The Nimiipuu utilized the shortgrass prairies of the Wallowa and Palouse countries to develop what is now the Appaloosa.

These grasslands range in elevation from 700 to 3,500 feet above sea level and grow in windblown loess (soil) deposited on basalt tablelands. The lands in Montana that were used for hunting and the final stages of the Nez Perce War, and have both short and long grass communities.

Because these regions are relatively dry, they are dominated by shortgrass species such as wheatgrass, fescue, and bluegrass in the Palouse area and buffalo, grama, wheatgrass, and needlegrass in the Missouri Basin.