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Ecoregions of
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| 17b. Black Hills Plateau | Level IV Ecoregion |
| Home | The Middle Rockies ecoregion
is characterized by individual mountain ranges of mixed geology interspersed
with high elevation, grassy parkland. The Black Hills are an outlier
of the Middle Rockies and share with them a montane climate, hydrography,
and land use pattern. Ranching and woodland grazing, logging, recreation,
and mining are common.
The Black Hills Plateau ecoregion is a relatively flat, elevated expanse covering the mid-elevation slopes and grasslands of the Black Hills. It includes areas of sharply tilted metamorphic rock and lower elevation granite outcrops. Competing uses, such as logging, farming and ranching, and tourist development, stress this ecosystem.
Physiography Area (square miles): 1507 Geology Surficial Material and Bedrock Soil Order (Great Groups) Climate Precipitation - Mean annual (inches) Potential Natural Vegetation Ponderosa pine forest dominant. Aspen, paper birch, some spruce in drainages and wet meadows. Understory little bluestem, buffaloberry, chokecherry, snowberry. Land Use and Land Cover Grazing and farming, recreation, hunting, some timber production, woodland grazing. Ponderosa pine forest with farms and ranches in valley bottoms and prairie openings. |
