PRAIRIE TAILS is a volume featuring citizens who reside, work, love, scorn, struggle, fight, mourn and question in America’s plains country. These are characters not of the West, the Southwest, or even the Midwest. They inhabit an environment boasting of flat land to the horizon, wide farms, thick intractable woods, small towns, big cities, large ideas and cussedness. Any resemblance these souls may have to real people would be purely magical.

The stories in this book and its companion volume are based on the Little House on the Prairie TV show. The author hopes to continue some of the tales presented there in the same fashion with an emphasis on family, fidelity, loyalty, love and hope, and the Ingalls' family's deep abiding faith in God through Jesus Christ. No copyright infringement is intended and there is no profit made above production costs. 'Walking Through Fire' is based on Chapter Fifteen of the Laura Ingalls' Wilder book, Little House on the Prairie, as well as the autobiography of Laura, Pioneer Girl. The silent and unseen enemy was real. As Michael Landon did, I have moved the story from Kansas to Walnut Grove and embellished it for dramatic effect. 'Retribution' is a continuation of Season Three's 'The Bully Boys'. The original screenplay was written by B. W. Sandefur and was broadcast on December 6, 1976.

The prairie dog is a colonial, keystone species of the grassland ecosystem of western North America. Myriad animals regularly visit colony-sites to feed on the grass there, to use the burrows for shelter or nesting, or to prey on the prairie dogs. Unfortunately, prairie dogs are disappearing, and the current number is only about 2% of the number encountered by Lewis and Clark in the early 1800s. Part I of Conservation of the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog summarizes ecology and social behavior for pivotal issues such as when prairie dogs breed, how far they disperse, how they affect other organisms, and how much they compete with livestock. Part II documents how loss of habitat, poisoning, plague, and recreational shooting have caused the precipitous decline of prairie dog populations over the last 200 years. Part III proposes practical solutions that can ensure the long-term survival of the prairie dog and its grassland ecosystem, and also are fair to private landowners. We cannot expect farmers and ranchers to bear all the costs of conservation while the rest of us enjoy all the benefits. With 700 references, 37 tables, 75 figures and photographs, and a glossary, Conservation of the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog is a unique and vital contribution for wildlife managers, politicians, environmentalists, and curious naturalists.

Outline: The natural and environmental history of the Great Plains.