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94-475: The Texas Blackland Prairies ecoregion covers an area of 50,300 km (19,400 sq mi), consisting of a main belt of 43,000 km (17,000 sq mi) and two islands of tallgrass prairie grasslands southeast of the main Blackland Prairie belt; both the main belt and the islands extend northeast–southwest. The main belt consists of oaklands and savannas and runs from just south of

188-538: A ban on professional employment, the refusal of higher education for the dissidents' children, police harassment and prison. During the 1980s, Czechoslovakia became one of the most tightly controlled Communist regimes in the Warsaw Pact in resistance to the mitigation of controls notified by Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev . In 1989, the Velvet Revolution restored democracy. This occurred around

282-627: A chance for many of their compatriots to participate in communal life before independence. Palacký supported Austro-Slavism and worked for a reorganized federal Austrian Empire , which would protect the Slavic speaking peoples of Central Europe against Russian and German threats. An advocate of democratic reform and Czech autonomy within Austria-Hungary, Masaryk was elected twice to the Reichsrat (Austrian Parliament), from 1891 to 1893 for

376-419: A crew of 12 federal field agents conducted a 17-year (1889–1905), statewide survey of the natural history of Texas. The survey collected detailed data on the topography , land use, climate , as well as plant, bird, and mammal specimens, and extensive photographs of the landscape. However, because the natural state of the Blackland Prairie region was so altered, even at that time, that little wildlife remained and

470-589: A dominant species. The tallgrass prairie biome depends on prairie fires, a form of wildfire , for its survival and renewal. Tree seedlings and intrusive alien species without fire tolerance are eliminated by periodic fires. Such fires may either be set by humans (for example, Native Americans used fires to drive bison and improve hunting, travel, and visibility) or started naturally by lightning. White-tailed deer fecal matter has nutrients for plant biodiversity in Tallgrass prairie area. As its name suggests,

564-604: A few of the smaller species include threadfin shad ( Dorosoma petenense ), red shiner ( Cyprinella lutrensis ), blacktail shiner ( Cyprinella venusta ), shoal chub ( Macrhybopsis hyostoma ), ghost shiner ( Notropis buchanani ), pugnose minnow ( Opsopoeodus emiliae ), fathead minnow ( Pimephales promelas ), bullhead minnow ( Pimephales vigilax ), river carpsucker ( Carpiodes carpio ), blackstripe topminnow ( Fundulus notatus ), slough darter ( Etheostoma gracile ), bigscale logperch ( Percina macrolepida ), and dusky darter ( Percina sciera ) and many others. Because of

658-424: A large percentage of forbs , such as lead plant ( Amorpha spp.), prairie rosinweed ( Silphium spp.), gayfeathers ( Liatris spp.), sunflowers ( Helianthus spp.), asters ( Aster and Symphyotrichum spp.), coneflowers ( Echinacea spp., and Rudbeckia spp.), and many other species. Technically, prairies have less than 5–11% tree cover. A grass-dominated plant community with 10–49% tree cover

752-467: A major factor in the 1980s. Slightly after the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, there was a lack of essential infrastructure in many areas – paved roads , railways , bridges , etc. Massive improvement in the following years enabled Czechoslovakia to develop its industry. Prague 's civil airport in Ruzyně became one of the most modern terminals in the world when it was finished in 1937. Tomáš Baťa ,

846-511: A political monopoly was held by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). The leader of the KSČ was de facto the most powerful person in the country during this period. Gustáv Husák was elected first secretary of the KSČ in 1969 (changed to general secretary in 1971) and president of Czechoslovakia in 1975. Other parties and organizations existed but functioned in subordinate roles to

940-429: A significant increase in pasture for livestock production, ca. 25% tame pasture and 25% rangeland. "As a result of cultivation, overgrazing , and other imprudent land-use practices, there are few if any remnants of climax vegetation in the region." The Blackland Prairie was a disturbance maintained ecosystem prior to the arrival of Europeans. Fires ignited by lightning occasionally swept the area, clearing or reducing

1034-648: A threat to German rule. Just like Jews, Poles, Serbs, and several other nations, Czechs were considered to be untermenschen by the Nazi state. In 1940, in a secret Nazi plan for the Germanization of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia it was declared that those considered to be of racially Mongoloid origin and the Czech intelligentsia were not to be Germanized. The deportation of Jews to concentration camps

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1128-777: A unified Czechoslovakia was restored after World War II (after the country had been divided during the war), the conflict between the Czechs and the Slovaks surfaced again. The governments of Czechoslovakia and other Central European nations deported ethnic Germans, reducing the presence of minorities in the nation. Most of the Jews had been killed during the war by the Nazis. Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1921 Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1930 *Jews identified themselves as Germans or Hungarians (and Jews only by religion not ethnicity),

