Rita Blanca National Grassland is a

National Grassland A national grassland is an area of protected and managed federal lands in the United States authorized by Title III of the Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937. For administrative purposes, they are essentially identical to national forests ...

on the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

near the community of Texline in northwest Dallam County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, in the

Texas Panhandle The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...

, and in southern

Cimarron County Cimarron County is the westernmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its county seat is Boise City, Oklahoma, Boise City. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 2,296, making it the leas ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, in the western

Oklahoma Panhandle The Oklahoma Panhandle (formerly called No Man's Land, the Public Land Strip, the Neutral Strip, or Cimarron Territory) is a salient in the extreme northwestern region of the U.S. state of Oklahoma, consisting of Cimarron County, Texas Count ...

. The principal city in the area is

Dalhart, Texas Dalhart is a city in Dallam and Hartley counties in the U.S. state of Texas, and the county seat of Dallam County. The population was 7,930 at the 2010 census. History Founded in 1901, Dalhart is named for its location on the border of Dalla ...

, which houses the XIT Museum. The name ''Rita Blanca'' (Little White River) was applied to a stream by Spanish sheepherders in the 19th Century. It was later used by the XIT ranch and has been applied to other geographic features in the vicinity."Lake Rita Blanca". Wildernet
Accessed November 25, 2016.

History

Both Rita Blanca National Grassland and

Kiowa National Grassland Kiowa National Grassland is a National Grassland, located in northeastern New Mexico. The southwestern Great Plains grassland includes prairie and part of the Canadian River Canyon. Sections It is located in two non-adjacent units of northeast ...

(KNG), farther west in New Mexico, are the result of the

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...

of the 1930s. The Dust Bowl experience had shown the U.S. Government that climatic challenges made total conversion of the Great Plains to agriculture not only infeasible but undesirable. The National Industrial Act and Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, which passed Congress in 1933 and 1935, gave the federal government authority to buy failed cropland, and the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 gave authority to transfer about to the Soil Conservation Service to restore the eroded soil and to protect the grasslands. In 1960, Congress approved the creation of KNG and RBNG.Hazlett, Donald L.; Schiebout, Michael H.; and Ford, Paulette L. (2009). ''Vascular plants and a brief history of the Kiowa and Rita Blanca National Grasslands''. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS- GTR-233. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 44 p.
Accessed November 25, 2016.

General description

The elevation of Rita Blanca National Grassland ranges from a high of in northwestern Cimarron County, Oklahoma, to a low of in southeastern Dallam County, Texas. It is not a solid block of protected land, but rather several small blocks of

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

-owned native prairie grasslands, interspersed with privately owned property. The area is classed as semi-arid, and serves as habitat for

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...

, rabbits, prairie dogs, coyotes and predatory birds.. Vegetation is primarily shortgrass. It has a land area of . The greater part, is in Texas, and the balance is in Oklahoma."Rita Blanca National Grasslands."
Accessed November 25, 2016. Rita Blanca National Grassland is administered by

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 was ...

, along with the Great Plains

Black Kettle National Grassland The Black Kettle National Grassland, in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma and Hemphill County, Texas, contains of which are in Oklahoma. Named for the Indian leader Black Kettle, the grassland is managed by the Cibola National Forest, which also m ...

, and

McClellan Creek National Grassland McClellan Creek National Grassland is a National Grassland located in southern Gray County, Texas, United States. It was purchased with the goal of restoring badly eroded land to its natural state. The grassland is administered by the U.S. Fores ...

, and forest ranger districts in New Mexico. The Cibola National Forest headquarters are located in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

. There are local ranger district offices located in

Clayton, New Mexico Clayton is a town and county seat of Union County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,980. History Early History Native Americans were present in the area of Clayton for at least 10,000 years, as evi ...

Ecology

A team led by Donald L. Hazlett studied the history and ecology of the Kiowa and Rita Blanca Natural Grasslands, and reported its findings to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service in 2009. The RBNG has a very complex natural ecosystem, with a wide variety of flora and fauna. They found, for example, 826 different species of

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

, representing 81 different families.

Gallery

Image:Map of states and counties affected by the Dust Bowl, sourced from US federal government dept. (NRCS SSRA-RAD).svg, Map of states and

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

affected by the Dust Bowl between 1935 and 1938 originally prepared by the

Soil Conservation Service Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and ...

. The most severely affected counties are colored .

References

External links

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Kiowa and Rita Blanca National Grasslands
{{authority control National Grasslands of the United States Grasslands of the North American Great Plains Cibola National Forest Protected areas of Cimarron County, Oklahoma Protected areas of Dallam County, Texas Grasslands of Oklahoma 1960 establishments in Oklahoma 1960 establishments in Texas Protected areas established in 1960