Description
Both units of the National Grassland consist of a patchwork quilt of public land interspaced with private land. Elevations on the Grassland range from 4,500 to 6,300 feet (1,400 to 1,900 m) which is high enough to moderate somewhat the summer temperatures of the Great Plains. The average high and low temperatures for Clayton in July are 87 °F (31 °C) and 60 °F (16 °C) and January highs and lows are 47 °F (8 °C) and 20 °F (−7 °C). Annual precipitation is about 15 inches (380 mm) throughout the Grassland with July and August the wettest months and January and February the driest.
Semi-arid steppe grassland (shortgrass prairie) is the most common vegetation, covering 79 percent of the Grassland (including the adjacent Rita Blanca National Grassland). Ten percent of the land is covered with Pinyon – Juniper woodland, almost entirely in the western sector. A few stands of Ponderosa Pine are found in the Canadian River Canyon in the western sector. Nine percent of vegetative cover is Sand Sagebrush and one percent is Cottonwood and Willow riparian forest. The Canadian River is the only permanent stream. Playa lakes (shallow lakes which hold rainwater part of the year) are commonly found.
Nearly all of the land in the Kiowa National Grassland is leased to ranchers for grazing cattle which is the main economic activity in the region.
Read more about this topic: Kiowa National Grassland
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