Tallgrass Prairie--a Signature Landscape in
“The Prairie State” of Kansas.
Although tallgrass prairies once extended from Manitoba to the Texas Coast and eastward into Indiana, the Flint Hills region is the last remaining area on the North American continent where one can find landscapes of these grasslands that extend, in places, to the horizon. Some of the scenic views are breathtakingly beautiful. The prairie carpeted Flint Hills, interspersed with farmlands and rural communities, encompass an area the size of Vermont, extending from northern Kansas near Marysville south into Oklahoma. The nearby Chautauqua Hills to the southeast offer a combination of true prairie and “Cross Timbers” savanna dominated by blackjack and post oak trees. The Flint Hills serve at the geological support structure for the last great expanses of tallgrass prairie, with significant extensions and patches of native rangeland extending in every direction.
Countless Things to do, Places and Attractions to Enjoy   This land is best enjoyed when experienced in every season, in a multitude of different ways, and with the company of friends and family. Hike through the wooded valleys, ride horseback along the scenic ridges or canoe a peaceful lake. Pack a picnic and pitch a tent or plan a ranch stay and a special wagon ride. Prairie landscapes are particularly attractive as places to observe birds and other wildlife. Hunting and fishing opportunities offer additional ways to enjoy the natural features of an area historically founded in tall grass. The Flint Hills provide an array of opportunities to explore the pastoral countryside and intriguing communities. Discover quaint villages and sample ethnic cuisine as you revel in the history of Native Americans, early explorers and “western” lore. It is an area where Bison herds, Elk and Gray Wolves thrived at the time when Lewis & Clark explored prairies to the east and north along the Missouri River.
Birding, sightseeing, hiking, horseback riding, camping, wildlife watching, nature photography, canoeing, wading, picnicking, fishing, hunting and wildflower touring are among the many ways to enjoy this area--along with community celebrations, historic observances, bluegrass festivals, county fairs, rodeos and covered wagon rides.
There are many ways to enjoy this unique region of Tallgrass Prairie. It’s best, however, to experience a variety of the natural, pastoral, scenic, historic, cultural and recreational opportunities offered within the Flint Hills and Chautauqua Hills in every season and on every occasion when traveling within or living nearby. The Prairie Parkway route selected for this Birding and Natural Heritage Trail traverses some of the most spectacular prairie scenery left on the North American continent, and many pastoral areas feature picturesque ranches, farms and rural communities that complement the natural features of the surrounding landscape.
Birding, and other forms of wildlife watching and nature appreciation, can be enjoyed at hundreds of locations throughout this region. The Oregon Trail Nature Park located near Belvue developed by Westar Energy is an example of a site that offers opportunities for access on improved trails that are designed to highlight native prairie plant communities, birdwatching and other dimensions of interests. Benches overlooking small ponds provide pleasant places to relax and enjoy scenic views, and shelter facilities make it an ideal location for a family picnic. The park is located near the historic Oregon Trail, and also features an old farm silo with three impressive murals painted by artist Cynthia Martin.
 Several communities in the region have observances highlighting history including that of Native Americans, early exploration and later pioneer activity on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails through the hills, the struggles in the transformation from the Kansas Territory to the “Free State” of Kansas, the Pony Express, cattle drives and railheads, and settlement by immigrants who brought elements of their homeland culture.
It is always an added treat to combine nature and cultural appreciation travel with timely community events, such as Wah-shun-guh Days in Council Grove, the annual Flint Hills Rodeo in Strong City, the Hollenberg Pony Express Station Festival near Hanover, the famed Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield, and even local and often overlooked treats like the Flush Village Catholic Church’s annual fundraising dinner and church “carnival”.
