Prairie

Prairie

A prairie is an area of land of low topographic relief that principally supports grasses and herbs, with few trees, and is generally of a mesic (moderate) climate. Most of the Great Plains is considered prairie. Most of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, and much of Missouri and Minnesota is also prairie. Most of the prairie has been converted into farmland in the United States.

In Canada, the term "prairie provinces" or "the prairies" refers to the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. See also Canadian prairies.

Fire is an important part of prairie ecology; natural and human induced fires were common in historic prairie areas. Prairies were also artificially created by Native Americans in eastern North America by periodic burning. One such area was along the southwestern shore of Lake Erie in what is now Pennsylvania and New York; another was between Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake in present New York.

Significant preserved areas of prairie include:

Bong Recreational Area, in Kenosha County, Wisconsin

Nine-Mile Prairie, Nebraska