AY Honor Temperate Grasslands

Temperate Grasslands

Skill Level

1

Year

2023

Version

23.04.2024

Approval authority

North American Division

Overview

The grasslands were some of the last areas to be settled and were also one of the last areas in which the Native Americans carried on with their lives, as they had done for centuries prior to their settlement by immigrants. This area encompasses about 40% of the area of the continental US as well as a substantial part of Canada. In the US and Canada, the areas once covered by the prairies produce 30% of the corn, 10% of the wheat, and 10% of the barley in the world, making them some of the most productive agricultural land on the planet. The area occupied by this biome is as important to modern society today as it was to the Native Americans who roamed this area until 150 years ago.

The Challenging Part

The most challenging requirement of this honor is probably this:

10. Do at least two of the following activities:

a. Visit a wild grassland and mark off a square meter of the grassland, identifying all the species of plants and animals that you find. Write, record or share your experience with your group.

b. Visit a zoo and draw/photograph animals that are typically found in a temperate grassland.

c. Watch at least 15 minutes of a live feed or video of a grassland and discuss what you learned.

d. Create a crossword puzzle using each of the species of plants, birds, mammals and insects you identified previously that can be found in a grassland.