Hole in the Mountain Prairie is a preserved remnant of the tallgrass prairie

Tallgrass prairie

The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America, with fire as its primary periodic disturbance. In the past, tallgrass prairies covered a large portion of the American Midwest, just east of the Great Plains, and portions of the Canadian Prairies. They flourished in areas with...

 in southwestern Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. It is owned and administered by The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....

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Geography

Hole in the Mountain Prairie is located on Buffalo Ridge

Buffalo Ridge

Buffalo Ridge is a large expanse of rolling hills in the southeastern part of the larger Coteau des Prairies. It stands 1,995 feet above sea level. The Buffalo Ridge is sixty miles long and runs through Lincoln County, Pipestone County, Murray County, and Nobles County in the southwest...

 near the town of Lake Benton

Lake Benton, Minnesota

Lake Benton is a city in Lincoln County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 683 at the 2010 census.Lake Benton is also the name of the approximately seven-mile-long lake adjacent to the city of Lake Benton...

 in Lincoln County

Lincoln County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 6,429 people, 2,653 households, and 1,785 families residing in the county. The population density was 12 people per square mile . There were 3,043 housing units at an average density of 6 per square mile...

, southwestern Minnesota. It spans a valley of about a half-mile in width, with a total area of 590 acres (2.4 km²).

Flora

The preserve is home to about 60 species of grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

es and emergent vegetation, and about 200 species of wildflowers. Trees are a minor feature, with only about 10 species present.

Fauna

Whitetail deer, foxes, and numerous rodents are present, but The Nature Conservancy touts the butterflies

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 of Hole in the Mountain as the most unusual and significant of its creatures.

Geology

The preserve is located in a valley of Buffalo Ridge

Buffalo Ridge

Buffalo Ridge is a large expanse of rolling hills in the southeastern part of the larger Coteau des Prairies. It stands 1,995 feet above sea level. The Buffalo Ridge is sixty miles long and runs through Lincoln County, Pipestone County, Murray County, and Nobles County in the southwest...

, which is in turn a portion of the Coteau des Prairies

Coteau des Prairies

The Coteau des Prairies is a plateau approximately 200 miles in length and 100 miles in width , rising from the prairie flatlands in eastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa in the United States...

, a highland which originates in South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

 and runs about 200 miles (321.9 km) south and southeast through part of Minnesota and into northwestern Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

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