Our Mission Starts With You
The Georgia Grasslands Initiative aims to motivate action, instill inspiration, and support change on behalf of native plants. We want to help people know and sincerely value native plants of Georgia, which helps to keep common species common and invasive species out. Few people see the value of plants and their role in maintaining animal biodiversity, which the Georgia Grasslands Initiative aims to change. We want to help people see how plants are essential to daily lives.
This Initiative has been implemented with great heart and intention while lifting up a team of next generation colleagues to see this work through. We will work alongside our partners, and several generations of undergrad and grad students will carry this work forward.
It was estimated that at least half of the land of the Piedmont of Georgia was prairie, which has since declined. Today, only 1% of historic grasslands in the Southeastern United States survive. Most people do not know that grasslands flourished in the Piedmont and Mountains of the Southeastern United States. 50% of the plant communities in the southeastern united states are sun-loving, grassland type of habitats, and nearly a third of all animals in the Southeastern united states require grassland habitat for survival.
Bird, bee, insect, and butterfly species will decline throughout our lifetime if Grasslands aren’t properly managed and landowners aren’t encouraged to plant native plants in their gardens. Biodiversity also needs to be built back into urban areas, and there are hundreds of thousands of acres of green spaces along rights of way and gardens that can be used.
Native plants are not optional on Georgia lands if we want to sustain all animals that rely on them for survival.