Sea of Grass, by Dave Hage, Josephine Marcotty

 Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie

by 

Dave Hage, 

 

Josephine Marcotty

Clif Hostetler's review

Jan 27, 2026  ·  edit

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bookshelves: history, science

This book provides a description and history of the North American Prairie including the natural science, politics, and farming procedures that played roles in "the conquest, ruin, and redemption" of the land. The book begins with a review of the geologic history of the prairie bringing the story up to development of the tallgrass, mixed grass, and shortgrass prairie zones that existed until the nineteenth century when it was plowed up and largely converted into farm land. THIS LINK is to a map of the American prairie showing these three zones. Only one percent of the tallgrass prairie remains in its original state while about forty to fifty percent of the shortgrass prairie remains, much of it being used as grazing land for cattle ranches. 

The role of the steel plow and the use of under drains for dewatering of soils in the conversion of native prairie into agricultural crop land are described by the book. The development of artificial fertilizers is covered as well as its unintended impact on sea life. 

Studies of sediment core samples on the bottom of the Gulf showed that nitrogen levels began to rise in the 1950s, just as commercial nitrogen fertilizer came on the market. As the use of both fertilizer and agricultural tile drainage rose, so did the concentration of nitrogen in the Mississippi 

The book provides a chapter telling the history of the dust bowl years in the 1930s. My parents lived through this era and the farm I grew up on during the 1950s was blessed with a grove and shelterbelts planted in the 30s in an effort to control erosion. 

... planted nearly forty million saplings on the Great Plains to create windbreaks that Roosevelt called prairie shelterbelts. Nearly one million acres were taken out of crop production and replanted with drought-hardy grasses. 

The book provides a thorough description of the variety and density of life found in the typical soil of native prairie. 

A plot of healthy soil the size of a kitchen stovetop can contain as many as 1,000 earthworms, 60,000 mites, 100,000 arthropods, millions of the minuscule worms called nematodes, fully one pound of bacteria, and more than 100 miles of fungal filaments. David Montgomery notes that just a tablespoon of soil contains more living things than the human population on Earth. And when all those living things die-plant roots, worms, insects, fungal threads-they add more carbon to the soil. Repeat that process thousands of times over hundreds of years, and you understand why prairies have some of the richest soil on the planet. The famed black soil of the Midwest is black for a reason—it's loaded with carbon. 

There's also a discussion of the use of pesticides, the role of pollinators, and alternative farming procedures that have been developed to protect soils from erosion and depletion. 

There's a chapter telling the story of how the City of Des Moines tried to sue the agricultural drainage districts located upstream on the Raccoon River for contaminating their source of drinking water with excessive concentrations of nitrogen. The suit failed for technical reasons, but it is clear that much of the cost of the treatment of drinking water for Des Moines, Iowa is caused by upstream farmers and it seems that any sense of justice would require that they pay for what they have caused. The 1972 Clean Water Act specifically exempts farmers from laws controlling the quality of water discharged into streams and rivers. A recent Supreme Court ruling has narrowed the definition of streams and rivers making discharge of contaminated water even more possible. 

The book says that native prairies continue to be plowed up and converted into farm land growing corn and soybeans in the mixed and short grass areas. This is made possible by new seed varieties and low-till and no-till farming methods. Conversion from grassland to farm land effectively doubles its value to the land owner. However, the book maintains that this conversion is detrimental to the welfare of the earth. 

Worse, breaking these grasslands is not a one-time loss. It not only releases their stores of carbon, it removes them as a carbon sink that could capture future greenhouse gas emissions. Grass preserves 60 to 70 percent of its carbon below ground, permanently. And once plowed, prairies require a century or more to recover the original plant diversity and productivity that allow them to sequester so much carbon ... .

There's a chapter in the book describing the development of Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge in the Red River Valley located between northwest Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. There's also a discussion of improved farming and ranching methods, and a chapter describing the reintroduction of bison to parts of the short grass prairies.