Once primarily grazing land for livestock, Dunn Ranch under The Nature Conservancy is protective of and expansive upon an extant patch of native tallgrass prairie — an ecotype of which less than 1% of its original extent remains in the world.

With 3,200 acres now in conservation, Dunn Ranch is a critical demonstration and research center in the Grand River Grasslands and beyond. Through a collaborative internship between The Nature Conservancy and Washington University in St. Louis, the work of the prior semester’s landscape studio was continued with site research for a future field station, then encapsulated in an edited volume.