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Texas Regions
What region do you live in?
Panhandle
Plains
The northern most area of Texas
is called the panhandle. It is
straight and narrow like the
handle of a pan with the broader
area of the state below it, like the
bottom of a pan.
Facts about the Panhandle Region
•This land has mostly flat, grassy lands
or plains.
•This land is also called the Llano
Estacado
or “ Staked Plains”.
•The land is mostly treeless and is on a
high flat plateau.
•The Red River, Pecos River, and the
Brazos River are located in this region.
Big Bend Country
West Texas has wide-open spaces with rugged
plateaus (plat-toes) and desert mountains.
The plateaus have short grasses and brush.
Facts About The Big Bend Country
•Big Bend Country is a region of extremes.
The desert is dry and hot in the day and
cool at night.
•The only mountains in Texas are found in
Big Bend Country.
•The Rio Grande River runs along the
southern part of the Big Bend Country.
•The Rio Grande is one of the longest rivers
in North America. This region is called "Big
Bend" because the Rio Grande River turns
here in a big bend.
Hill Country
The Hill Country of Texas was once
considered a sacred (holy) place for
the Native Americans that lived
here long ago.
Facts About the Hill Country
•The Texas Hill Country is located in Central
Texas.
•The land is rolling to hilly grassland.
•There are many springs and some steep canyons
in this area.
•Central Texas was once a land of many springs.
Human use and development has stopped the
flow of many springs.
•In the central part of this region, there are large
granite domes or uplifted areas. The most famous
one is Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg.
South Texas Plains
Birdwatchers from across the world come to
the South Texas Plains to view the many birds
along the border and coastal areas.
Facts About South Texas Plains
•The South Texas plains and brush country
stretches from the edges of the Hill Country into
the subtropical regions of the Lower Rio Grande
valley.
•Much of the area is dry and covered with grasses
and thorny brush such as mesquite and prickly
pear cacti.
•The Rio Grande is a very long river. Where it flows
through South Texas is called the lower Rio
Grande valley.
•Palms, subtropical woodlands and even citrus
trees grow here.
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast stretches along the
Gulf of Mexico for hundreds of
miles.
Facts About the Gulf Coast
• Cities like Corpus Christi, Galveston, and Houston are
in the Gulf Coast region.
• Near the gulf waters you can see marshes, barrier
islands, estuaries (where salty sea water and fresh
river water meet), and bays
• As you travel west, you can see prairies and
grasslands.
• Here you can find barrier islands along the coast, salt
grass marshes surrounding bays and estuaries, a few
remaining patches of tall grass prairies, scattered
along the coast and tall woodlands in the river
bottomlands.
Pineywoods
Swamps are common,
particularly in the southern
most area of the region which
is called the “Big Thicket.”
Facts About the Piney Woods
•The East Texas region is primarily a thick
forest of pines, hence the name Pineywoods!
• The terrain is rolling with lower, wetter
bottomlands that grow hardwood trees such
as elm, mesquite and ash.
•This region is home to a variety of plants and
animals that like woodlands and shorelines.
Among them are: cottonmouth snakes,
squirrels, rabbits and opossums.
Prairies and Lakes
Giant dinosaurs once roamed
this region long, long ago.
Fossils of 17 different dinosaurs
have been found including
Tyrannosaurus Rex!
Facts About Prairies and Lakes
•The Prairies and Lakes region is in north central and
central Texas
•Patches of woodland running in a north and south
direction are sprinkled throughout this grassland
prairie. The land is gently rolling to hilly.
•This region is sometimes called “cross timbers”
because these patches of treed areas cross strips of
prairie grassland.
•The soil here is rich, fertile, and black. Part of this
region is called Blackland Prairie because of this.
Bibliography
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/kids/about_texas/regions/index.phtml
http://www.tourtexas.com/texasmap_regions.html