High Plains
America's dry grasslands
The High Plains are the western portion of the Great Plains in North America, stretching from Montana and the Dakotas south through Texas and into New Mexico.
Characterized by semiarid grassland at elevations between 3,500 and 6,000 feet, the region is known for cattle ranching, wheat farming, and the Ogallala Aquifer that sustains its agriculture.
The drought hit the High Plains hard.
- cattle ranchingRaising bovines commercially
- prairieOpen grassy flatland
- wheat farmingCultivating cereal for grain
- Dust BowlThirties prairie ecological collapse
- dust stormWind-carried soil phenomenon
grassland · grain silos · grain elevator · shortgrass prairie · buffalo grass · escarpment · West Texas · wide open spaces · Ogallala Aquifer · plateau · aquifer · frontier · homesteading · pioneer spirit · Texas Panhandle · windmills · wind farm · drought
- American RegionsMidwest, Southwest, Northwest, Deep South, Pacific Northwest
- US LandformsAppalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, Cascade Range
- Great Plainsgrassland, grasslands, shortgrass prairie, tallgrass prairie, sandhills
- KansasWichita, Dodge City, Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City
- OklahomaOklahoma, Tulsa, Indian Territory, Lawton, OU
- prairieprairie dog, tallgrass prairie, prairie dogs, prairie grass, prairie chicken
High Plainslowlands
Low-elevation flat terrain
low country · coastal plains · river bottoms · floodplains · basins
High Plainstallgrass prairie
Ecosystem of towering native grasses
wetlands · bayous · swamplands · rainforest · marshlands