A look at Iowa's environment during the nation's founding

Our nation is 250 years old — but 250 years ago, Iowa was a world apart. On this episode, an ecologist takes us back to a yesteryear’s landscape of endless tallgrass prairie, bison, elk and whooping cranes, and explains why Iowa is now the most ecologically altered state in the nation. A historian discusses the Indigenous nations living here in 1776 and why the American Revolution mattered enormously to people who may not have even known it was happening. And the tribal historic preservation officer of the Meskwaki Nation joins the program to discuss on her people's presence in Iowa. (This episode was originally produced June 18, 2026.)