1222-869: A variety of wildflowers including gayfeathers , asters , Maximilian sunflower , wild indigos and compass plant . Mammals: Some species found in the region include Virginia opossum ( Didelphis virginiana ), nine-banded armadillo ( Dasypus novemcinctus ), Eastern red bat ( Lasiurus borealis ), Brazilian free-tailed bat ( Tadarida brasiliensis ), fulvous harvest mouse ( Reithrodontomys fulvescens ), white-footed mouse ( Peromyscus leucopus ), hispid cotton rat ( Sigmodon hispidus ) ), eastern fox squirrel ( Sciurus niger ), American beaver ( Castor canadensis ), white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), northern raccoon ( Procyon lotor ), striped skunk ( Mephitis mephitis ), bobcat ( Lynx rufus ), gray fox ( Urocyon cinereoargenteus ), and coyotes ( Canis latrans ). The large, keystone species that once inhabited

1316-656: Is a savanna . After the steel plow was invented by John Deere in 1833, this fertile soil became one of America's most important resources. Over 95% of the original tallgrass prairie is now farmland . The tallgrass prairie survives in areas unsuited to plowing: the rocky hill country of the Flint Hills , which runs north to south through east-central Kansas ; the eastern fringe of the Red River Valley ( Tallgrass Aspen Parkland ) in Manitoba and Minnesota;

1410-405: Is capable of supporting significant biodiversity. Parts of the ecoregion are among the "top ten ecoregions for reptiles, birds, butterflies, and tree species. Tallgrass species are found in the understory layer." Oak ( blackjack oak ( Quercus marilandica ) and post oak ( Q. stellata )) and hickory tree species occur in some areas, but generally in moderate densities. Bison ( Bison bison ) were

1504-727: The Coteau des Prairies , which extends from South Dakota through Minnesota and into Iowa ; and the far north portion of Oklahoma . In Oklahoma, the tallgrass prairie has been maintained by ranchers, who saw the hat-high grass as prime grazing area for cattle . The 39,000-acre (158 km ) Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Osage County, Oklahoma , and the somewhat smaller 10,900-acre (44.1 km ) Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas, attempt to maintain this ecosystem in its natural form. They have reintroduced plains bison to

1598-554: The Caddo National Grassland (17,784 acres (71.97 km)) under the multiple-use concept, balancing resource extraction, preservation, and recreation. The State of Texas administers a number of state parks and wildlife management areas in the region, however they are mostly located around human-made lakes and riparian zones of rivers and creeks, focusing on recreation, fishing, and hunting, and not prairie conservation. Many of these areas are leased, not owned, by

1692-728: The Danube River basin. The weather is mild winters and mild summers. Influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, the Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. There is no continental weather. The area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until it collapsed at the end of World War I . The new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He

1786-664: The NSDAP in the December 1938 elections. Almost every decree explicitly stated that the sanctions did not apply to antifascists. Some 250,000 Germans, many married to Czechs, some antifascists, and also those required for the post-war reconstruction of the country, remained in Czechoslovakia. The Beneš Decrees still cause controversy among nationalist groups in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Hungary. Following

1880-919: The National Natural Landmark , Gensburg-Markham Prairie . Tallgrass prairie remnants can also be found among nature preserves within the Hobart Nature District , located in Hobart, Indiana just outside of Chicago. The original extent of tallgrass prairie in Canada was the 2,300-square-mile (6,000 km ) plain in the Red River Valley , southwest of Winnipeg in Manitoba ( see map). While most of Manitoba's tallgrass prairie has been destroyed through cultivation and urban expansion, relatively small areas persist. One of

1974-804: The Red River on the Texas- Oklahoma border through the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area and southward to the vicinity of San Antonio , Bexar County . The central forest-grasslands transition lies to the north and northwest, and the Edwards Plateau savanna and the Tamaulipan mezquital lie to the southwest. The larger of the two islands is the Fayette Prairie , encompassing 17,000 km (6,600 sq mi), and

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2068-711: The Sudetenland . On 29 September 1938, Britain and France ceded control in the Appeasement at the Munich Conference ; France ignored the military alliance it had with Czechoslovakia. During October 1938, Nazi Germany occupied the Sudetenland border region, effectively crippling Czechoslovak defences. The First Vienna Award assigned a strip of southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary. Poland occupied Zaolzie, an area whose population

2162-597: The Warsaw Pact of 1955. A period of political liberalization in 1968, the Prague Spring , ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by other Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Czechoslovakia . In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments and communism were ending all over Central and Eastern Europe , Czechoslovaks peacefully deposed their communist government during the Velvet Revolution , which began on 17 November 1989 and ended 11 days later on 28 November when all of

2256-790: The Young Czech Party , and from 1907 to 1914 for the Czech Realist Party , which he had founded in 1889 with Karel Kramář and Josef Kaizl . During World War I a number of Czechs and Slovaks, the Czechoslovak Legions , fought with the Allies in France and Italy, while large numbers deserted to Russia in exchange for its support for the independence of Czechoslovakia from the Austrian Empire. With

2350-680: The autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945). ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without a formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution following the 1948 coup . ČSSR; from 1969, after the Prague Spring , consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic (ČSR) and Slovak Socialist Republic (SSR). Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR . Oblast of Ukraine . After World War II,

