Exploring our past to build a better future...

It is no surprise that Nebraska—at the heart of the Great Plains—has long served as a canvas for sweeping transformation. Once a prairie teeming with bison and Native maize, it has become a landscape of center pivot irrigation, herds of cattle, and hybrid corn. How did these changes happen so quickly? And who were the people, policies, and pressures that synchronized new uses of the land?

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In The Best of Intentions, conservation biologist LARKIN POWELL explores the forces that have reshaped the Plains—from well-meaning innovations to unintended consequences. Drawing on decades of research, Powell weaves together ecology, history, and human decisions to ask how the past might guide us toward a more resilient future.