Several wildflower tours are scheduled annually by extension agents, wildflower groups and local Audubon chapters. The Mill Creek Skyline Drive is one of a number of designated scenic routes that have been developed by community leaders for countryside touring. A state map, county maps or the KANSAS ATLAS & Gazetteer, combined with a sense of adventure can lead one to places where tall grasses and wildflowers line the roadsides, birds sing from adjacent fences, and herds of livestock graze peacefully in pastures or loaf around farm ponds. Designated routes within towns (e.g. Council Grove) and the Fort Riley Military Reservation can guide visitors to a variety of historic destinations.
 Some ranchers operate guest services and a few organize periodic covered covered wagon rides involving a weekend with overnight camping. Horseback riding is one of the best ways to enjoy the countryside and to see wildlife. Equine trails have been developed in a number of state parks, and some offer corrals and special camping facilities. Most state parks offer hiking trails, and horseback trails are equally appropriate for hiking and wildlife watching considering that there are only a few occasions when the trails are used with horses. Several parks have mountain bike trails.
Many of the state parks, wildlife management areas and state fishing lakes have very little traffic. On many occasions visitors can enjoy the sense that they have a magnificent place almost to themselves. Imagine going to a national park and having trails and hundreds of acres available for your exclusive enjoyment. It is nice to share places of beauty with others, but it is also pleasant to have the special sense of serenity and relative solitude that comes from a Flint Hills setting where the landscape and nature can be experienced in many ways by you and your companions.
Many outdoor experiences can be enhanced when an observer can put a name on a brilliant Indigo Bunting, a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that catches everyone's eye, or a Barred Owl calling in late afternoon. Binoculars, cameras, and books devoted to identification of birds, wildflowers and butterflies are useful--but certainly not mandatory for a great day afield!
 Canoeing and other boating adventures are available on the Kansas River, in the upper reaches of federal reservoirs and at numerous smaller city, county and state lakes. Access to streams for fishing and wildlife watching is provided in a number of parks, with Pillsbury Crossing Wildlife Area and the Wildcat Creek Park two examples near Manhattan. Pillsbury Crossing offers access to a picturesque waterfall, a historic ford and picnic spaces under a canopy of large oaks. Wildcat Creek offers an opportunity to wade through riffles and pools with minnows and crayfish.
Fishing and hunting opportunities are provided at many of the properties managed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. Wildlife Areas are operated primarily as public hunting areas, but most are also excellent places to observe wildlife throughout the year. A visitor will discover that on many occasions there simply isn’t anybody else on the area. Some areas have observation towers, levees and trails ideal for hiking into an area for birding and other activities. In October 2003 members of the Kansas Ornithological Society were on the Slate Creek WA when a breathtaking migration of 2,500 Swainson’s Hawks passed overhead in two hours.
Wildlife viewing opportunities are also available at public access areas provided for fishing. Many anglers and hunters enjoy other nature appreciation activities in conjunction with their “designated objective” for the day. However, other visitors should give special deference to folks who are hunting or fishing. Their licenses finance most KDWP management operations, and it would be discouraging for a carefully camouflaged turkey hunter if his/her quarry are inadvertently disturbed by a person searching for morels. Staying on or near roads and improved trails for other activities is a good way to show consideration during hunter seasons.
Special handicapped facilities are provided in some locations, and “youth only” weekend hunting seasons are scheduled for some game species. Walk-in hunting and fishing access is provided with leases for specific months on some privately owned farms and ranches. The Department publishes guides showing county maps with the properties indicated. With an appropriate license in pocket, a person can enjoy hiking and wildlife watching on these properties--while fishing or hunting! Beyond areas with public access, permission is always required to enter private property.
