Big Bluestem: Journey Into the Tall Grass

A committed conservationist, Smith (Homestead) has written a graceful history--both natural and cultural--of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, a 37,500-acre refuge established by the Nature Conservancy in Oklahoma. When the possibility of a national prairie preserve in Oklahoma foundered on political shoals in 1987, the Nature Conservancy stepped in. The goals were to protect some of the native plants and animals of the only ""substantial biome that had not been included in a system of national parks and preserves"" and to allow the public to experience a taste of prairie lifestyle. ""It is impossible to fully understand America without seeing the prairie,"" proclaimed Oklahoma Senator David Boren when bison were released onto the preserve in 1993. Smith does an admirable job of describing wildlife, nicely balancing the biological with the aesthetic. She excels in re-creating what has truly been lost--the people and cultures of the American prairie. She writes of the lives of Native Americans, ranchers, oil workers and townsfolk with sensitivity but without undue nostalgia. The almost 200 color photographs by Harvey Payne and the approximately 100 black-and-white archival pictures combine with Smith's text to make an attractive package. (Oct.)