Chapter 12 in the Geography of U.S & Canada textbook covers the Plains And Prairies, a huge chunk that covers the middle of the United States. When settlers discovered it, it had critical acclaim:
"This region is the best I've seen for producing the crops of Spain. The land is very flat and black...well watered by the rivulets and springs and river," said Francisco Vasquez de Coronado.
"The Great American Desert", 1850 United States nicknamed it.
"Wholly unfit for cultivation and habitat.", said the East Coasters of the 1800's.
In this chapter we shall learn why it can grow Spanish crops, why it was nicknamed the Great American Desert, and why East Coasters thought it was unfit.
For starters, the physical geography of the plains and prairies has a huge elevational range (covering such a large part of the US, its bound to). East to west, it starts off at 1,600 feet and transitions to 5,000 feet. The Southern half though, shares more of unvaried range of elevation. There are two subdivisions of this entire region: the High Plains from Texas to Southern Nebraska (Edward Plateaus) and the Lake Agassiz Basin (Pleistocene lake evidence) covering the northern part of the Plains & Prairies, which crosses over to Canada.
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| A nice slice of the US dominated by prairies and plains. Check it out, not too shabby! |
Along with elevational variation, there is topographical. The Great Plains has its share of hills and what's considered "badlands". These hills include Black Hills (part of the Rocky Mountains), Cypress Hills (Canada), and Sand Hills (central and NW Nebraska). The badlands are irregular, topographic land stemming from erosion. While it may sound non lucrative or scenic-landscape-material, two national parks that honor the badland topography: Badland National Park (South Dakota) & Theodore Roosevelt National Park (N. Dakota).
Now, for curiosity sake, I shall google and search what these parks look like....
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| Badlands National Park in S. Dakota, not too bad.... |
Referring back to what the East Coasters said in the 1800's, maybe this is what they meant when they were talking about unsuitability for cultivation...because the next section I will be talking about is the grand amount of vegetation the Great Plains has been known to be suitable for.
The Great Plains are widely known for its vegetation. Grasses is what make up the Prairie landscape. Taller and denser on the eastern part of the region, shorter and dispersed as you head west. The grass patterns are most likely in due to climate patterns. In the US region, precipitation stems from the conflict of air masses, particularly the cool, dry air from the north and the warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. The two intertwine together creating a wet environment that helps the grasses grow. In the Canadian region, the climate pattern is independently NE to SW. With that said, there is a wide variation from to year-to-year average. It ranges anywhere from 80% to 120% in precipitation! Huge numbers, huge variation. The lowest percentage of precipitation average is during the month of April, which is still a hefty 75%. These April showers are nothing compared to the rest of the year.
In the US region, the mix of two air mass systems tends to create extreme weather, thunderstorms. Producing heavy rain, wind, and lightning.
Now, how does this relate to the PNW?
This chapter was very interesting to me, since I knew little of the Prairies (so as I was writing about it, of course I got sidetracked). But as I read about it, there are various similarities. Frequency of rain is also common in the PNW. While the Great Plains has a huge share of natural resources and vegetation, so does Oregon state, but of course at a smaller scale. Large natural landscape is available in both regions, but of course at a smaller scale for the PNW. Also, the fact that both regions share US AND CANADIAN soil.
How do they not relate?
While they are various uncommonalities between each region, one of the variables that highly stood out for me was the lack of trees in the Great Plains. The PNW is known for its deciduous forest and dendra, while The Great Planes & Prairies is known for its grasslands. Both regions are examples of lush and green natural resource, but of course, they differ in different shades of green. Check below for the difference!
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| Great Plains |
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| Pacific Northwestern National Park |
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