WAT is now the state of Iowa was first surveyed between March 1832 and August 1859. Based upon this origional United States Land Office Survey, it has been estimated that 29,412,580 acres (82 percent) of the total state land area was covered by tall prairie grass at that time with the remaining 6,680,926 acres (18 percent) in forest. Today, less than 2,942 acres or 1/10 of one percent of the Iowa landscape remains in prairie. The state forest resource has likewise decreased. A comparison of forest in Iowa at the time of settlement and at present illustrates a dramatic reduction in acreage. Our forest resources continue to be diluted and jeoparidized by commercial, residential, recreational and agricultural development pressures. Projected demand threatens the health and survivability of our remaining forest resource
