The working titles of this film were The Prairie Story and The Grazing Story. The opening credits include the following written acknowledgment: “With the cooperation of The United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Wind Cave National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Crow Indian Tribe.” The film begins with an animated paintbrush "painting" the American prairie, which comprises the middle section of the country and includes streams, grassland and rock formations. Voice-over narration occurs throughout the film to provide facts about the flora and fauna being portrayed.
       According to press materials, the field photography for The Vanishing Prairie was accumulated over two years, in addition to many more months spent on editing and narration. Press materials attribute sequences to photographers as follows: Warren Garst, Tom McHugh and James R. Simon shot the buffalo footage, including the birth, in Yellowstone and on the Crow Indian reservation in Montana; Cleveland P. Grant photographed the fight between buffalo bulls; N. Paul Kenworthy, Jr. and McHugh captured the prairie dogs; Murl Deusing shot the migratory waterfowl; Dick Borden caught the Canadian geese; and Grant and Herb Crisler snapped the images of the bighorn sheep. Press materials add that McHugh was able to gain proximity to the herd by covering himself under a buffalo pelt and creeping in among the animals. Although marketing materials state “all animals [in the film] are photographed in their natural habitat,” modern sources note that Kenworthy shot the underground burrows of the prairie dog by creating a cross-section bordered on one side by a plate of glass. Other locations noted in the press materials include the Colorado Rockies and Washington state, as well as various national park refuges and in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife preserves.
       As with the previous “True-Life Adventure” films, The Vanishing Prairie was edited so that the footage had more of a narrative thrust. In addition, special effects such as slow-motion photography and telephoto sequences were used, and music was added to create humor. Press materials refer to this practice as “informative entertainment.” Many contemporary critics indicated that the editing was unnecessary, but noted that it was used less here than in the previous films. According to modern sources, more than 120,000 feet of 16mm film was edited down to 30,000 feet and transferred to 35mm to create the final film.
       As noted in a 10 Aug 1954 DV article, The Vanishing Prairie caused a brief commotion when New York censors insisted that the sequence featuring the birth of a calf be eliminated. That article stated that the National Catholic Legion of Decency and all other state censorship boards had approved the picture in its entirety. On 12 Aug 1954, LADN reported that “an avalanche of protests from religious, social and civic groups” followed, causing the New York censorship board to reconsider the decision. LADN conveyed on 13 Aug 1954 that the board subsequently reversed the decision, which American Civil Liberties Union director George E. Rundquist called “the midsummer madness of an overzealous member of the board.” According to a 2 Feb 1966 Var article, when the film was shown that year in an Indiana classroom, one father withdrew his fourteen-year-old daughter from classes in protest.
       Disney broadcast footage of the making of The Vanishing Prairie on its Disneyland television program on 10 Nov 1954. The film won an Academy Award for Best Documentary of 1954. It was re-released in 1968. For more information about Disney's "True-Life Adventure" series, please consult the entry for The Living Desert (see above).