The Type of Range Land in Montana
- Montana's range land is ecologically part of the shortgrass-prairie belt that comprises the more arid, western portion of North America's Great Plains. Farther east, more generous precipitation supports tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies. In the US, shortgrass prairie stretches from Montana through parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.
- Some of the more prevalent grasses of Montana's shortgrass prairie are blue grama and buffalo grass. Other native species like western wheatgrass and needle-and-thread are interspersed throughout, along with shrubs and exotic invaders like leafy spurge.
- Montana's range land is characterized by high, rolling plains broken here and there with buttes and the shallow canyons and badlands of drainages. Isolated mountain ranges like the Little Rockies and the Bear Paw Mountains rise out of the shortgrass sea.
- While much of Montana's range land is privately held, some tracts of public lands exist. Among them are the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, strung along a wild stretch of Missouri River breaks and prairie.
