NORTH AMERICAN GRASSLANDS

Since my roots are in Michigan, but grew up in Seattle, I have had many opportunities to visit my midwestern extended family over the past decades. I always drove and visited wild grassland preserves cross country through the wide open spaces of the North American Prairie. I have explored as far north as the Alberta to Saskatacwan grasslands and east of the rockies, and south into Arizona and Nevada and east into the Midwest. Grasslands are found where there is insufficient rainfall to support a forest, but not so little as to form a desert, and more prairies are located between forests and deserts. About one quarter of the Earth's land has been covered with grasslands, with much area turned into farms. My father was fascinated with the American West, and had several prints of Charles Russel paintings depicting the conflict between North American Nations and the ranchers that came to raise cattle and evict numerous tribes by the elimination of the buffalo. The buffalo was the staple of the Indian prairie culture before European contact, and were migratory, thought to exceed 60 million animals. A diverse megafauna was supported by this vast ecosystem of native herbs and grasses that more than rivaled the Serengeti of Africa, and included other prairie fauna: pronghorn antelope, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, ferrets and carnivores wolf, black and grizzly bear.

The American buffalo or bison once had a historical range described as the great bison belt, a tract of rich grassland from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico, east to the Atlantic Seaboard as far north as New York and south to Georgia with sightings in North Carolina near Buffalo Ford on the Catawba River as late as 1750.. They became nearly extinct by a combination of commercial hunting and slaughter in the 19th century and introduction of bovine diseases from domestic cattle down to 541 animals by 1889. Recovery efforts expanded in the mid-20th century, with a resurgence to roughly 500,000 animals today, largely restricted to a few national parks and reserves.

The first thoroughfares of North America, except for the time-obliterated paths of mastodon or muskox and the routes of the mound builders, were the traces made by bison and deer in seasonal migration and between feeding grounds and salt licks. Many of these routes, hammered by countless hoofs instinctively following watersheds and the crests of ridges in avoidance of lower places' summer muck and winter snowdrifts, were followed by the aboriginal North Americans as courses to hunting grounds and as warriors' paths. They were invaluable to explorers and were adopted by pioneers.

Bison traces were characteristically north and south, but several key east-west trails were used later as railways. Some of these include the Cumberland Gap through the Blue Ridge Mountains to upper Kentucky. A heavily used trace crossed the Ohio River at the Falls of the Ohio and ran west, crossing the Wabash River near Vincennes, Indiana. In Senator Thomas Hart Benton's phrase saluting these sagacious path-makers, the bison paved the way for the railroads to the Pacific.

North American grasslands consist of three ecosystems: The Tall Grass, Mixed Grass and Short Grass Prairies. The Tall Grass Prairie is the most eastern portion of the prairie within the Midwest. The grasses here often grow to be five feet tall where there is an average of 30 inches per year rainfall. The Mixed Grass Prairie is sandwiched between the Tall Grass and Short Grass found in the middle portion of the Midwestern United States. Grasses in this section grow to be two to three feet tall where there is only 15 to 25 inches of rain per year. This is the prairie where the buffalo once roamed. The Short Grass Prairie is found in the western portion of the Midwest hugging the edge of desert and the Rocky Mountains. The grasses here grow to be no more than two feet tall and this is the common habitat for prairie dogs. There is little more than ten inches of rain per year. The animals that live in temperate grasslands have adapted to dry, windy conditions and cold winter temperatures. There are grazing animals like bison, elk and pronghorn antelope, mule deer, and burrowing animals that include prairie dogs, rabbits, and rodents, and predators such as snakes, black-footed ferret and coyotes. Both venomous and non-venomous snakes exist in the desert grasslands, including prairie rattlesnake Crotalus viridis, western diamondback (C. atrox), desert grassland massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus edwardsi), gopher snake Pituophis melanoleucus affinis, and P. m. sayi, and coachwhips Masticophis flagellum cingulum. Lizards species include lesser earless Holbrookia maculate, side-blotched Uta stansburiana, horned lizards Phrynosoma spp., southern prairie lizards Sceloporus undulatus consobrinus, and whiptails Cnemidophorus spp.. An additional reptile is the desert grassland box turtle Terrapene ornate luteola. Ants and termites also play crucial roles in the desert grassland systems.

