national grassland
{{short description|Classification of protected and managed federal lands}}
File:USA National Forests Map.jpg
File:Buffalo_Gap_National_Grassland_sign.JPG
A national grassland is an area of protected and managed federal lands in the United States authorized by Title III of the Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 and managed by the United States Forest Service. For administrative purposes, they are essentially identical to national forests, except that grasslands are areas primarily consisting of prairie. Like national forests, national grasslands may be open for hunting, grazing, mineral extraction, recreation and other uses. Various national grasslands are typically administered in conjunction with nearby national forests.
All but four national grasslands are on or at the edge of the Great Plains. Those four are in southeastern Idaho, northeastern California, central Oregon, and a reserve in Illinois. The three national grasslands in North Dakota, together with one in northwestern South Dakota, are administered jointly as the Dakota Prairie Grasslands. National grasslands are generally much smaller than national forests – while a typical national forest would be about {{convert|1000000|acre|ha}}, the average size of a national grassland is {{convert|191914|acre|ha}}. The largest, the Little Missouri National Grassland in North Dakota, covers {{convert|1028784|acre|ha}}, which is approximately the median size of a national forest. As of September 30, 2007, the total area of all 20 national grasslands was {{convert|3838280|acre|ha}}.
Soil Conservation Service
The catastrophic Dust Bowl of the 1930s led to the creation of the Soil Conservation Service in 1933. This and subsequent federal laws paved the way for establishing national grasslands.
List
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!scope="col" |Name !scope="col" class="unsortable"|Photo !scope="col" |Location{{cite web |title=U.S. Board on Geographic Names |publisher=U.S. Geological Survey |url=http://geonames.usgs.gov/ |access-date=December 21, 2012}} !scope="col" |Administered by !scope="col" class="unsortable"|Description |
| scope="row" | Black Kettle
|Oklahoma, Texas |{{convert|31286|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Black Kettle has sandy red slate hills as well as grassland and oak brush. There are three developed recreation areas, and the Washita River flows through the grassland. |
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| scope="row" | Buffalo Gap
|South Dakota |{{convert|595715|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |There are mixed prairie and badlands in Buffalo Gap as well as a reintroduced population of black-footed ferrets. |
| scope="row" | Butte Valley
|California |{{convert|18425|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Formed July 1991, Butte Valley is the most recent National Grassland. It contains Meiss Lake and views of the Cascade Range. |
| scope="row" | Caddo
|Texas |National Forests and Grasslands in Texas |{{convert|17873|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Caddo is divided into two units and has two developed recreation areas around Lake Davy Crockett. |
| scope="row" | Cedar River
|North Dakota |{{convert|6717|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Cedar River is within the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and has rolling hills and ephemeral streams. |
| scope="row" | Cimarron
|Kansas |Pike & San Isabel National Forests |{{convert|108176|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Cimarron has shortgrass prairie with cottonwood groves along the Cimarron River. |
| scope="row" | Comanche
|Colorado |Pike & San Isabel National Forests |{{convert|443081|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |There are not only prairies in Comanche, but also canyons, including Picture Canyon. |
| scope="row" | Crooked River
|Oregon |Deschutes & Ochoco National Forests |{{convert|112357|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Crooked River contains two National Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Deschutes and Crooked rivers. |
| scope="row" | Curlew
|Idaho |Caribou-Targhee National Forest |{{convert|47790|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |In southern Idaho, Curlew provides habitat for sage grouse while the Sweeten Pond area supports waterfowl and shorebirds. |
| scope="row" | Fort Pierre
|South Dakota |{{convert|115890|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Located south of Pierre and Fort Pierre, South Dakota, The Fort Pierre grassland includes several ponds open to fishing and dispersed camping. |
| scope="row" | Grand River
|South Dakota |{{convert|154783|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |In addition to prairie, there are a variety of ecosystems and landforms in Grand River, including sand dunes, river bottoms, badlands, buttes, and sandstone outcroppings. |
| scope="row" | Kiowa
|New Mexico |{{convert|137131|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Kiowa consists of two units in northeastern New Mexico and includes canyons along the Canadian River. |
| scope="row" | Little Missouri
|North Dakota |{{convert|1028784|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |The largest National Grassland, Little Missouri includes badlands and short and long grass prairie. |
| scope="row" | Lyndon B. Johnson
|Texas |National Forests and Grasslands in Texas |{{convert|20309|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Used primarily for recreation, Lyndon B. Johnson National Grassland has no fees and is located northwest of Fort Worth. |
| scope="row" | McClellan Creek
|Texas |{{convert|1449|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |McClellan Creek National Grassland surrounds Lake McClellan, and nearly all of the grassland was burned in 2006. |
| scope="row" | Oglala
|Nebraska |{{convert|94520|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |The badlands of Toadstool Geologic Park are within Oglala National Grassland. |
| scope="row" | Pawnee
|Colorado |Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests |{{convert|193060|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Pawnee has camping at Crow Valley Recreation Area and trails to the Pawnee Buttes. |
| scope="row" | Rita Blanca
|Texas, Oklahoma |{{convert|92989|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Rita Blanca includes grasslands. |
| scope="row" | Sheyenne
|North Dakota |{{convert|70446|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Sheyenne provides habitat for the largest population of greater prairie chickens in North Dakota as well as the Dakota skipper butterfly and western prairie fringed orchid. |
| scope="row" | Thunder Basin
|Wyoming |Medicine Bow – Routt National Forest |{{convert|547499|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}} |Thunder Basin is located in the Powder River Basin between the Big Horn Mountains and the Black Hills. |
Related
The smaller Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, created much later and east of the Mississippi River, is technically not a "National Grassland", as it was formed under different legislation, but it is managed by the Forest Service like one, as a unique prairie resource.{{Cite web |date=2023-05-25 |title=The National Grasslands Story |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/national-forests-grasslands/national-grasslands/about-us |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=US Forest Service |language=en}}
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!scope="col" |Name !scope="col" class="unsortable"|Photo !scope="col" |Location{{cite gnis|1802385|Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie|December 22, 2012}} !scope="col" |Date formed !scope="col" class="unsortable"|Description |
| scope="row" | Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
|Illinois |{{dts|1996}} |{{convert|20283|acre|km2|1|sortable=on}}{{Cite web |title=Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/midewin |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=United States Department of Agriculture, United States Forest Service}} |The only federally managed prairie east of the Mississippi River, Midewin is in the Central forest-grasslands transition ecoregion and was created when land was transferred to the U.S. Forest Service from the U.S. Army. In 2015, a small research herd of American Bison were reintroduced to study the effect of this large prairie animal on tallgrass prairie regeneration. |
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See also
References
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External links
{{Commons category|National Grasslands of the United States|position=left}}
{{US Protected Areas}}
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