A Destination for Grassland Birds  Quite naturally, the tallgrass prairie in this area has been one of the last strongholds for Greater Prairie Chickens, one of many year round wildlife residents. A score of migratory neotropical birds return to nest in these grasslands and associated gallery forests each year from distant wintering areas. Argentina and Venezuela, respectfully, provide wintering homes for the Upland Sandpipers and Dickcissels that nest in the tallgrass prairie. From autumn to spring, other migratory birds including Rough-legged Hawks and Harris’ Sparrows return to Kansas prairies from the tundra and taiga to spend the cooler months of the year here. An influx of Northern Harriers, Kestrels and Red-tailed Hawks also occurs at the same time demonstrating that Kansas grasslands are important winter
hunting grounds for raptors from throughout the northern expanses of the hemisphere. A variety of small rodents are their principal prey. Native grasslands are vital habitats for a seasonally changing array of birds and the area is both an international flyway and destination for avian travelers during all seasons of the year.
Grassland birds declare their presence and claim to breeding territories with song and/or aerial flights. Upland Sandpipers perch on fence posts like sentinels and frequently take to the air with a call that sounds like a “wolf whistle”. Eastern Meadowlarks, Grasshopper Sparrows, and Dickcissels usually sing from atop stiff stems of wildflowers and shrubs. Blue Grosbeaks, Eastern Kingbirds, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Logger-headed Shrikes take full advantage of rural fences. Riparian forests provide habitat for Eastern Phoebes and Summer Tanagers in summer, while Red-headed Woodpeckers often defend oak groves containing an abundance of acorns in the fall. Thermal updrafts and the winds rising along ridges provide the lift for soaring birds. Turkey Vultures are commonly seen overhead from mid March to October. Red-tailed Hawks are here throughout the year.
 Wading Birds, Waterfowl and Shorebirds Grace all Waters Rivers, streams, reservoirs, ponds and wetlands attract a broad spectrum of additional birds that travel the flyway. Great and Snowy Egrets often gather
around reservoirs, along with Great Blue Herons and the more solitary Green Herons. There are times during the spring migration when it seems that almost every farm or ranch pond has a complement of wild ducks and geese. During the winter when large reservoirs freeze, spillways are often fantastic places to observe hardy diving ducks including Common Goldeneyes,
Hooded and Common Mergansers. Bald Eagles also gather around reservoirs and the larger rivers. Kingfishers perch on branches where they can dive for meals of minnows, and Louisiana Waterthrushes--a “wood warbler” species--nest near small streams and stalk the water’s edge for
insect larvae.
 A Diversity of Wildlife A diversity of wildlife lives within the prairie rangelands and meadows, shrub thickets and woodlands of the Flint Hills and Chautauqua Hills. White-tailed deer are among the most evident of the large mammals. Most mammals are secretive throughout the day, and many are active only at night. Bobcats are fairly abundant, but seldom seen as they maintain considerable stealth. Cottontail Rabbits, Raccoons and Opossums are most frequently observed along country roads in the evening. Fox Squirrels are active
by day but stay within or fairly close to trees. Small mammals, including Meadow Voles, White-footed Mice, Pocket Gophers and their cousins try to stay underground or under cover most of the time to escape detection by hawks, owls, and mammalian predators.
 Listening to Wildlife is every bit as exciting as viewing, especially in the twilight hours and at night. The abundance of Coyotes often goes undetected except by those who are out in the countryside after sunset and before sunrise when Coyotes are actively moving about and declaring their presence by, often synchronized, barking and howling. Barred, Great Horned and Screech Owls are among the resident birds that vocalize at night. During spring and summer evenings Nighthawks and Poor-wills can be heard on upland prairies, Chuck-will’s-widows call in shrublands and savannas, and Whip-poor-wills reveal their preference for forested habitats. Western Chorus Frogs Cicadas, crickets, and grasshoppers add to the orchestra of sounds at all times of the day.
