Comanche National Grassland

Comanche National Grassland
IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
Picketwire Canyon is typical of the canyons in the Comanche National Grassland.
Location	Baca, Otero, and Las Animas counties, Colorado, USA
Nearest city	La Junta, CO
Coordinates	37°20′12″N 103°4′07″W / 37.33667°N 103.06861°W / 37.33667; -103.06861Coordinates: 37°20′12″N 103°4′07″W / 37.33667°N 103.06861°W / 37.33667; -103.06861
Area	443,081 acres (1,793.09 km2)
Established	June 23, 1960
Governing body	U.S. Forest Service
Website	Comanche National Grassland

Comanche National Grassland is a National Grassland located in southeastern Colorado, United States. It is the sister grassland of Cimarron National Grassland and contains both prairie grasslands and canyons. It is separated into two sections, each operated by a local ranger district, one of which is in Springfield and the other of which is in La Junta. The grassland is administered by the Forest Service together with the Pike and San Isabel National Forests, and the Cimarron National Grassland, from common headquarters located in Pueblo, Colorado.

Comanche National Grassland consists of 463,373 acres (187,520 ha) in two units: (1) Timpas, south of La Junta, and (2) Carrizo, south of Springfield. Both units have privately owned tracts of ranchland mixed in with the government-owned land.

Elevations on the grassland range from 3,900 feet (1,190 m) in the southeastern corner of the Carrizo Unit on the Oklahoma border to 6,200 feet (1,890 m) on Fallas Mesa in the northwestern art of the same unit. Average annual precipitation on the grassland ranges from 12 inches (300 mm) at La Junta to 17 inches (430 mm) at Springfield. Summer temperatures are hot with the average high above 90 °F (32 °C); winters are cold with average low temperatures in January below 20 °F (−7 °C). Vegetation is mostly steppe and shortgrass prairie, although pinyon and juniper trees are found in rocky canyons and cottonwoods and willows grow near streams. Western soapberry and netleaf hackberry are common in some areas near canyon bottoms, as well as some larger Gambel oak. Chickasaw plum and fragrant mimosa are occasional on uplands within grass cover. A few ponderosa pines are found on cool, moist hillsides. Wildlife on the grassland includes pronghorn, prairie dogs, lesser prairie chickens, mule deer, elk, wild turkey, golden eagle, swift fox, and infrequent roadrunners. Three hundred and twenty-eight species of birds, including many Eastern birds at the limit of their range, have been recorded in Baca County where most of the Carrizo unit is located.