The south wasn’t just forest

Millions of acres of prairie, savanna, glade, barrens, bogs, and other open ecosystems once shaped the Southeast.

We’re rebuilding them.

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Explore grassland biodiversity, find a grassland near you, see our research index, photos, videos, podcasts and more here.

You don’t have to be a scientist to restore a grassland.

We can’t restore the millions of acres of grasslands that need our help without volunteers. Check our our calendar of volunteer events, and subscribe to our volunteer newsletter to join our team.

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Your donation to SGI supports not only the pressing need for grassland conservation, restoration, research, and community education, but also the next generation of conservation professionals. Your support makes our work possible! Learn more here.

SGI needs not only dollars, but in-kind donations such as volunteer hours and equipment. There are many ways to support SGI’s work via the APSU Foundation, which can be viewed here. You can see ways that each of our programs need support above and beyond financial donations by clicking here.

Video: an introduction to the Southeastern Grasslands Institute

Revealed: What we now know about the incredibly diverse grasslands of the Southeast and why ecologists often consider their loss the greatest threat to the terrestrial biodiversity of eastern North America.

Mission

Rebuilding the lost grasslands of the South

Vision

Culture, history, and science inform the restoration of grassland habitats of the Southeast, which are understood, protected, accessible, and thriving

Follow us on social media!

View fullsize Mark your calendars! SGI will be at Cornelia Fort Airpark at Shelby Bottoms with our friends @Friends of Shelby to do invasive plant removal to further our efforts to restore the native meadow at the Airpark.By removing invasive species, we will be a
View fullsize Our NPS restoration team spent time recently at Big South Fork National Recreation Area restoring a native savanna habitat. One key restoration technique the team used is what we call "feathering the edges:" creating softer, more natural tr
View fullsize 🌾Welcome to the team, Sarah!🌾 Sarah is a Restoration Technician through SGI located in Roanoke, Virginia working on our National Park Service project. Growing up in New England, Sarah spent most of her childhood outside, which is where her love fo
View fullsize 🌱There's nothing quite like getting native seeds into the ground! This week, our Central TN restoration team and Belmont University interns, Sean Ponce and Todd Hoskinson, sowed native seeds at Old Town in Franklin, TN. This seeding event was part o
View fullsize 🎙️ SGI’s Theo Witsell is featured on the recent Fire Ecology Chats podcast by the Association for Fire Ecology. 🎙️ The podcast is on a recently published paper about fire history and tree invasion in an Ozark glade, barrens, and woodland com
View fullsize 🗞️SGI in the News!🗞️ SGI’s Dwayne Estes & Theo Witsell were featured in the recent article “Too Many Trees Are Killing Wildlife on the Cumberland Plateau” by Jenna Bratcher in A to Z Animals. Click the link in our bio to re
View fullsize 🐛🦋 From butterflies to grasslands, one passion can lead to a lifetime of conservation. Meet Jodi Morgan, SGI’s Youth Outreach Coordinator, whose journey from retired software engineer to environmental educator is inspiring young people acros
View fullsize 🚨One more day to submit!🚨 Presentation proposals are due tomorrow, June 5th! SGI is pleased to host the 14th Annual Native Grasslands Symposium this October. We invite presentation topics on wildlife & conservation, regenerative agriculture,

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Mailing Address: Southeastern Grasslands Institute, Austin Peay State University, PO Box 4394, Clarksville, TN, 37044