Much of the land in rural areas has been converted from natural systems (woodland, wetland, prairie) to crop and pasture. This development has resulted in the loss of wild beauty, biological diversity, as well as top soil and nutrients. Today there are many obvious impacts of humans over-domesticating the land. The culminating event for our Mississippi River Watershed is found in the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone”. Land least desirable for agriculture is often the land causing grief in the watershed, but it is land well suited for rewilding. This land is found on floodplains and steep slopes. Our cores and corridors are largely located in these critically fragile environments. They are surrounded by buffer zones also planted to perennials but with harvesting, burning, or grazing common. The remaining agricultural land is operated in ways which provide for both present and future generations. We believe a lower input, sustainable culture will emerge and that producers will simultaneously adopt a lower input, sustainable agriculture.