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The Mixedgrass Subregion

Red Deer River ValleyThe Mixedgrass Subregion typically includes gently undulating to rolling morainal and glacial lake deposits, with minor areas of steeper terrain along the lower and middle slopes of Milk River Ridge the Cypress hills and the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana.  Slightly cooler and moister conditions prevail in this subregion relative to the Dry Mixedgrass subregion, and soils are primarily Dark Brown Chernozems.

The Mixedgrass Subregion is similar to the Dry Mixedgrass Subregion in many features. The topography is generally subdued with a few minor uplands. The Cypress Hills, however, are an exception as they are considered a prominent upland and the highest topographic feature between the Rocky Mountains and Labroador's Torngat Mountains. Other predominant landforms are glacial till and hummocky moraine but there are important areas of glaciolacustrine sand plains, and fine-textured glaciolacustrine lake deposits. The few permanent streams are well defined. Drainage is either to the Missouri River system via the Milk River or to the Saskatchewan River system.

Native grasslands in the Mixedgrass Subregion are dominated by needle grasses and wheat grasses, with many of the same forbs and dwarf shrubs that occur in grasslands of the Dry Mixedgrass Subregion.  Tall shrub and tree growth is also mostly restricted to moist draws and river valleys.

Information provided by and printed with the permission of Alberta Community Development, Parks and Protected Areas.

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