Of Iowa's indigenous 30 million acres of grassland and savanna habitat just over 10 million acres remain. These remaining acres are divided into approximately 5 million acres of ungrazed grassland, 1.5 million acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, 2.5 million acres of pasture, and 1 million acres are alfalfa fields (Rosberg, 2010). Although there have been immense economic benefits to Iowa by the large scale conversion of its indigenous grasslands to row crop 

production acres, this has also come at a steep price to Iowa's biodiversity, water quality, soil health, and overall ecological stability. Maintaining, enhancing, and expanding Iowa's perennial grassland cover, whether managed with or without cattle production, is of critical importance to Iowa's long term ecological health.
The Grazing as a Management Tool project is designed to address a growing set of concerns involving the use of managed grazing on restored landscapes in Iowa. While ecological research points to the benefits of the fire-grazing interaction in prairie landscapes, the necessity of multi-functioning landscapes and interest in using prescribed grazing as a management tool is growing, there are significant obstacles to successful implementation of prescribed grazing as a management tool.