Prairie remnant

A prairie remnant commonly refers to grassland areas in the Western and Midwestern United States and Canada that remain to some extent undisturbed by European settlement.

Prairie remnants range in levels of degradation, but nearly all contain at least some semblance of the pre-Columbian local plant assemblage of a particular region.

Prairie remnants have become increasingly threatened due to the threats of agricultural, urban and suburban development, pollution, fire suppression, and the incursion of invasive species.

[1][2] Prairie remnants offer valuable varieties of rare species, thus providing excellent opportunities for restoration ecology projects.

The prairie includes lands to the west as far as the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains and extends east as far as Nebraska and north into Saskatchewan.