Prairie Wildflowers  Prairie wildflowers offer season-long succession of color with new floral arrangements in every month of the growing season from April into October. With every flower comes a parade of colorful symbiotic and opportunistic insects such as butterflies, moths, iridescent beetles and native bees. Hummingbirds also visit meadows near woodlands. Broods of Bobwhite Quail and Prairie-chickens depend on a smorgasbord of insects that are associated with native plants, and later the seeds and fruits produced by these same forbs and shrubs. The same is true for many other species, from Eastern Bluebirds to Blue Grosbeaks. An expanse of native prairie that has never been sprayed with herbicides or overgrazed for long periods may contain several hundred plant species. Unmowed native grasses and shrubs add greatly to the palette of fall colors and artistic expressions on roadsides, nature-painted hillsides and along gallery forests and streams. Frost, winter snow and ice give the landscape other dimensions of interest and beauty that are appreciated by everyone with an artist’s eye, by photographers and all who revel in natural beauty.
Reptiles Rule the Rock Outcrops  The Eastern Collared Lizard stands out as a favorite reptile among prairie enthusiasts. It suns on rock outcrops, runs
with amazing speed and retreats under ledges when threatened. Collared Lizards have a distinctive dinosaur-like appearance and a brilliantly colored collar. Several other
species of lizards, skinks, and snakes round out the area’s community of reptiles. All native species are beneficial in many respects, and worthy of conservation. Poisonous
snakes are relatively rare in the tallgrass prairie region of Kansas. In the separate “chelonia” class for turtles, the Ornate Box Turtle takes the title for being an indicator of native prairie. The species was designated in 1978 as the state’s official turtle. Ornate Box Turtles are often seen crossing country roads wherever unplowed prairie landscapes remain. Box Turtles are easy to catch, but they should not be removed from their individual home ranges of suitable habitat. Destruction of prairie habitat, removal and mortality resulting from vehicular traffic make box turtles increasingly rare in many areas. Conversely, some aquatic turtles may be more abundant than ever. They utilize ponds and reservoirs and can be seen basking on emergent logs.
Crystal Clear Prairie Streams  Crystal clear prairie streams are as refreshing as brooks in high mountains and forested plateaus. Streams coming from watersheds
dominated by native grasses run clean most of the time. Schools of minnows make their way into small prairie brooks, and these are among the last places where some species like Topeka Shiners remain as a natural part of the true prairie ecosystem. Wherever water gathers for
the benefit of amphibians, Western Chorus, Northern Cricket, Plains Leopard and other frogs add to the sounds of summer afternoons and evenings. Farm ponds made for livestock watering and fishing are cradled within thousands of draws on private land. They routinely attract Great Blue Herons, birds that nest high in Sycamore trees along steams, and waterfowl during spring and fall migrations.
Prairie Skies Prairie skies are often breathtakingly beautiful at sunrise and sunset. Thunderstorm clouds often extend skyward like Himalayan Mountains. The dynamic energy expressed by the clouds, winds and piercing sunlight of passing thunderstorms is only duplicated in part by the best cinemas. Partial, complete and double rainbows often arch across the sky.
 Geology Geology helped save the prairie from the plow, and today’s remaining rock fences and farmsteads reflect history of early settlement. The Flint Hills are erosional remnants of fossiliferous limestones and shales deposited in shallow seas during the early Permian Period (286 to 275 million years ago). Bands and nodules of chert--also called flint--are embedded in many of the limestone layers. The weather resistant chert slows erosion, and the hard rocks discouraged plowing of many ridges and slopes. This helped to discourage cultivated agriculture in favor of ranching. Fossils that are commonly found in road cuts include crinoids and trilobites.
The Chautauqua Hills Region is a peninsula of sandstone capped hills five to fifteen miles wide that extend 75 miles from the Oklahoma line to the vicinity of Yates Center. The sandstone and shale are the result of river valley sediments deposited during the Pennsylvanian Period (320 to 286 million years ago). Before settlement by Europeans, this area was a fire balanced savanna ecosystem of oaks and prairie grasses.
 Bison, Wapiti and Wolves Bison, Wapiti and Wolves roamed wild here. Prior to the early to mid 19th Century, scattered bands and great herds of Bison grazed these prairie hills. It is not unusual to come upon depressions on ridges that served as “buffalo wallows” 200 years ago. The upland locations gave bison a vantage, and a breeze. Many wallows still fill with rainwater a few inches deep for a few days at a time. All Bison in the state are now on fenced ranches and
game preserves. Large bulls still stand proudly, and young calves frolic in the grass. This magnificent animal remains a symbol of the state and the Great Plains.
