Canadian Aspen Forests and Parklands
[3] This ecoregion includes parts of the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, north-central and eastern (except extreme eastern) North Dakota, most of east South Dakota, and north-central Nebraska in the American Great Plains.The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines this ecoregion as the Northern Glaciated Plains.In addition, local saline deposits support alkali grass, wild barley, red samphire, and seablite.The dominant grasses found here include grama (Bouteloua gracilis), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), needle-and-thread grass (Stipa comata), wheatgrass (Agropyron smithii), Carex filifolia, junegrass (Koeleria cristata), and Poa secunda.[2] The topography is broken by many glacial pothole lakes, making this ecoregion the most productive breeding area for waterfowl in the U.S. Other wildlife characteristic of the moist mixed grassland are black-tailed and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus and O. virginianus), pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana), coyote (Canis latrans), short-horned lizard (Phrynosoma douglassi), western rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis), rabbit (Sylvilagus sp.)