This page outlines the principal characteristics of these areas to help identify each of them. Tallgrass Prairie areas are noted for the representative warm season grasses. They are big bluestem, little bluestem, switchgrass, indiangrass, and sideoats grama. These were important to the pioneers as a source of food for the animals which accompanied them on their westward journey as well as for the large, native-prairie mammals such as bison. They continue to be important today as a source of food for domestic livestock.
Wetlands are a very special kind of habitat with a unique assemblage of flora and fauna.
There are different types of wetlands including fresh and salt-water marshes, swamps, bogs and prairie potholes. Contrary to popular opinion, wetlands may not be visibly wet year round, but because they do occur in low-lying areas, they tend to collect standing water. As a result the soils become nonporous. The plants that grow in wetlands are water loving or hydrophytic. In the Kaw Valley, wetlands occur mainly in the floodplains of the Kansas River and its tributaries.