What is a prairie?

A prairie is a stretch of land covered mostly with grasses.

Some prairies have a few scattered trees here and there, but others have no trees at all. Other types of plant life you might find on a prairie include wildflowers, as well as grasses like big bluestem, buffalo grass and wheatgrass.

When you picture a prairie, you might think the grass is short, like the neatly cut grass in a yard that is regularly mowed! However, prairies are areas where wild grass grows freely.

There are shortgrass prairies, but even these areas have grasses that would be considered tall compared to the grass found in a typical yard!

Tallgrass prairies are covered with longer grasses that reach more than four feet in height! Midgrass prairies are home to grasses that grow somewhere in between the grass height of shortgrass and tallgrass prairies. Prairies are quite beautiful. After all, there’s nothing like the moment when wind moves over the grass, creating waves that resemble the moving water of the ocean.