 Elk, called Wapiti by Native Americans, also thrived throughout the prairies and savannas in early times, preferring the shelter provided by wooded watercourses. Excavations demonstrate that this species was a predominant meat source for Kaw Indians. An Elk herd has been maintained along with the Bison herd at the Maxwell Game Preserve since 19__,. Additional Elk have been reintroduced and established within the 100,000 acre Fort Riley Military Reservation.
Pronghorn Antelope were present and observed in the Flint Hills up until the 1870s. Workers involved in construction of the Chase County Courthouse wrote that bands of pronghorns could be seen from the structure. It is noteworthy that streams in the Flint Hills were named after Elk, Antelope, Otters and other wildlife. Early explorers reported Gray Wolves. Mountain Lions were also recorded, and occasional sightings have been reported in recent decades.
 Native Americans The Kanzas and Osages controlled the Flint Hills at the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition. These Native American tribes shared the same language (southern Siouan), culture, and geographical
source, having migrated from the Ohio River valley to the Great Plains in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Kanzas eventually settled along the Kansas River while the Osages established their villages on the Osage River in present southwest Missouri.
Most of the Kanzas lived in the Blue Earth Village near present Manhattan from 1800 to 1830. Then the tribe fractured into three villages established near Topeka. Following the treaty of 1846, Kanzas came to live on a 20-mile-square reservation on the upper reaches of the Neosho River valley. Here the 1600 Kanzas established three villages located on the Neosho River three, seven, and ten miles downstream from Council Grove. Life on this reservation was difficult, the tribe suffering greatly from disease, destitution, and demoralization. By the time the U.S. government ordered the Kanzas to relocate to a new reservation in present northern Oklahoma only 600 Kanzas remained. Just prior to his peoples' exile south, head chief Al-le-ga-wa-ho spoke these words to the U.S. secretary of the Department of the Interior: "Great Father, you whites treat us Kanzas like a flock of turkeys--you drive us to one stream, then you drive us to another stream, then you chase us to another, so soon you will chase us over the mountains and into the ocean."
The more populous and powerful Osages, numbering four to six thousand, controlled a vast region including southern Missouri, northwest Arkansas, northeast Oklahoma, and southeast and south central Kansas. Like the Kanzas, the Osages subsisted primarily by hunting supplemented by horticulture and wild plant gathering. Both tribes lived in earth lodges and bark-and-mat lodges. Each year these tribes abandoned their villages to journey west for an extended bison hunt on the plains. Prior to the treaty of 1846, Council Grove marked the approximate and informal boundary between the two tribes, the Kanzas controlling land to the north and the Osage to the south. By the early 1870s the Osages' land holdings had been reduced to a reservation in present northern Oklahoma.
Historic Frontier Trails Historic frontier trailscrossed this tallgrass territory. During the first decades of exploration and settlement expansion to the Rocky Mountains and west coast, Kansas was often a gateway to the west and the landscape where travelers first experienced vast expanses of tallgrass, midgrass and shortgrass prairie. The activity, excitement and sense of adventure was enormous. The Santa Fe Trail crossed the heart of the Flint Hills, the Oregon Trail arched across the northern section, and the Pony Express used some of the same route in present day Marshal and Washington counties with mail deliveries between St. Joe, Missouri and Sacramento, California.
