Hole in the Mountain Prairie is a preserved remnant of the tallgrass prairie in southwestern Minnesota. It is owned and administered by The Nature Conservancy.

Geography

Hole in the Mountain Prairie is located on

Buffalo Ridge Buffalo Ridge is a large expanse of rolling hills in the southeastern part of the larger Coteau des Prairies. It stands 1,995 feet (608 m) above sea level. The Buffalo Ridge is long and runs through Lincoln, Pipestone, Murray, Nobles, ...

near the town of Lake Benton in Lincoln County, southwestern Minnesota. It spans a valley of about a half-mile in width, with a total area of .The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota - Hole-in-the-Mountain Prairie
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Flora

The preserve is home to about 60 species of grasses and

emergent vegetation Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that g ...

, and about 200 species of wildflowers. Trees are a minor feature, with only about 10 species present.

Fauna

Whitetail deer, foxes, and numerous rodents are present, but The Nature Conservancy touts the

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of Hole in the Mountain as the most unusual and significant of its creatures. In 2017 an attempt was made by the Minnesota Zoo to reintroduce the nearly-extinct

Dakota Skipper ''Hesperia dacotae'', the Dakota skipper, is a small to medium-sized North American butterfly. It has a wingspan of approximately one inch and the antennae form a hook. The male's wings are a tawny-orange to brown on the forewings with a promine ...

butterfly to Hole in the Mountain, from which it had disappeared in the previous decade.

Geology

The preserve is located in a valley of

, which is in turn a portion of the Coteau des Prairies, a highland which originates in South Dakota and runs about south and southeast through part of Minnesota and into northwestern Iowa.

Notes

{{coord, 44.232, -96.296, type:landmark_region:US-MN, display=title Prairies Grasslands of Minnesota