The Biome Post

The Tallgrass Prairie

Posted on by biotriadna

 

Exploring the Tallgrass Prairie

 

Fun Facts: The Tallgrass Prairie is a great destination for nature and wildlife enthusiasts. The wide-open sky soars over hundreds of thousands of acres of flowing grasslands, diverse in beautiful flora and fauna.

Notable areas to visit include Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in the Flint Hills of Kansas, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois, Prairie State Park in Missouri, Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Osage County, Oklahoma, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum.

 

Biodiversity

Tallgrass prairies support significant biodiversity, with numerous birds, reptiles, insects, and plants living in this magnificent grassland.

This is an important ecoregion for reptiles, birds, butterflies, and many other species.

Whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)

 

Not-So-Fun Facts

For thousands of years tallgrass prairies spread throughout the American Midwest and north into southern Canada.

Today, this rare ecosystem covers a fraction of the land it once thrived in.

Cattle grazing, plowing and cultivation of the land, hydrodynamic changes, and soil erosion have been contributing factors to the prairie’s demise.

American bison (Bison bison)

Collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris)

Ecological Restoration 

 
Today local, state, and federal governments have joined citizens, organizations, and universities in tallgrass prairie preservation and restoration efforts. Over a hundred thousand acres of prairie land have been preserved, bison have been reintroduced, and tens of thousands of acres are being restored as we speak.
 
While the tallgrass prairie restoration projects are a huge success and shining examples for future generations to follow, there is still work to be done to protect this unique ecosystem.

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Nature and the Environment

NatAtEnv was formed by BioTriad Environmental, Inc. to provide entertaining informative media while keeping the wonders of nature in the public eye.

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