2444-461: The first tallgrass prairie restoration was the 1936 Curtis Prairie at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum . The UW Arboretum was the center of tallgrass prairie research through the first half of the 20th century, with the development of the nearby Greene Prairie, Aldo Leopold Shack and Farm and pioneering techniques like prescribed burning . The latter half of the 20th century saw

2538-911: The 1946 parliamentary election, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was the winner in the Czech lands , and the Democratic Party won in Slovakia. In February 1948 the Communists seized power . Although they would maintain the fiction of political pluralism through the existence of the National Front , except for a short period in the late 1960s (the Prague Spring ) the country had no liberal democracy . Since citizens lacked significant electoral methods of registering protest against government policies, periodically there were street protests that became violent. For example, there were riots in

2632-666: The 1980s, spurred by the publication of a book of appreciation, John Madson 's Where the Sky Began: Land of the Tallgrass Prairie (1982). Nonprofit organizations throughout the former tallgrass prairie region began to reserve or restore small remnants of native prairie. For example, the Native Prairies Association of Texas was founded in 1986 to locate, restore, and protect prairies in Texas;

2726-588: The American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis ) ranges into the Blackland Prairies. The ubiquitous red-eared slider ( Trachemys scripta ) is found throughout the region, the river cooter ( Pseudemys concinna ) in the northeast, the Texas cooter ( Pseudemys texana ) in the southwest, the Mississippi map turtle ( Graptemys pseudogeographica ) in the larger rivers, and several records of

2820-732: The Blackland Prairie. Salamanders include the small-mouthed salamander ( Ambystoma texanum ), central newt ( Notophthalmus viridescens ), and western lesser siren ( Siren intermedia ). Fish: Among the many fish of the region are spotted bass ( Micropterus punctulatus ), white bass ( Morone chrysops ), black crappie ( Pomoxis nigromaculatus ), white crappie ( Pomoxis annularis ), black bullhead ( Ameiurus melas ), blue catfish ( Ictalurus furcatus ), flathead catfish ( Pylodictis olivaris ), freckled madtom ( Noturus nocturnus ), warmouth ( Lepomis gulosus ), orangespotted sundfish ( Lepomis humilis ), longear sunfish ( Lepomis megalotis ), freshwater drum ( Aplodinotus grunniens ). Just

2914-472: The Blackland Prairies, before the arrival of Europeans and the destruction of the tallgrass ecosystem, are now extirpated , including American bison ( Bos bison ), gray wolf ( Canis lupus ), red wolf ( Canis rufus ), mountain lion ( Puma concolor ), black bear ( Ursus americanus ), and pronghorn ( Antilocapra americana ) which once ranged into the western areas, and even jaguar ( Panthera onca ) and ocelot ( Leopardus pardalis ) that once occurred in

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3008-607: The Czech intelligentsia; the intellectual elites and middle class made up a considerable number of the 200,000 people who passed through concentration camps and the 250,000 who died during German occupation. Under Generalplan Ost , it was assumed that around 50% of Czechs would be fit for Germanization . The Czech intellectual elites were to be removed not only from Czech territories but from Europe completely. The authors of Generalplan Ost believed it would be best if they emigrated overseas, as even in Siberia they were considered

3102-629: The Czechs of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, German occupation was a period of brutal oppression. Czech losses resulting from political persecution and deaths in concentration camps totaled between 36,000 and 55,000. The Jewish populations of Bohemia and Moravia (118,000 according to the 1930 census) were virtually annihilated. Many Jews emigrated after 1939; more than 70,000 were killed; 8,000 survived at Terezín. Several thousand Jews managed to live in freedom or in hiding throughout

3196-536: The German war effort was accelerated. Under the authority of Karl Hermann Frank , German minister of state for Bohemia and Moravia, some 350,000 Czech laborers were dispatched to the Reich. Within the protectorate, all non-war-related industry was prohibited. Most of the Czech population obeyed quiescently up until the final months preceding the end of the war, while thousands were involved in the resistance movement . For

3290-647: The Gulf War with a small force of 200 troops under the command of the U.S.-led coalition. In 1992, because of growing nationalist tensions in the government, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved by parliament. On 31 December 1992, it formally separated into two independent countries, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic . ČSR; boundaries and government established by the 1920 constitution . Annexed by Nazi Germany . ČSR; included

3384-817: The KSČ. All political parties, as well as numerous mass organizations, were grouped under umbrella of the National Front . Human rights activists and religious activists were severely repressed. Czechoslovakia had the following constitutions during its history (1918–1992): In the 1930s, the nation formed a military alliance with France, which collapsed in the Munich Agreement of 1938. After World War II , an active participant in Council for Mutual Economic Assistance ( Comecon ), Warsaw Pact , United Nations and its specialized agencies; signatory of conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe . Before World War II,

3478-604: The Slovaks, who were hostile to the more numerous Czechs, weakened the country in the late 1930s. Slovakia became autonomous in the fall of 1938, and by mid-1939, Slovakia had become independent, with the First Slovak Republic set up as a satellite state of Nazi Germany and the far-right Slovak People's Party in power . After 1933, Czechoslovakia remained the only democracy in central and eastern Europe. In September 1938, Adolf Hitler demanded control of

