<P> The region is known for supporting extensive cattle ranching and dry farming . </P> <P> The Canadian portion of the Plains is known as the Prairies . It covers much of Alberta and southern Saskatchewan, and a narrow band of southern Manitoba . Despite covering a relatively small geographic area, the Prairies are nevertheless home to the majority of each of the three provinces' respective populations . </P> <P> The term "Great Plains" is used in the United States to describe a sub-section of the even more vast Interior Plains physiographic division, which covers much of the interior of North America . It also has currency as a region of human geography, referring to the Plains Indians or the Plains States . </P> <P> In Canada the term is little used; Natural Resources Canada, the government department responsible for official mapping, treats the Interior Plains as one unit consisting of several related plateaux and plains . There is no region referred to as the "Great Plains" in The Atlas of Canada . In terms of human geography, the term prairie is more commonly used in Canada, and the region is known as the Prairie Provinces or simply "the Prairies ." </P>

Most major cities in the northern great plains are located where