Did you know that trees can play a vital role in some types of grassland communities? Approximately 200 different types of grasslands have been identified in the Southeast and several of those grassland communities include trees. This fact often surprises people because of our common view that grasslands are completely devoid of trees. In this photo essay we are celebrating some of the grassland communities that include trees, as well as some of the plants and animals that make up those communities.

A meadow of grasses and yellow flowers spread out under scattered pine and oak trees. — A shortleaf pine-oak savanna. Fort Chaffee Army Base, Arkansas. Photo credit: Theo Witsell

In the foreground is a tree trunk surrounded by a clump of yellow-flower bee balm while a meadow of grasses and wildflowers under scattered trees extends into the background. — A post oak savanna with the globally rare yellow-flower bee-balm in the Arkansas River Valley Grasslands. Photo credit: Theo Witsell

A meadow of grasses and yellow wildflowers extends below scattered trees. — A savanna on the Cumberland Plateau.

Tall pine trees with grasses growing underneath. — A longleaf pine savanna. Nearly 1,000 plant species are endemic (only found in) the longleaf pine ecosystem of the outer Coastal Plain, which helps make it one of America’s richest ecosystems. Photo credit: USFWS

Scattered, gnarly, old oak trees with a carpet of grasses underneath. — Small and stunted post oaks in this rare Ozark Shale Barrens have been cored and dated at more than 250 years old. While post oaks can survive in closed canopy forests, they require open areas with lots of sunlight in order for the seedlings to become established. Kessler Mountain. Washington County, Arkansas. Photo credit: Theo Witsell

Bright yellow woodland sunflowers. — Woodland sunflowers grow in open woodland and savanna habitats. Their flowers support numerous pollinators and their seeds are eaten by a wide variety of birds. Photo credit: Mary Crickmore

A Louisiana pine snake curled up among the pine needles. — The USFWS considers the federally threatened Louisiana pine snake one of the rarest snakes in North America. One of the reasons for its decline is a loss of habitat, especially longleaf and shortleaf pine savannas. Photo credit: USFWS

A red-cockaded woodpecker with an insect in its mouth perched in front of a nest entrance. — The federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker is a savanna obligate species that requires living pine trees with heart rot. Photo credit: USFWS

An eastern bluebird in a tree. — Eastern bluebirds, a favorite visitor to many people’s yards, are cavity nesters that require open areas. Today, bluebirds commonly nest in bluebird houses, but their natural nest sites would have been in hollow trees found in savannas and open woodlands. Photo credit: Shenandoah National Park

SHANNON TRIMBOLI, INTERIM DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Shannon helps the Southeastern Grasslands Initiative tell the forgotten and untold stories of our Southeastern grasslands.

THEO WITSELL, SGI CHIEF ECOLOGIST

Theo explores our native grasslands, gathers and synthesizes data on their ecological and historical significance, and provides scientific direction and ecological context for the Southeastern Grasslands Initiative.