Grasslands in northern Arizona are actually closely related to the Great Plains. The vegetation of this section is usually thought of as being the western extension of the short-grass plains that occupy a region just east of the Rocky Mountains.
About 30 years ago, grasslands covered nearly 25 percent of the state. But invasion by plant species from other proximate vegetation associations may have reduced the area covered by grasslands. Arizona has three types of grassland: mountain meadow, plains and desert. Mountain meadow grasslands are scattered throughout the spruce-fir and montane forests at elevations ranging from 7,500 to 10,000 ft. The plains grassland extends southwest into Arizona where it grows mostly in the northeast as nearly uninterrupted ground cover between 5,000 and 7,000 ft. The desert grassland is principally in southeastern Arizona between about 3,000 to 5,000 ft. (http://southwest.library.arizona.edu/azso/body.1_div.4.html)
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