3572-502: The Soviet Union, gradually put the brakes on their earlier liberal policies. Meanwhile, one plank of the reform program had been carried out: in 1968–69, Czechoslovakia was turned into a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic . The theory was that under the federation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the state would be largely eliminated. A number of ministries, such as education, now became two formally equal bodies in

3666-427: The area quickly led to widespread habitat loss. Early Czechoslovakian and German immigrants arrived in the region around 1825 to 1845 and found the rich black soil excellent for farming. By the end of the 19th century 98% of the blackland prairies were cultivated and it was the leading cotton region of the state, also producing sorghum, corn, wheat, and hay. The land was so valuable, crops were planted abruptly up to

3760-431: The biological survey crew spent little time there, ca. 4% of the total fieldwork. The human population of Texas in 1900 was less than 3,000,000 (ca. 11 people per square mile), in 2001 it was over 20,000,000 (ca. 78 people per square mile), in 2019 it was nearly 29,000,000 (96 people per square mile). Although 98% of the land was cultivated around 1900, after 1950 a shift in land use occurred, with about 50% in cultivation and

3854-519: The clay, which can cause damage to buildings and infrastructure. Soil management problems also include water erosion, cotton root rot, soil tilth , and brush control. The rich black 'waxland' soil of these prairies is almost proof against burrowing rodents, which penetrate the region only along some sandy stream bottoms, while the open country tempts jack rabbits, coyotes, and other plains species eastward slightly beyond their usual bounds. Few, if any, species are restricted to these prairie, however, and

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3948-800: The copperhead ( Agkistrodon contortrix ), cottonmouth ( Agkistrodon piscivorus ), timber rattlesnake ( Crotalus horridus ), and the Texas coralsnake ( Micrurus tener ). Amphibians: Frogs and toads in the region include the American bullfrog ( Lithobates catesbeianus ), southern leopard frog ( Lithobates sphenocephalus ), Woodhouse's toad ( Anaxyrus woodhousii ), Hurter's spadefoot toad ( Scaphiopus hurterii ), Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad ( Gastrophryne olivacea ), Blanchard's cricket frog ( Acris blanchardi ), Cope's gray treefrog ( Hyla chrysoscelis ), green treefrog ( Hyla cinerea ), spotted chorus frog ( Pseudacris clarkii ), Strecker's chorus frog ( Pseudacris streckeri ), and another ten species recorded from limited areas or marginal counties of

4042-503: The economy was about the fourth in all industrial countries in Europe. The state was based on strong economy, manufacturing cars ( Škoda , Tatra ), trams, aircraft ( Aero , Avia ), ships, ship engines ( Škoda ), cannons, shoes ( Baťa ), turbines, guns ( Zbrojovka Brno ). It was the industrial workshop for the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Slovak lands relied more heavily on agriculture than the Czech lands. After World War II,

4136-484: The economy was centrally planned, with command links controlled by the communist party, similarly to the Soviet Union . The large metallurgical industry was dependent on imports of iron and non-ferrous ores. After World War II, the country was short of energy, relying on imported crude oil and natural gas from the Soviet Union, domestic brown coal , and nuclear and hydroelectric energy . Energy constraints were

4230-818: The effect on distribution is mainly negative." The negative effect on distribution is evident in the Texas distribution of many wide-ranging species of both eastern and western North American fauna reaching their respective distributional limits in the region of the Texas Blackland Prairies and East Central Texas forests [e.g. eastern: American alligator ( Alligator mississippiensis ), eastern gray squirrel ( Sciurus carolinensis ), southern flying squirrel ( Glaucomys volans ),; western: American badger ( Taxidea taxus ), western diamondback rattlesnake ( Crotalus atrox ); and other fauna listed below]. Important prairie plants included little bluestem , yellow indiangrass , big bluestem , tall dropseed , and

4324-412: The encroachment of trees and shrubs on the prairie, while stimulating the native herbaceous prairie species of forbs and grasses which are pyrophytic , adapted and resistant to wildfires. The exact frequency of fires is unknown but estimated to have occurred at intervals of 5 to 10 years. Herds of bison , and to a lesser extent pronghorn and deer, grazed on the grasses and trampled and fertilized

4418-553: The expulsion of the ethnic German population from Czechoslovakia, parts of the former Sudetenland , especially around Krnov and the surrounding villages of the Jesenik mountain region in northeastern Czechoslovakia, were settled in 1949 by Communist refugees from Northern Greece who had left their homeland as a result of the Greek Civil War . These Greeks made up a large proportion of the town and region's population until

4512-626: The group currently protects about 2,780 acres (11.3 km ) of Texas prairies. The Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie , founded in 1996 near Elwood, Illinois , was, as of 2006, the largest tallgrass prairie restoration area in the United States. In Minnesota, Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge was established in 2004. The core of the refuge is a preserved 5,000-acre (20 km ) tallgrass prairie remnant, and an additional 30,000 acres (121 km ) are either in

