Chapter 2: Grasslands of the Canadian Prairies

Fescue Prairie; Photo: D. Wood

The Canadian Prairie is not unlike the mosaic of human societies which have settled there. To the casual observer, all prairie looks the same, but actually it consists of grasslands with characteristics that set them apart depending on the influence of climate, topography, mineral substrate, organisms, and time.

There are three broadly-distributed grassland types in prairie Canada. Each is characterized by a unique geographic distribution and a distinct society of dominant plant species. Given the information provided in this chapter, you can identify a grassland type as easily as you can name different makes of cars.

Depending on location, there are zones of mixing between adjacent grassland types or between grass and trees where grassland meets the forest. Over time, these transition zones have shifted in extent and location due to the influence of climate, fire, grazing, and more recently, agriculture. And they will continue to shift in the future. Consequently, the boundary lines on the map are largely approximate.

In pristine times, the prairie grassland vista was broken only by abrupt local changes in terrain. Ecologists call these features complexes. The main recurring ones are wetlands, valleys (coulees), salt flats, and sandhills. Each of these areas produces unique but identifiable societies of plants and wildlife. All are particularly important in modern-day management of the grasslands because they have been unaltered by human disturbance due to their low agricultural capability. Complexes are perhaps the most important wildlife habitat left on the prairies.