When Mexico became independent from Spanish rule and trade was allowed with other countries, the Santa Fe Trail became an important caravan route to the southwest starting in 1822. Wagons, teams and supplies were obtained in Independence and Westport (within today’s Greater Kansas City area), and Council Grove 150 miles southwest served as a wagon train staging area nearly forty years before Kansas statehood. Mexican traders also caravanned across the prairie in international trade. For a while Council Grove had the only trading post on the 780 mile trail. Visitors to Council Grove today are treated to numerous historic sites. Preservation has been a priority for the community, and local leaders were active in establishment of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail, a partnership under the auspices of the National Park Service. It follows the route of the old trail, with many sites marked or restored. In 1880 the Santa Fe Railroad reached Santa Fe.
The Oregon Trail is the most famous of historical trails across the Great Plains and intermountain west. It was primarily an emigrant trail, possibly luring as many as 400,000 people across the continent traveling 2,000 miles by wagon, specifically “Prairie Schooners” --an adapted version of the Conestoga wagon, by horseback and on foot. The first group headed west from the Missouri River in 1841 and the trail remained in use until the 1870s. The traffic resulted in parallel wagon traces hundreds of yards wide in places, and they followed a variety of branches and cutoffs. Time has made most traces faint, but they remain visible in some areas. The same sounds of Meadowlarks and the presence of prairie flowers can still be experienced, along with that of passing trains the innovation that marked the “end of the trail” for the frontier era of long distance wagon train travel.
After gold was found at Sutter's Mill in 1848 tens of thousands of prospectors, miners, and carpetbaggers followed the California Trail cutoff from Fort Hall in Idaho to seek their fortunes. Twenty one years later, the Union Pacific completed the first railroad link to the West Coast in 1869.
The Oregon National Historic Trail is administrated by the National Park Service in partnership with other federal, state and local governmental units, citizen organizations, and numerous private individuals whose property the trail crosses. Historic sites are marked in many places.
The Smoky Hill Trail was prompted by the discovery of gold near Denver and the rush to the Rockies in 1859. It was the quickest route there. In 1866 the long wagon trains that previously formed at Council Grove gathered at Junction City and moved westward over the Smoky Hill route. As the Kansas Pacific Railroad was built, the eastern terminus of the Smoky Hill Trail was the western terminus of the railroad. The era of railroads quickly replaced wagon trains, and the thunder and sight of vast herds of bison vanished and were replaced by settlements, homesteads and cattle ranches.
Indian trails preceded all of these historic trails, followed by fur trappers and traders, and military trails as forts were established. Fort Riley was established in 1853 as a base for westward expansion in the Kansas territory--a territory that extended to the Continental Divide in present day Colorado. Fort Riley became cavalry headquarters of the Army, and hosts the US Army Cavalry Museum.
The Overland Trail Stage Route and Butterfield Overland Dispatch provided stagecoach travel across Kansas Territory. Various routes of the Chisholm Cattle Trail with herds of longhorns from Texas destined for railheads in the 1860s and 70s immediately established a series of rousing and romantic Kansas “cattletowns” including Wichita, Newton and of course Abilene.
Historical Eras Defined by Cattle  Post-European settlement Flint Hills history can be divided into three segments, each one associated with the way cattle are transported into the Hills. The earliest of these segments, the Open Range Trail Drive Era, began with the opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821 and hit it’s peak in the big Texas-to-Kansas trail drives that followed the Civil War. During that time the cattle coming into the Flint Hills were driven overland, although most left for eastern markets by train.
The second phase of Flint Hills history, the Railroad Era, began around 1890 (a little earlier in some places, a little later in others) and lasted for some three-quarters of a century. During this era cattle were loaded on trains in Texas in the spring, unloaded for the summer grazing season in the Flint Hills, then shipped on by train to markets in Kansas City, Omaha, and Chicago.
The third and current period of Flint Hills history is the Trucking Era, which overlaps with the later years of the Railroad Era. Around the time of World War II and lasting until the early 1960s most cattle came into the Flint Hills by train, but often left on semi-tractor-trailer trucks. From the mid 1960s to the present, especially with the introduction of the pot-belly semis, trucks have taken over all shipping into and out of the Flint Hills. Today nearly all the railroad stockyards in the Flint Hills have been torn down for salvage. Only a few have survived as relics into the 21st century, in places like Matfield Green, Diamond Springs, and Sallyards. Most are in disrepair.
