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Flowering big bluestem, a characteristic tallgrass prairie plant. The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America.Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroachment of trees, recycling soil nutrients, and facilitating seed dispersal and germination.
The Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, in Osage County, Oklahoma near Foraker, Oklahoma, is the largest protected tract of tallgrass prairie in the world. . Managed by The Nature Conservancy, the preserve contains 39,650 acres (160 km 2) owned by the Conservancy and another 6,000 acres (24 km 2) leased in what was the original tallgrass region of the Great Plains that stretched ...
The preserve protects a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Of the 400,000 square miles (1,000,000 km 2) of tallgrass prairie that once covered the North American continent, less than 5% remains, primarily in the Flint Hills. [2] Since 2009, the preserve has been home to the Tallgrass Prairie bison herd. [3]
The first national tallgrass prairie ever designated in the United States and the largest conservation site in the Chicago Wilderness region, it is located on the site of the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant between the towns of Elwood, Manhattan and Wilmington in northeastern Illinois.
The tallgrass prairie, with moderate rainfall and rich soils, were ideally suited to agriculture so it became a productive grain-growing region. The tallgrass prairie ecosystem covered some 170 million acres (690,000 km 2) of North America.
It is the only National Grassland in the tallgrass prairie region of the U.S. [3] The grassland provides habitat for the largest population of greater prairie chickens in North Dakota, as well as the Dakota skipper butterfly, the western prairie fringed orchid, and numerous ferns, as well as grazing land for approximately 83 cattle ranchers. [4]
The Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve is located in southeastern Manitoba near Gardenton and Vita, this is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Steinbach, Manitoba.It is one of the last remaining stands of tallgrass prairie in Manitoba and is part of the Tallgrass Aspen Parkland conservation area in Manitoba and Minnesota.
Prairie ecosystems in the United States and Canada are divided into the easternmost tallgrass prairie, the westernmost shortgrass prairie, and the central mixed-grass prairie. Tallgrass prairies receive over 30 inches of rainfall per year, whereas shortgrass prairies are much more arid, receiving only 12 inches or so, and mixed-grass prairies ...