Critters in Crisis: How Livestock Contributes to the Decline of Amphibians

Imagine cresting a small rise and looking out over an endless flat expanse of prairie. Unlike the cornfields of today, this land isn’t all one color; it is a fantastic mosaic of hues and textures, of grasses and forbs, of tussocks and pools. When the wind blows across this quilted landscape you see winks of sunlight reflecting from the water beneath the vegetation. Though the prairie looks like terra firma, it holds millions of gallons of water, just out of sight from your vantage point. You begin to descend the hill, heading down towards the inundated expanse, and your foot breaks a twig. The tiny snap echoes across the vista and like a single enormous entity a black mass of birds rises from beneath the grasses. There are more birds than your modern mind can comprehend — enough birds that they shade the earth like a thundercloud — and the sound of their wings beating in tandem is like a roll of thunder across the prairie. The birds were resting in the water, and they send droplets across the sky as they go, like a miniature storm crossing the landscape. <a href="https://medium.com/the-environment/critters-in-crisis-how-livestock-contributes-to-the-decline-of-amphibians-401f59f83a9f">Learn More</a>