Bird species are the most diverse of the vertebrate groups in the desert grasslands. Species include horned lark Eremophila alpestris, lark bunting Calamospiza melanocorys, meadowlarks Sturnella magna and S. neglecta, scaled quail Callipepla squamata, multiple sparrows Emberizidae, Passeridae, falcons Falconidae, doves Columbidae, roadrunner Geococcyx californianus, and burrowing owl Athene cunicularia.

The diversity of mammals in the desert grasslands is largely attributed to rodent populations. Such species include mice Cricetidae, Heteromyidae, Muidae, gophers Geomyidae, ground squirrels Sciuridae, kangaroo rats Dipodomys spp., black tailed jackrabbits Lepus californicus, desert cottontail rabbits Sylvilagus audubonii, and woodrat Neotoma spp.. Javelina Pecari tajacu, and foxes are additional small mammal species. Large herbivores were extirpated throughout most of the desert grasslands during the 1800s and early 1900s; however, rigorous game management policies have restored a multitude of populations. These species include desert mule deer Odocoileus hemionus crooki, pronghorn antelope Antilocapra americana, and big horn sheep Ovis canadensis.

Several predatory mammal species exist in the desert grassland, though their territories are subjected to threat by increasing urbanization and human presence in the landscape. Three primary mammal predators are mountain lion Felis concolor, bobcat F. rufus, and coyote Canis latrans.

Custer Hills State Park South Dakota

Above Buffalo Hunt painted by Alfred Jacob Miller, Below: Buffalo Badlands National Park, SD

Grasslands begin at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains from Alberta Canada to Glacier National park south

Mission mountains and Pipeline marshland at edge of prairie, Montana

Red Rock lakes Idaho, western edge of the prairie

Dinosaur National , Grand Canyon, western edge of the North American Prairie

Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon western border of the N American prairie Below SW Anasazi near Canyonlands Utah

Yellowstone National Park on the western edge of the North American Prairie

Above: Canyonlands Utah Below: Custer State Park South Dakota, swallowtail butterfly

Custer State park, South Dakota, Below: The Niobrara River is a tributary of the Missouri River, Nebraska

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Bighorn sheep are located in the right center, left photograph, below

Custer State Park SD

Prairie flowers in June that include lilies, and Composits such as the Black-eyed Susan

Lark bunting, Horned lark, Upland sandpiper Niobrara Grasslands

Meadowlark, Burrowing owl

Prairie warbler, Sandhill Cranes

Prairie dog communities and their burrows aeriate the rich prairie soil and are an integral part of the ecosystem

Prairie dog community Custer State Park SD, Black footed ferret, Prairie gopher snake, Below: bighorn sheep

Desert Bighorn, Utah, coyote Below: pronghorn antelope, a goat antelope of the family antelocapridae

Pronghorn antelope Antelocapra Americana molecular more closely related to giraffes and the okapi, but in appearance more anatomically related to goats. They are the second fastest land mammal in the world, after the cheetah. There are four-horned and six-horned flood deposits of what are termed Miocene pronghorn now extinct. Antelocaprinae are separate from Bovidae famiy which includes Takin, sheep, serow, goral, and mountain goat.

Pronghorn Custer State Park SD, Below: National Bison Range, Montana

Mule deer National Bison Range, Montana, Custer State Park, South Dakota

Top: Rocky Mountain elk Cervus elaphus nelson Yellowstone, Jasper national Park, Bottom Wyoming

Bison, Custer State Park, South Dakota

Bison herd Custer State Park South Dakota. Bison once ranged from Alberta east to North Caarolina south to Mexico in what was estimated to be 60 million animals. They had long migration routes dictated by the seasons, which were followed by North American Indian tribes that harvested them. In addition there were elk, bighorn sheep, mule deer, and their predators following wolves. Gizzly bears were also present on the great plains, as documented by the Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804-1806.

Niobrara River sunrise, Nebraska

Chalres M Russel Paintings of roping a grizzly and the last buffalo hunt