4606-586: The growth of tallgrass prairie restoration beyond Wisconsin borders, with projects in Illinois such as at Knox College , College of DuPage , Morton Arboretum , and Fermi National Laboratory , and projects in Iowa including Grinnell College 's Conard Environmental Research Area . These major tallgrass restoration projects marked restoration’s growth from isolated studies to widespread practice. Tallgrass prairie restoration efforts picked up wider public recognition in

4700-626: The largest blocks of remaining tallgrass prairie in Manitoba is protected by several conservation partners in a conservation area called the Tallgrass Aspen Parkland. The Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve , which occupies small portions of the municipalities of Stuartburn and Emerson – Franklin , forms a part of the Tallgrass Aspen Parkland. This preserve contains about 4,000 ha (9,900 acres) of tallgrass prairie, aspen parkland , and wetlands. A small pocket of less than 1,200 acres (5 km ) of tallgrass prairie remains in

4794-589: The late 1980s/early 1990s. Although defined as "Greeks", the Greek Communist community of Krnov and the Jeseniky region actually consisted of an ethnically diverse population, including Greek Macedonians , Macedonians , Vlachs , Pontic Greeks and Turkish speaking Urums or Caucasus Greeks . Carpathian Ruthenia (Podkarpatská Rus) was occupied by (and in June 1945 formally ceded to) the Soviet Union. In

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4888-480: The maintenance of the prairie through controlled burns to make more land suitable for hunting bison and other game. Hunter-gatherers continually inhabited the prairie since pre-Clovis times over 15,000 years ago. In historic times, they included the Wichita , Waco , Tonkawa , and Comanche , each of whom were gradually replaced by settled agrarian society. The advent of large-scale irrigated farming and ranching in

4982-685: The most diverse group of reptiles in the region, species include the North American racer ( Coluber constrictor ), eastern hog-nosed snake ( Heterodon platirhinos ), prairie kingsnake ( Lampropeltis calligaster ), speckled kingsnake ( Lampropeltis holbrooki ), coachwhip ( Masticophis flagellum ), yellow-bellied watersnake ( Nerodia erythrogaster ), diamond-backed watersnake ( Nerodia rhombifer ), rough greensnake ( Opheodrys aestivus ), western ratsnake ( Pantherophis obsoletus ), Graham's crayfishsnake ( Regina grahamii ), flat-headed snake ( Tantilla gracilis ), western ribbonsnake ( Thamnophis proximus ), and several others. Venomous species include

5076-492: The most industrialized regions of the former Austria-Hungary. The new country was a multi-ethnic state, with Czechs and Slovaks as constituent peoples . The population consisted of Czechs (51%), Slovaks (16%), Germans (22%), Hungarians (5%) and Rusyns (4%). Many of the Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Poles and some Slovaks, felt oppressed because the political elite did not generally allow political autonomy for minority ethnic groups. This policy led to unrest among

5170-403: The most obvious features of the tallgrass prairie are tall grasses , such as indiangrass ( Sorghastrum nutans ), big bluestem ( Andropogon gerardi ), little bluestem ( Schizachyrium scoparium ), and switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ), which average between 4.9 and 6.6 ft (1.5 and 2 m) tall, with occasional stalks as high as 8.2 to 9.8 ft (2.5 to 3 m). Prairies also include

5264-428: The non-Czech population, particularly in German-speaking Sudetenland , which initially had proclaimed itself part of the Republic of German-Austria in accordance with the self-determination principle. The state proclaimed the official ideology that there were no separate Czech and Slovak nations, but only one nation of Czechoslovaks (see Czechoslovakism ), to the disagreement of Slovaks and other ethnic groups. Once

5358-421: The northwestern band of the region. The smaller southeastern band includes much of Grimes and Washington counties as well as portions of Austin , Colorado , Fayette , and the northwestern half of Lavaca county. Sources and maps vary on the exact boundaries of the Blackland Prairie, and some may include or exclude different portions of peripheral counties. Native American hunter-gatherers contributed to

5452-428: The occupation. Despite the estimated 136,000 deaths at the hands of the Nazi regime, the population in the Reichsprotektorate saw a net increase during the war years of approximately 250,000 in line with an increased birth rate. On 6 May 1945, the third US Army of General Patton entered Plzeň from the south west. On 9 May 1945, Soviet Red Army troops entered Prague . After World War II, pre-war Czechoslovakia

5546-400: The occupations. In 1948, this provision was cancelled for the Hungarians, but only partially for the Germans. The government then confiscated the property of the Germans and expelled about 90% of the ethnic German population , over 2 million people. Those who remained were collectively accused of supporting the Nazis after the Munich Agreement , as 97.32% of Sudeten Germans had voted for

5640-408: The outbreak of World War I, Masaryk began working for Czech independence in a union with Slovakia. With Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik , Masaryk visited several Western countries and won support from influential publicists. The Czechoslovak National Council was the main organization that advanced the claims for a Czechoslovak state. The Bohemian Kingdom ceased to exist in 1918 when it

