Kiowa National Grassland is a National Grassland, located in northeastern

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

. The southwestern Great Plains

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

includes

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

and part of the

Canadian River The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .Harding, eastern

Mora Mora may refer to: People * Mora (surname) Places Sweden * Mora, Säter, Sweden * Mora, Sweden, the seat of Mora Municipality * Mora Municipality, Sweden United States * Mora, Louisiana, an unincorporated community * Mora, Minnesota, a city * M ...

, and southeastern Colfax counties. The smaller eastern unit is located in eastern Union County, on the border with Oklahoma and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. The grassland has a total area of . The grassland is administered by the U.S. Forest Service together with the

Cibola National Forest The Cibola National Forest (pronounced SEE-bo-lah) is a 1,633,783 acre (6,611.7 km2) United States National Forest in New Mexico, USA. The name Cibola is thought to be the original Zuni Indian name for their pueblos or tribal lands. The name w ...

and the Black Kettle,

McClellan Creek McClellan Creek is a river in Texas. Named after George B. McClellan, who with his future father-in-law, Randolph B. Marcy, made a survey of the area in 1851–52, looking for a route for the Southern Pacific Railroad.Carter, R.G., 1935, ''On the ...

, and Rita Blanca National Grasslands, from common headquarters located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There are local

ranger A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

district offices located in Clayton.

Communities

The community of

Mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places Uni ...

lies within the western unit of the Kiowa National Grassland. Clayton is the nearest town to the eastern unit of the Grassland.

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 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 and and January highs and lows are and . Annual precipitation is about 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 Rita Blanca National Grassland is a National Grassland on the Great Plains near the community of Texline in northwest Dallam County, Texas, in the Texas Panhandle, and in southern Cimarron County, Oklahoma, in the western Oklahoma Panhandle ...

). Ten percent of the land is covered with Pinyon – Juniper woodland, almost entirely in the western sector. A few stands of

Ponderosa Pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

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 Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

riparian forest. The Canadian River is the only permanent stream.

Playa lakes A dry lake bed, also known as a playa, is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceeds recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline c ...

(shallow lakes which hold rainwater part of the year) are commonly found. Canadian canyon

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.

Recreation

Eastern Unit

northeast of Clayton is McNees Crossing, a reliable source of water on the Santa Fe Trail. In 1828, two young traders, Robert McNees and Daniel Munro, were killed here by Native Americans. In 1831, the first celebration in New Mexico on Independence Day took place at McNees Crossing. Although on private property, a short trail leads to the crossing of

Corrumpa Creek Corrumpa Creek is a watercourse in New Mexico and Oklahoma. It originates at Weatherly Lake, located 9 miles east-southeast of Des Moines in Union County, New Mexico. It results from the South Branch Corrumpa Creek, which originates south-southw ...

and an historical marker. north of Clayton is a section of the Santa Fe Trail which is open for walking and horseback riding. The trail is marked by rock posts. The ruts of wagons that passed this way in the nineteenth century are still present.

Western Unit

The rim of the Canadian River Canyon, also called Mills Canyon, is west of the nearly-deserted community of Mills. About of the red-rock, well-vegetated canyon are in the National Grassland. The canyon is deep and more than wide from rim to rim. A primitive campground is on the rim. A road down into the canyon is traversable by foot, horseback, or high-clearance vehicles. On the canyon floor are the ruins of the homestead of Melvin Mills who had an apple orchard and a home here in the early 1900s. The area is rich in wildlife including introduced

Barbary Sheep The Barbary sheep (''Ammotragus lervia''), also known as aoudad (pronounced �ɑʊdæd is a species of caprine native to rocky mountains in North Africa. While this is the only species in genus ''Ammotragus'', six subspecies have been descri ...

which flourish among the cliffs. The Canadian River has a variety of sport fishes including

Largemouth Bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, bu ...

and Channel Catfish. A

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

encompassing was proposed in 2008 for the Cimarron River Canyon. The proposal would preserve the pristine state of about eight miles of the canyon. Fishing, hunting, and non-motorized travel would be permitted in the wilderness area. Ruins in Mills Canyon, Kiowa National Grassland, New Mexico

Ruins in Mills Canyon, Kiowa National Grassland, New Mexico

References

External links

*
Kiowa and Rita Blanca National Grasslands
{{authority control National Grasslands of the United States Grasslands of the North American Great Plains Cibola National Forest Natural history of New Mexico Protected areas of Colfax County, New Mexico Protected areas of Harding County, New Mexico Protected areas of Mora County, New Mexico Protected areas established in 1960 U.S. Route 56 U.S. Route 64 Grasslands of New Mexico 1960 establishments in New Mexico