The Great Plains

The Great Plains of North America is a somewhat triangular area covering 1.4 million square miles that extends for about 2,400 miles from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba southward through Texas into Mexico and approximately 1,000 miles from foothills of the Rocky Mountains eastward to Indiana. Rainfall increases from west to east, resulting in different types of prairies, with the shortgrass prairie in the rain shadow of the Rockies, mixed-grass prairie in the central Great Plains, and tallgrass prairie in the wetter eastern region. The Great Plains region covers, roughly, the eastern 2/5 of the state. The land is flat and dry, sloping gently upward from east to west to meet the Rocky Mountains. This eastward-sloping, treeless, semi-arid, shortgrass plateau's annual rainfall is between thirteen and twenty inches, and the region's continental climate creates an environment of extremes: excessive heat and cold, and violent weather patterns.

The Agriculture Core

Due to the location of Colorado, there are limited crops that are able to be grown. The main focus of crops deal with growing corn, hay, and wheat. "Today, 40 percent of private land in the United States is used for agriculture. While 24 percent of that land is in the Rockies, the region produces only eight percent of the total agricultural commodities in the United States" (USDA). The agricultural core covers many states and includes Colorado, the following picture depicts the Corn for Grain Harvest acres.

Because corn flourishes in Colorado there are many corn field mazes around the area that help bring tourism to the area and other a fun activity to help the corn field farms grow. Like the The “Crazed Cornfield Maze” which is a 20 acre corn field maze that will have you twisting and turning in tall corn! This is a great outdoor event for all ages.

The colorado Desert (ch10)

The Colorado Desert is a part of the much larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. It expands from the Mexican border in the South to the Mojave Desert in the North and from the Colorado River in the East to the peninsular mountain range in the West, which is approximately 7 million acres. It is the second largest least populous of the ten bioregions, with a population of about 375,000, according to the 1990 census figures. The Colorado Desert is of a much lower elevation than the Mojave Desert and much of the land lies below 1,000 feet. The Mountain peaks barely pass 3,000 feet and the common habitat includes sand, palm oasis, and desert wash. The summers are hot and dry and the winters are cool and moist. The Colorado River flows along the entire eastern area of the bioregion which it meets with Arizona. Specific species known to inhabit the area are animals like the Yuma antelope, ground squirrels, white singed doves, muskrats, deer, bobcats, and raccoons.

This picture depicts the sandy dunes throughout the desert.

Colorado is also home to thousands of snakes because of the hot weather and ideal sand pits which makes nice homes for snakes.