bush at the top of the stem of grass.

Abby is standing in front of a field of tallgrass prairie.)

[Abby] So when prairie plants take carbon out of the air and stored in their roots underground, it's actually helping keep the soil healthy. And because the roots are underground, they're protected from surface threats.

(the sound of thunder and rain)

[Abby] like lightning or strong winds. Laura, carbon sequestration is so important. Why?

(Abby and Laura are standing on a path inside a field of tallgrass prairie.

Laura has on a long-sleeved, light blue button up shirt and dark pants. Her name tag in pinned to the upper left corner of her shirt.)

[Laura Walter, UNI Tallgrass Prairie Center] Oh, I think everybody needs to care about it. It's something that's going to help us in the future, help our climate. And kids are often taught - we all hear this message - plant more trees. And trees are important. They also take carbon out of the atmosphere. But there are certain places where trees aren't appropriate and the prairies are one of those.

[Abby] In Iowa.

[Laura] In Iowa, exactly. And the prairies are doing things below the ground, whereas trees are doing that mostly above the ground. So the prairies are storing the carbon down in their root systems and in the soil around their root systems and doing that job for us. So we should care about what they're doing even though we can't see it. It's sort of weird.

(laughter)

[Abby] No, it's weird, but it's a wonderful and just how far below ground is amazing. Check this out! These are prairie roots and they go at least this far down and do what's the job?

(Abby picks up a bundle of prairie roots. She's holding them in her left hand above her head and supporting them in front of her body with her right hand. The roots look like Rapunzel's long, blonde hair uncombed and unbraided.)

[Laura] Carbon sequestration.

[Abby] You know, these roots and this conversation give me a whole new respect for the prairies of Iowa.

(music)

(A field of tallgrass prairie blowing in the wind dotted with yellow and dark red flowers.)

[Announcer] Funding for Find Iowa has been provided by the following supporters.

(text on the screen) FIND Iowa, The Coons Foundation, Pella, Gilchrist Foundation

(text on the screen) Iowa PBS Education