The term prairie derives from the French and was the word French trappers and explorers gave to the sea of grass they encountered in the center of North America. Prairies, also called grasslands, are one of the main types of natural vegetation or biomes. Prairies are areas where either low total annual rainfall (10-20 inches) or uneven seasonal rainfall favor grasses and herbaceous plants over the growth of trees. In some locales, soil conditions or geology also favor grasslands over other types of vegetation. Therefore, most prairies lie between desert shrub and forest lands. Prairies are found on every continent except Antarctica.
Prairies in North American extend from central Texas to southern Saskatchewan, including most of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota, and North Dakota, and parts of other nearby states and provinces. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are the 'Prairie Provinces' of Canada. Today, most of these prairie grasslands are farms and ranches. In many locations, overgrazing by livestock has killed most of the taller grasses.
Grasslands are the largest vegetation type in North America, covering approximately 15% of the land area. Prairies are the grasslands found in the central part of the North American continent. They form a more or less continuous, roughly triangular area that extends for about 2,400 miles (3,870 km) from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba southward through the Great Plains to southern Texas and adjacent Mexico and approximately 1,000 miles (1,612 km) from western Indiana westward to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, covering 1.4 million square miles. Rainfall decreases from east to west, resulting in different types of prairies, with the tall grass prairie in the wetter eastern region, mixed-grass prairie in the central Great Plains, and short grass prairie towards the rain shadow of the Rockies. Today, these three prairie types largely correspond to the corn/soybean area, the wheat belt, and the western rangelands, respectively.
Due to accumulation of loess and organic matter, parts of the North American tall grass prairie had the deepest topsoil ever recorded. After the steel plow was invented by John Deere, this fertile soil became one of North America's most important resources. Over 99% of the original tall grass prairie is now farmland.
There is a small pocket (less than 5 square km) of tall grass prairie in the southwest corner of Windsor, Ontario, protected by Ojibway Park, and Spring Garden ANSI (Area of Natural Scientific Interest), along with the inter-connected parks: Black Oak Heritage Park, Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve and the Tallgrass Prairie Heritage Park, all operated by the City of Windsor's Parks and Recreation.
The posted coordinates will take you to a sign that you should stop at and have your picture taken near. Post that picture with your log.
Cross the gravel road to the wooden stairs and enter the fenced area. Proceed along a trail going off to your right that will lead you to N42*15.743 W083*04.357. You will now be near a small creek. Brush back a patch of ground cover and scoop up a tablespoon of the soil. Roll the soil around in your hands. Place the soil back on the ground. Answer the following questions in an email to me.
1) How tall is the tall grass on the day that you visited? 2) What happened to the soil that you rolled around in your hand?
