Prior to European-American agricultural settlement, the eastern Dakotas contained vast prairies of big bluestem grass.  The region also held thousands upon thousands of sloughs and potholes.  Not surprisingly, the area became known as the prairie-pothole region.  The prairie grass held snowmelt and rainfall in its extensive root systems.  The potholes acted as natural reservoirs, storing meltwater and rain.  When full, the wetlands also attracted fish, ducks, geese, muskrats, frogs, toads, and beaver.  The sloughs also brought bison to their edges.  Bison went to the sloughs on hot summer days, drinking in their fresh water to cool their wooly bodies.  Since the 19th century, agriculturalists have drained the wetlands with ditches or tiles to acquire additional acres for crop production.  The loss of the wetlands, and their natural reservoir storage, is one of the reasons rivers across the northern plains experience higher flood stages and more frequent floods today than in the past. Continue Reading »