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In columnist John Krist's recent piece, "Key to alternative fuels is grassland," he makes a good, but incomplete case for growing prairie grass for fuel.

He mentioned recent research conducted at the University of Minnesota and reported in the December 2006 issue of Science magazine, which indicated that biofuels derived from grassland plants "yield up to twice as much energy per unit of land as corn-based ethanol" and therefore, "may hold the key to the future of alternative energy production."

Krist also pointed out that grassland covered almost 40 percent of North America in the 19th century and sustained millions of grazing bison, pronghorns and elk; and that only about 1 percent of the original ecosystem exists today because it has been converted to agriculture or is degraded and abandoned.

In his final paragraph, he put forth a vision of "restoring the prairie to its natural state and periodically mowing it as bison once did."

Although the University of Minnesota research results are promising, producing this source of energy is a more complicated process than Krist indicated.

It is true that the Great Plains once supported millions of grazing animals and pack-hunting predators. But the grasslands did not, as Krist said, simply grow "without tilling, fertilizing, watering or protection from pests." The grasslands were healthy because of the symbiotic and holistic relationship between the land and the animals.

The presence of predators kept the grazing animals on the move; and their hoof action worked the soil so that their manure was quickly absorbed. The soil's organic matter was increased, thereby fertilizing it and making it healthier.

Therefore, if we want to realize Krist's inspiring vision and produce healthy grasslands on a vast scale - as they were for millennia - then we simply can't plant grassland seeds and harvest them. The process to grow them will, eventually, result in the same consumptive, mechanical and chemical-laden approach now used to produce corn for biofuels.

Instead, we have to be willing to free up the acreage, grow the grass with the animals present and manage their grazing in such a way that replicates the behavior of those wild grazers of yesteryear.

We would need to leave sufficient forage for the animals after harvesting a certain percentage of the grasses for energy production and also permit enough time to elapse for the roots of the plants in the harvested and grazed areas to rest and recover. That is the key to maintaining the health of the grasses and the land.

My organization, Holistic Management International, has accumulated abundant evidence - over 23 years of working internationally with farming and ranching families - that this is actually possible. Today, one million acres in the United States are successfully cultivated using Holistic Management.

If we could bring animals back to the land in a holistically managed way and restore the grasslands, then:

Vast amounts of carbon would end up in plant roots instead of in the atmosphere.

We would increase the water resources of the land, in underground aquifers and in these prairie regions (covered soil retains significantly more water than bare ground does).

The overall habitat for wildlife would be improved.

Outbreaks of pests and weeds would decrease, along with the attendant use of herbicides and pesticides.

We could reduce the amount of methane that is produced by livestock in confined feeding operations.

We could produce a high-quality, clean protein product for human consumption.

In the end, we would also improve our rural economies.