Why arent there forests in the midwest?

[Conan]

I was just thinking about how there seems to be a tree that can survive in nearly any climate, yet the midwest, the most fertile region of the United States, is made up primarily of plains. Does anyone know what condition or conditions prevented forests from cropping up in this region? Glaciers? Soil type? Grazing? Any ideas?

[euterpenc]

The same reason as with everythign else: God said so.

[meshou]

Because the indians burned it down.

No, really.

[Conan]

Because the indians burned it down.

No, really.

No, really?

[MacGuffin]

There was a forest once, but then the Argentinian abandoned everyone in it so we don't allow anyone in there anymore.

[Conan]

There was a forest once, but then the Argentinian abandoned everyone in it so we don't allow anyone in there anymore.

Yeah you lost me.

[Pooja]

there are forests in Michigan

[Ka.avik]

Glaciers? Soil type? Grazing?
rain. There's not enough water for forests...where do you find the biggest trees? where it rains, or at least snows, almost daily, and the soil never totally dries out.

That has partly to do with the mechanism trees use to pull nutrients up from the soil: wicking action caused by the upper trees evaporating, thus the nutrient sludge from the root-areas just sort of oozes up the bark.

Not enough water? Not much tree.

//AAS in biology; hope I remembered that right...

[MacGuffin]

Yeah you lost me.
Not me! I don't wear fishnet stockings!

[coffeezombie]

there are forests in Michigan
Yeah. Michigan would be even more forested if it were not for the farms here and the need to chop down trees to make farms. I haven't heard anything about Native American forest fires, though.

[lexiphanic]

People want farmland more than forests.

[Nemesis]

I like it better that way. One of my aunts lives out on a ranch in South Dakota. It's beautiful out there. The sun rises like it does over the Savannah is blazing even in the dead of winter when it can get down to -26 (thats fahrenheit for you damned evil Metric/Celsius users) and sets to turn the sky to every color imaginable. It's even better in the summer and wouldn't be possible if it were populated by trees. People do plant tall leafy trees to shade their houses and cut down on energy costs though. *gets nostalgic* You know, I'm going to go plan a trip there on expedia. Excuse me for a moment. :D

[Edmond Zedo]

Not to get all scientific, but I believe the great plains are plains because the fertile soil isn't deep enough for forests. There's like...Clay or something down there. *shrug*

[meshou]

Not to get all scientific, but I believe the great plains are plains because the fertile soil isn't deep enough for forests. There's like...Clay or something down there. *shrug*There's evidence of Native Americans burning it down for farmland. Straight Dope article:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050708.html

[Nemesis]

There's evidence of Native Americans burning it down for farmland. Straight Dope article:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050708.html
Oh god. I remember the last time I was out in SD for summer, there was HUGE brush fire, I went with my uncle and cousin to help fight it. It was like driving through hell in a Ford F-250. Plus, they have no funding for a real fire station. They just have Ford pickups with huge watertanks and hoses on the back. FIVE of them. God, that was a long, soot-filled night.

[Serotonin]

There was a forest once, but then the Argentinian abandoned everyone in it so we don't allow anyone in there anymore.

Uh huh. Full of gauchos, that region. Dangerous. You pour your heart out, confronting bears, climbing walls, swimming across streams. And what for? Nuthin'.

[Madrigal]

I knew I had to ignore this thread. <_<

[INThoughtPolice]

There are forests in the midwest.

[Pooja]

there are forests in Michigan

yeah ^, this is what I said 11 posts ago...

[booyalab]

I was just thinking about how there seems to be a tree that can survive in nearly any climate, yet the midwest, the most fertile region of the United States, is made up primarily of plains. Does anyone know what condition or conditions prevented forests from cropping up in this region? Glaciers? Soil type? Grazing? Any ideas?

um, almost half of Minnesota is forest. There's also Northern Wisconsin and the U.P. (which is pretty much all forest, am I right?) Also parts of North Dakota and Missouri..and probably Illinois, to a lesser extent.

btw, the 'plains states' are often distinguished from the 'midwest', altogether.

[INThoughtPolice]

Ozarks.

[Burble]

My biology teacher said that the reason the great plains never had much for forests is because prairie fires (caused by lightning) often burnt them down before we europeans came. Farmers planted many trees for windbreaks, which help slow soil erosion and help keep you warmer in the windy winters.

You heard that right! Word from a motherf*ckin' hick!!

[last_caress]

yeah ^, this is what I said 11 posts ago...

Said what?

[Mountain_Recluse]

Less rain equals less forest and more grasses. The region used to be referred to as the "Great American Desert" by easterners used to twice the amount of precipitation (forty inches in Virginia, twenty inches in Nebraska or the Dakotas). Real desert is defined as having less than ten inches of precip.

There used to be more forest in Nebraska and the Dakotas.

Here is a good site for a better explanation of what happened historically.
http://www.northern.edu/natsource/HABITATS/Prairi1.htm

By the way...
The "midwest" for those of us who live farther west in Colorado, etc. extends only to Minnesota, Iowa, and some of Missouri. Southeastern Missouri is a combination of "east" and "south". Illinois definitely is "east" -- though for east coast people anything west of the Appalachians has always been the "West" and thus even to them Ohio was "midwest". I once debated with somebody from Baltimore who remarked that Baltimore was in the middle of the country.
<_<