Article #2 Saving the Prairie, and Planting Some New Ones by HOLLIE O’CONNOR

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/us/saving-college-park-prairie-and-planting-new-ones.html?ref=texas

This new york times artical published on August 18th, 2012 discusses the shrinking coastal prairie lands and how Jaime Gonzalez, the community edu director at the Katy Prarie Conservancy wants to preserve it. His idea was "pocket prairies" which are little or big parts of land in houston on which people grow native Houston plants, and provide homes for native animals like butterflies and birds. The droughts we experienced last summer led people to look for landscaping that didn't need to be watered much, and this fit the bill. There are some arguments against pocket prairies, saying that the grasses allow for snakes, or for criminals to hide bodies of victims, but these concerns are more like myths, say the supporters of prairies. Pocket prairies are made possible  by seed banks, but a major seed bank, College Park Prairie, may soon be bulldozed for housing.