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“Animals of the Northern Great Plains.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, www.worldwildlife.org/stories/animals-of-the-northern-great-plains.

“Bison.” Defenders of Wildlife, defenders.org/wildlife/bison#:~:text=Bison%2C%20a%20keystone%20species%2C%20help,a%20healthy%20and%20balanced%20ecosystem.

“The Great Plains.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, www.worldwildlife.org/places/northern-great-plains.

“The Great Plains: Climate, Location, Animals and Interesting Facts.” Earth Eclipse, 20 July 2022, eartheclipse.com/science/geology/great-plains.html#:~:text=The%20Great%20Plains%20is%20a,the%20United%20States%20of%20America.

“Saving the Plains Bison.” Plains Bison, www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/plains_bison/index.html#:~:text=A%20celebrated%20symbol%20of%20the,destruction%20in%20the%20nineteenth%20century.

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The Ogallala aquifer is being further drained every year not only because of the climate in the region but also because of the region's habitats. Farmers and ranchers in the great plains region are overusing what little is left in the Ogallala aquifer for their crops. It is my proposition that if we rationed out the exact amount farmers needed to keep their crops thriving and used the remaining water for the wildlife, we can conserve more amounts of water every year and prevent the Ogallala aquifer from draining completely.

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The great plains' water source is continually being withdrawn by the drought in the Ogallala aquifer. This is largely due to climate change in the rise in evaporation rates every year.

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Bison today are known for their competition of land against cattle and cattle ranchers. They fight for reign of the plains, cattle ranchers are against bison in their areas because of the diseases that they carry and could pass on to the cattle. But bison are grazers who need the full space of the plains to provide a livable habitat in their ecosystem.

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In the great plains, bison, when they are babies, are prey to mountain lions, bears, or wolves.

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The northern great plains have lots of extreme weather conditions that range from dangerously hot to dangerously cold. They are also prone to great amounts of rainfall, hail, and drought. With a great open area, there is much sunlight available. Water can also be found in the myriad of rivers that exist in the Rocky Mountain area of the plains.

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The biotic species that live on the northern great plains are as follows: bison, pronghorn antelope, greater sage grouse, mountain plover, and black-footed ferrets.

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The Northern Great Plains are a 180 million acre field with a mix of short and tall grass. The types of grass that cover this field are prairie, steppe, and grassland. The weather there can be extremely freezing in the winter as well as extremely warm in the summer. With about 12 to 15 inches of rain per year, the plains are also susceptible to major thunderstorms and blizzards.

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Plains bison are listed on the IUCN Red List as being "Near Threatened".

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In the 19th century, The U.S. Government aimed to subdue the amount of indigenous groups that lived on the great, grassy, northern plains. To their knowledge, the government knew that these groups relied off of the bison for food and transportation. This resulted in the slaughtering of a majority of bison in the area as well as destroying the land that they lived off of, making supplies and food more scarce. Since then, the remaining indigenous groups of today and numerous conservation efforts worked hard to rise the number back to what it once was, but have failed. Leaving the number of bison the same as when they were massacred.

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Bison are responsible for creating a livable habitat for life on the great plains. Their hooves help move the seeds and aerate the soil which helps plant growth. They are also valuable assets for native tribes in the area, aiding with food and transportation. If the bison were to go extinct, we could expect to see a decline in the balance of their ecosystem. Without bison to forage the plains, the plant growth would decline. Without a proper plant life, all the species who benefit from eating those plants would despair. This also applies to the native tribes as they no longer can roam the plains and have scarcer access to plants for food and medicine.