5734-677: The prairie's demise were the confined grazing pattern of European cattle versus bison, the near-extermination of prairie dogs, and the plowing and cultivation of the land, which breached tallgrass root systems and interrupted reproduction. Furthermore, extensive tile drainage has changed the soil's water content and hydrodynamics, and ongoing soil erosion results in its increasing loss. Estimates differ of how much original tallgrass prairie survives, ranging from less than 1% mostly in "scattered remnants found in pioneer cemeteries, restoration projects, along highways and railroad rights-of-way, and on steep bluffs high above rivers" to 4%. Tallgrass prairie

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5828-474: The preservation of the Soviet, socialist system and vowed to intervene in any state that sought to replace Marxism-Leninism with capitalism . In the week after the invasion, there was a spontaneous campaign of civil resistance against the occupation. This resistance involved a wide range of acts of non-cooperation and defiance: this was followed by a period in which the Czechoslovak Communist Party leadership, having been forced in Moscow to make concessions to

5922-434: The prime architect of the Czechoslovak-Romanian-Yugoslav alliance (the " Little Entente ", 1921–38) directed against Hungarian attempts to reclaim lost areas. Beneš worked closely with France. Far more dangerous was the German element, which after 1933 became allied with the Nazis in Germany. Czech-Slovak relations came to be a central issue in Czechoslovak politics during the 1930s. The increasing feeling of inferiority among

6016-589: The process of restoration or will be soon. According to The Nature Conservancy , so far, 100 wetlands have been restored, and 8,000 acres (32 km ) of land has been seeded with native plant species. Several books have been published on tallgrass prairie restoration, including: Czechoslovakian Czechoslovakia ( / ˌ tʃ ɛ k oʊ s l oʊ ˈ v æ k i . ə , ˈ tʃ ɛ k ə -, - s l ə -, - ˈ v ɑː -/ CHEK -oh-sloh- VAK -ee-ə, CHEK -ə-, -⁠slə-, -⁠ VAH - ; Czech and Slovak : Československo , Česko-Slovensko )

6110-766: The rare chicken turtle ( Deirochelys reticularia ). Others include eastern snapping turtle ( Chelydra serpentina ), three-toed box turtle ( Terrapene triunguis ), ornate box turtle ( Terrapene ornata ), Mississippi mud turtle ( Kinosternon subrubrum ), eastern musk turtle ( Sternotherus odoratus ), spiny softshellturtle ( Apalone spinifera ). Lizards include Green Anole ( Anolis carolinensis ), Six-lined Racerunner ( Aspidoscelis sexlineatus ), Prairie Lizard ( Sceloporus conssbrinus ), Western Slender Glass Lizard ( Ophisaurus attenuatus ), Five-lined Skink ( Plestiodon fasciatus ), Broad-headed Skink ( Plestiodon laticeps ), Prairie Skink ( Plestiodon septentrionalis ), and Ground Skink ( Scincella lateralis ). Snakes are

6204-501: The reformer Alexander Dubček was appointed to the key post of First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, there was a brief period of liberalization known as the Prague Spring . In response, after failing to persuade the Czechoslovak leaders to change course, five other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded . Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia on the night of 20–21 August 1968. Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev viewed this intervention as vital for

6298-788: The region. Various seasonal and migratory species appearing in the region include Bufflehead ( Bucephala albeola ), Hooded Merganser ( Lophodytes cucullatus ), Little Blue Heron ( Egretta caerulea ), Yellow-crowned Night Heron ( Nyctanassa violacea ), Northern Harrier ( Circus hudsonius ), Inca Dove ( Columbina inca ), Yellow-billed Cuckoo ( Coccyzus americanus ), Ruby-throated Hummingbird ( Archilochus colubris ), Scissor-tailed Flycatcher ( Tyrannus forficatus ), American Pipit ( Anthus rubescens ), Orange-crowned Warbler ( Leiothlypis celata ), Blue Grosbeak ( Passerina caerulea ), Indigo Bunting ( Passerina cyanea ), Painted Bunting ( Passerina ciris ), Harris's Sparrow ( Zonotrichia querula ), and Dickcissel ( Spiza americana ). A few of

6392-485: The roadsides, seldom fenced, and riparian areas were cleared right to the creek banks. Several of the larger cities in the state, such as Austin , Dallas , Fort Worth , San Antonio , Temple , and Waco , are located in the region and the agricultural activity in the area was a significant factor in their growth in the 19th century. The U. S. Bureau of Biological Survey [now the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ], led by chief field naturalist Vernon Bailey with

6486-417: The same time as the fall of communism in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany and Poland. The word "socialist" was removed from the country's full name on 29 March 1990 and replaced by "federal". Pope John Paul II made a papal visit to Czechoslovakia on 21 April 1990, hailing it as a symbolic step of reviving Christianity in the newly-formed post-communist state. Czechoslovakia participated in

