Best Natural Area
Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve is a state-protected conservation area located south of Olympia, Washington. The site is designated as a National Natural Landmark because it preserves the Mima Mounds, a distinct landscape of uniform, grass-covered bumps covering hundreds of acres. The exact geolog...
The Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve is a protected prairie in Thurston County, Washington, near Littlerock. Established in 1976, the preserve protects a distinctive landscape of uniform, dome-shaped gravel mounds rising from native grassland. The origin of the mounds remains debated, with proposed...
Tandy Hills Natural Area is a 160-acre protected prairie preserve located in Fort Worth, Texas, managed by the City of Fort Worth Parks and Recreation Department. The site preserves a remnant of the Fort Worth Prairie ecosystem, featuring rolling hills and native grassland that has never been plowed...
Located in the southeastern corner of Alberta, Onefour Heritage Rangeland Natural Area is a protected expanse of arid mixed-grass prairie established in 2001. The region protects a significant intact ecosystem within the northern Great Plains and provides crucial habitat for several threatened speci...
Cherokee Prairie Natural Area is a 232-acre protected site located in the Arkansas River Valley. It is notable for preserving one of the largest remaining tracts of native tallgrass prairie in the region, an ecosystem that has largely been lost to agriculture and development. The area features nativ...
Tandy Hills Natural Area is a protected urban landscape in Fort Worth, Texas, preserving native Fort Worth Prairie habitat within the city. Covering roughly 160 acres, it contains grassland, shallow-soil slopes, and seasonal displays of native wildflowers that support local insects, birds, and other...
Rocky Prairie Natural Area Preserve in Washington is a 35-acre reserve, notable for protecting one of the state's last remaining native bunchgrass prairies and populations of rare native plants.
Soapstone Prairie Natural Area is an 18,000-acre municipal property managed by the City of Fort Collins, Colorado. Opened to the public in 2009, it protects shortgrass prairie habitat at the intersection of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. The site contains the Lindenmeier Archaeological Site,...
Red Rock Coulee Natural Area is a protected area in southeastern Alberta, Canada, known for its unusually large red ironstone concretions, some reaching three metres in diameter, set within a stark prairie badlands landscape.
Pawhuska Prairie is a protected grassland ecosystem associated with the historic tallgrass prairies of Osage County, Oklahoma, vital for regional biodiversity and ecological research.
La Petite Gemme is a protected remnant of tallgrass prairie in Missouri covering approximately 37 acres. It has been designated a National Natural Landmark because it preserves a high-quality example of the prairie vegetation that once occupied much larger areas of the state. The site supports nativ...
Mount Vernon Prairie is a protected tallgrass prairie in Lawrence County, Missouri, maintained to preserve local native plant communities.
Searles Prairie Natural Area in Rogers, Arkansas, is a protected 10-acre remnant of the historically vast Osage prairie, managed by the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission since 1979.
Niawathe Prairie Conservation Area is a native tallgrass prairie in Cedar County, Missouri, notable for its undisturbed soils and its role as a critical habitat for grassland-dependent birds.
