The term still remains little-used in Canada compared to the more common, "prairie".ĭust cloud moving across the Llano Estacado near Ransom Canyon, Texas
Today the term " High Plains" is used for a subregion of the Great Plains. Before that the region was almost invariably called the High Plains, in contrast to the lower Prairie Plains of the Midwestern states. Nevin Fenneman's 1916 study Physiographic Subdivision of the United States brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. The term "Great Plains", for the region west of about the 96th and east of the Rocky Mountains, was not generally used before the early 20th century. The Boreal Plains of Western Canada are physiographically the same, but differentiated by their tundra and forest (rather than grassland) appearance. This definition, however, is primarily ecological, not physiographic. Current thinking regarding the geographic boundaries of the Great Plains is shown by this map at the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Much of the region was home to American bison herds until they were hunted to near extinction during the mid/late-19th century. The region is about 500 mi (800 km) east to west and 2,000 mi (3,200 km) north to south. The Great Plains near a farming community in central Kansas The Great Plains ecoregion includes five sub-regions: Temperate Prairies, West-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, South-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, Texas Louisiana Coastal Plains, and Tamaulipas-Texas Semi-Arid Plain, which overlap or expand upon other Great Plains designations. The North American Environmental Atlas, produced by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a NAFTA agency composed of the geographical agencies of the Mexican, American, and Canadian governments, uses the "Great Plains" as an ecoregion synonymous with predominant prairies and grasslands rather than as physiographic region defined by topography. In terms of human geography, the term prairie is more commonly used in Canada, and the region is known as the Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces or simply "the Prairies". There is no region referred to as the "Great Plains" in the Atlas of Canada. In Canada the term is rarely used Natural Resources Canada, the government department responsible for official mapping, treats the Interior Plains as one unit consisting of several related plateaux and plains. It also has currency as a region of human geography, referring to the Plains Indians or the Plains states. The term "Great Plains" is used in the United States to describe a sub-section of the even more vast Interior Plains physiographic division, which covers much of the interior of North America. Grasslands are among the least protected biomes with vast areas having been converted for agricultural purposes and pastures. The entire region is known for supporting extensive cattle- ranching and dryland farming. In Canada it covers southeastern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and a narrow band of southwestern Manitoba, these three provinces collectively known as the "Prairie Provinces". The term "Great Plains" usually refers specifically to the United States portion of the ecozone while the Canadian portion is known as the Canadian Prairies. The southern portions of the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.states of Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming states of Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota The Great Plains lies across both Central United States and Western Canada, encompassing: The term Western Plains is used to describe the ecoregion of the Great Plains, or alternatively the western portion of the Great Plains. It is the southern and main part of the Interior Plains, which also include the tallgrass prairie between the Great Lakes and Appalachian Plateau, and the Taiga Plains and Boreal Plains ecozones in Northern Canada. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. The Great Plains ( French: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply " the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America.