Nothing holds soil and water better, slows down the wind, protects cities, roads and homesteads better than trees from the effects of dust storms, rain, wind, blizzards, etc.
That's my point, we need more trees, everywhere.
There certainly were many trees in all the coulees and valleys and in the open plains. There was very little of the classical hardwood forests of the eastern midwest. The sparse trees there were critical to the prairie ecosystem and their loss was the doom of those homesteaders. Drive through Sisseton, S Dakota to Williston, N Dakota as I have many times and see all the trees that have regrown, obviously they were not reseeded and none are over 50 years old. The prairie has largely healed itself after the starving homesteaders who cut down the few trees there, up and left.
Back to BS headed toward more of the same.