What Are the Great Plains?
Describing a region is as much about who is doing the describing as the region itself. Ever since Walter Prescott Webb popularized the concept "The Great Plains" in 1931, there has been a debate about the region and where it begins and ends. Webb's description suggested that the region had a number of characteristics including:
- A broad treeless expanse where shortgrass is the dominant vegetation.
- A general aridity, especially seen west of the 100th Meridian, that resulted from being in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains.
Beyond those basic features, there is no consensus. The western border of the Rockies is largely agreed upon, but the other boundaries are more fluid.