6580-823: The smaller is the San Antonio Prairie , with an area of 7,000 km (2,700 sq mi). The two islands are separated from the main belt by the oak woodlands of the East Central Texas forests , which surround the islands on all sides but the northeast, where the Fayette Prairie meets the East Texas Piney Woods . Texas counties that once supported blackland prairies include all or most of Collin , Dallas , Delta , Ellis , Hunt , Kaufman , Navarro , and Rockwall counties, as well as portions of Bastrop , Bell , Bexar , Caldwell , Denton , Falls , Fannin , Franklin , Freestone , Grayson , Guadalupe , Henderson , Hill , Hopkins , Johnson , Lamar , Limestone , McLennan , Milam , Rains , Red River , Tarrant , Titus , Travis , Van Zandt , and Williamson counties, all in

6674-443: The soil and climate, this ecoregion is ideally suited to crop agriculture. This has led to most of the Blackland Prairie ecosystem being converted to crop production, leaving less than one percent remaining. Some groups estimate that less than 0.1% of the area is remaining. Small remnants are conserved at sites such as The Nature Conservancy 's 1,400-acre Clymer Meadow Preserve near Celeste, TX . The U.S. Forest Service manages

6768-584: The soil through urine and feces. Prairie dogs , a type of squirrel, considered to be a keystone species , dug tunnels that "aerated the soil and channeled water several feet below the surface". For 5,000 to 8,000 years, more than 240 million acres (970,000 km ) of prairie grasslands were a major feature of the landscape. Between 1800 and 1930, the vast majority was destroyed. Settlers transformed what they named "the Great American Desert" or "The Inland Sea" into farmland. Major reasons for

6862-666: The soil, stimulating the growth of the tallgrass ecosystem. Bison were extirpated from the area by the 1850s. The soil of the Blackland Prairies, from which the "blackland" gets its name, contains black or dark-gray, alkaline clay in both upland and bottomland areas. Some western areas have shallow soils over chalk, while some soils in eastern areas are slightly acidic to neutral, grayish clays and loams over mottled clay subsoils (occasionally referred to as graylands). "Black gumbo" and "black velvet" are local names for this soil. The soils have vertisols properties, shrinking and swelling with moisture content. In dry weather, deep cracks form in

6956-460: The southern regions. Invasive species include nutria or coypu ( Myocastor coypus ), house mouse ( Mus musculus ), roof rat ( Rattus rattus ), and Norway rat ( Rattus norvegicus ). Feral house cats ( Felis catus ) and feral pigs ( Sus scrofa ), are of conservation concerns and pose serious threats to native fauna. Birds: With spring and fall migrants, wintering species, breading and summer species, well over 325 species of birds occur in

7050-658: The southwest corner of Windsor, Ontario , protected by Ojibway Park , and Spring Garden Area of Natural Scientific Interest, along with the interconnected parks: Black Oak Heritage Park , Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve , and the Tallgrass Prairie Heritage Park . Aside from the Provincial Nature Reserve, all are operated by the City of Windsor's Parks and Recreation. Considered the birthplace of ecological restoration ,

7144-502: The state (* = leased). 32°N 96°W  /  32°N 96°W  / 32; -96 Tallgrass prairie The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America . Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire , as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison ) provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroachment of trees, recycling soil nutrients, and facilitating seed dispersal and germination. Prior to widespread use of

7238-562: The state ceased to exist, as Slovakia proclaimed its independence and Carpathian Ruthenia became part of Hungary , while the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed in the remainder of the Czech Lands . In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II , former Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš formed a government-in-exile and sought recognition from the Allies . After World War II, Czechoslovakia

7332-596: The steel plow, which enabled large scale conversion to agricultural land use, tallgrass prairies extended throughout the American Midwest and smaller portions of southern central Canada , from the transitional ecotones out of eastern North American forests, west to a climatic threshold based on precipitation and soils, to the southern reaches of the Flint Hills in Oklahoma, to a transition into forest in Manitoba. They were characteristically found in parts of

7426-504: The sum is, therefore, more than 100%. During the period between the two world wars Czechoslovakia was a democratic state. The population was generally literate, and contained fewer alienated groups. The influence of these conditions was augmented by the political values of Czechoslovakia's leaders and the policies they adopted. Under Tomas Masaryk , Czech and Slovak politicians promoted progressive social and economic conditions that served to defuse discontent. Foreign minister Beneš became

7520-475: The top Communist leaders and Communist party itself resigned. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the two sovereign states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia . The country was of generally irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands. The eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of

7614-481: The town of Plzeň in 1953 , reflecting economic discontent. Police and army units put down the rebellion, and hundreds were injured but no one was killed. While its economy remained more advanced than those of its neighbors in Eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia grew increasingly economically weak relative to Western Europe. The currency reform of 1953 caused dissatisfaction among Czechoslovak laborers. To equalize

7708-528: The two formally equal republics. However, the centralized political control by the Czechoslovak Communist Party severely limited the effects of federalization. The 1970s saw the rise of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, represented among others by Václav Havel . The movement sought greater political participation and expression in the face of official disapproval, manifested in limitations on work activities, which went as far as

