Where are the Prairies?

The High Plains are also referred to as the High Prairies and they are what many people think of as the Prairie. They are about 2,500 miles long, and about 600 miles across at their widest point. The area they cover roughly parallels the Rocky Mountains, which marks their western boundary. They are defined both by their altitude and by the prairie grasses that grow there. Although they extend from the Southwestern United States well into Canada, no single state or province lies entirely within them. North to South, the states of the High Plains are:

Alberta         Saskatechuwan        Manitoba
Montana North Dakota
South Dakota
Wyoming Nebraska
Colorado Kansas
New Mexico Oklahoma
Texas

The larger geography known as the Great Plains, because of its flat landscape, is often considered also to be part of the Prairie. It incorporates the prairie grasses of the High Plains on the West and extends through the lands of varying prairie grasses on the East, including the glacial plains of Illinois.

Prairie Poetry includes this larger area of the Great Plains under the header, "Prairie".

(with thanks to Ian Frazier, Great Plains, 1989)

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Marc duPlan