"Grasslands (prairies) occur in areas that are too dry to support trees but too wet to be deserts. Badlands National Park has mixed-grass prairie: tall-grass species such as big bluestem and prairie cordgrass, and short-grasses such as blue grama and buffaloegrass. Hundreds of species of wildflowers and forts grow here too. The landscape, once a forest, now contains plants and animals uniquely adapted to what appears to be harsh and unforgiving conditions." (Badlands NP brochure) In this photo an orange sulphur butterfly enjoys some of the prairie grasses.
