The climate in this type is extremely varied from its northern to its southern limits. The growing season in eastern North Dakota is about 131 days.
Soils vary widely on the bluestem prairie.
Some big bluestem and Indiangrass are intermixed, along with junegrass. Indiangrass and switchgrass are intermixed. Indiangrass is the chief associate of big bluestem and has nearly identical habitat requirements. It can comprise as much as 90 percent of the cover locally in ravines. In saturated soils big bluestem is replaced by prairie cordgrass, and on soils with intermediate to high moisture content, switchgrass is the dominant species.