The guerilla campaign to save a Texas prairie from 'silent extinction'

This story was produced by Grist and co-published with The Texas Tribune .

One sunny morning in early May, four high school boys stood on a flower-dappled prairie in southern Dallas holding shovels. On the ground before them stood a Texas blazing star, an imperiled member of the aster family. The oldest boy, a senior, made two putts on either side of the plant and was beginning to wedge it out when a police siren sounded. He paused, his foot on the blade. There were no signs or fences barring entry to this place. But it is — like 97 percent of the state — private property.

“Hopefully that’s not for us,” he said.

The siren faded, and the teens — who attend an elite, all-boys prep school on the other side of town — got back to work. They are the most dedicated members