7802-416: The upper Mississippi River Valley, in the central forest-grasslands transition , the central tall grasslands , the upper Midwest forest-savanna transition , and the northern tall grasslands ecoregions . They flourished in areas with rich loess soils and moderate rainfall around 30-35 inches (700–900 mm) per year. To the east were the fire-maintained eastern savannas . In the northeast, where fire

7896-574: The vast expanses of grass. Other U.S. preserves include Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois, Broken Kettle Preserve and Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa, Konza Prairie in Kansas, and Prairie State Park in Missouri. In eastern North Dakota is Sheyenne National Grassland , the only national grassland on the tallgrass prairie. Also, several small tallgrass prairie reservations are in Cook County , Illinois , including

7990-410: The wage rate, Czechoslovaks had to turn in their old money for new at a decreased value. The banks also confiscated savings and bank deposits to control the amount of money in circulation. In the 1950s, Czechoslovakia experienced high economic growth (averaging 7% per year), which allowed for a substantial increase in wages and living standards, thus promoting the stability of the regime. In 1968, when

8084-976: The year round resident species include wood duck ( Aix sponsa ), blue-winged teal ( Anas discors ), black vulture ( Coragyps atratus ), cooper's hawk ( Accipiter cooperii ), red-shouldered hawk ( Buteo lineatus ), American kestrel ( Falco sparverius ), great horned owl ( Bubo virginianus ), barred owl ( Strix varia ), greater roadrunner ( Geococcyx californianus ), belted kingfisher ( Megaceryle alcyon ), red-bellied woodpecker ( Melanerpes carolinus ), hairy woodpecker ( Leuconotopicus villosus ), loggerhead shrike ( Lanius ludovicianus ), red-winged blackbird ( Agelaius phoeniceus ), eastern meadowlark ( Sturnella magna ), eastern bluebird ( Sialia sialis ), tufted titmouse ( Baeolophus bicolor ), Carolina wren ( Thryothorus ludovicianus ), chipping sparrow ( Spizella passerina ), lark sparrow ( Chondestes grammacus ), and grasshopper sparrow ( Ammodramus savannarum ). Reptiles: Although not particularly abundant,

8178-520: Was a landlocked country in Central Europe , created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary . In 1938, after the Munich Agreement , the Sudetenland became part of Nazi Germany , while the country lost further territories to Hungary and Poland (the territories of southern Slovakia with a predominantly Hungarian population to Hungary and Zaolzie with a predominantly Polish population to Poland). Between 1939 and 1945,

8272-647: Was incorporated into Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was founded in October 1918, as one of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I and as part of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . It consisted of the present day territories of Bohemia , Moravia , parts of Silesia making up present day Czech Republic , Slovakia , and a region of present-day Ukraine called Carpathian Ruthenia . Its territory included some of

8366-622: Was infrequent and periodic windthrow represented the main source of disturbance, beech-maple forests dominated. In contrast, shortgrass prairie was typical in the western Great Plains , where rainfall is less frequent, and soils are less fertile. Due to expansive agricultural land use, very little tallgrass prairie remains. Retreating glaciers deposited the parent material for soil in the form of till , i.e. unsorted sediment, about 10,000 years ago. Wind-dropped loess and organic matter accumulated, resulting in deep levels of topsoil . Animals such as bison, elk, deer, and rabbits added nitrogen to

8460-543: Was majority Polish, in October 1938. On 14 March 1939, the remainder ("rump") of Czechoslovakia was dismembered by the proclamation of the Slovak State , the next day the rest of Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied and annexed by Hungary, while the following day the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed. The eventual goal of the German state under Nazi leadership was to eradicate Czech nationality through assimilation, deportation, and extermination of

8554-475: Was organized under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich , and the fortress town of Terezín was made into a ghetto way station for Jewish families. On 4 June 1942 Heydrich died after being wounded by an assassin in Operation Anthropoid . Heydrich's successor, Colonel General Kurt Daluege , ordered mass arrests and executions and the destruction of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky . In 1943

8648-470: Was reestablished under its pre-1938 borders, with the exception of Carpathian Ruthenia, which became part of the Ukrainian SSR (a republic of the Soviet Union ). The Communist Party seized power in a coup in 1948 . From 1948 to 1989, Czechoslovakia was part of the Eastern Bloc with a planned economy . Its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949 and its defense status in

8742-528: Was reestablished, with the exception of Sub carpathian Ruthenia , which was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic . The Beneš decrees were promulgated concerning ethnic Germans (see Potsdam Agreement ) and ethnic Hungarians. Under the decrees, citizenship was abrogated for people of German and Hungarian ethnic origin who had accepted German or Hungarian citizenship during

8836-554: Was succeeded by his close ally Edvard Beneš (1884–1948). The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, when philologists and educators, influenced by Romanticism , promoted the Czech language and pride in the Czech people . Nationalism became a mass movement in the second half of the 19th century. Taking advantage of the limited opportunities for participation in political life under Austrian rule, Czech leaders such as historian František Palacký (1798–1876) founded various patriotic, self-help organizations which provided

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