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Northern Blackland Prairie

Ecoregion on Great Plains, TX

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The rolling to nearly level plains of the Northern Blackland Prairie ecoregion are underlain by interbedded chalks, marls, limestones, and shales of Cretaceous age. Soils are mostly fine-textured, dark, calcareous, and productive Vertisols. Historical vegetation was dominated by little bluestem, big bluestem, yellow Indiangrass, and tall dropseed. In lowlands and more mesic sites, such as on some of the clayey Vertisol soils in the higher precipitation areas to the northeast, dominant grasses were eastern gamagrass and switchgrass. Also in the northeast, over loamy Alfisols, were grass communities dominated by Silveanus dropseed, Mead’s sedge, bluestems, and long-spike tridens. Common forbs included asters, prairie bluet, prairie clovers, and black-eyed susan. Stream bottoms were often wooded with bur oak, Shumard oak, sugar hackberry, elm, ash, eastern cottonwood, and pecan. Most of the prairie has been converted to cropland, non-native pasture, and expanding urban uses around Dallas, Waco, Austin, and San Antonio.

— EPA

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