Many Flint Hills ranchers burn off the old grass residue in early spirng in preparation for the new pasture season. This colorful custom, which dates back to pre-settlement Indian practices, makes new grass growth more accessible to cattle as reflected by cattle weight gains. Peroidic controlled burns also help to hold back tree and shrub invasion in the prairie, thus helping to maintain the tallgrass ecosystem. Conversely, some rangelands that are not burned each year are vital as nesting habitat for grassland birds within a landscape patchwork.
The Legacy of Ranching  The legacy of ranching has provided the primary means for prairie stewardship. All who enjoy tallgrass prairie flora, fauna and landscapes owe a debt of gratitude to the ranch and farm families who have combined a dedication to a way of life with stewardship of a unique place of life. Rocky soils and hilly topography also helped to spare many areas in the Flint Hills from plows that turned under most of this country’s tallgrass prairie west of the Mississippi River in the century following the Louisiana Purchase and encompassing the Homestead Act of 1862. As an alternative to cultivation, native rangelands in eastern Kansas provided excellent summer grazing and winter hay for cattle.
For several generations most farms, as well as ranches, relied on native prairie hay meadows as a source of forage for draft horses and other livestock. Many of the surviving meadows are particularly rich with wildflowers. Likewise, some rural roadsides that have not been sprayed frequently with herbicides serve as sanctuaries for plants that do not thrive in grazed pastures. Eastern gamagrass, compass plant, butterfly milkweed and Maximilian sunflower are among those that are most evident.
The legacy of the Flint Hills as “cattle country” combined with a heritage of farming is evident in rural communities and throughout the countryside. Cattle sales are held weekly in several area towns, and every county has a fair in late summer. Throughout the week clusters of parked pickup trucks along small town streets signal the cafes that feature the best home-cooked meals as luncheon specials.
In 1967 the Kansas Legislature passed a bill establishing the “Prairie Parkway”. The route extended from the Hollenberg Pony Express Station just south of the Nebraska border near Hanover down through the Flint Hills to the historic cattle railhead town of Elgin along the Oklahoma border in Chautauqua County. This is a unique part of the country worthy of recognition as a National Heritage Area.
 Conservation of Prairie Conservation of prairie is also a national priority. Nationally recognized as the only area with expanses of tallgrass prairie, the National Park Service and Congress first considered formal proposals to establish a tallgrass prairie national park or preserve in the Flint Hills in the early 1960s when John Kennedy was president and Stewart Udall was Secretary of The Interior. Proposals were debated for the following thirty years.
The concept of federal acquisition was controversial because all initial proposals involved the potential use of eminent domain. Many organizations were actively involved in support or opposition. Over the years Audubon proposed acquisition of three outstanding properties for conservation purposes that were “for sale” --through the leadership, efforts and generosity of many people and several organizations--they exit today as three flagship tallgrass preserves. All are owned now by The Nature Conservancy. The 8,000 acre Dewey Ranch near Manhattan was acquired by The Nature Conservancy in the 1970s and is managed as a research natural area by Kansas State University. The 33,000 acre Barnard Ranch in Osage County Oklahoma was proposed as a candidate for a unit of the National Park System in 1983 but controversy prevented congressional approval. However, Joe Williams of the Williams Company and a leader in the Oklahoma chapter of The Nature Conservancy provided the leadership needed to have the property acquired as a Tallgrass Prairie Preserve under the TNC banner.
Finally, in 1989 the National Audubon Society’s regional office in Manhattan (predecessor to Audubon of Kansas’ leadership in Kansas) announced that Audubon held a purchase agreement on the 10,894 acre Z-Bar (Spring Hill) Ranch north of Strong City in Chase County. Title and stewardship of this historic property was held by the trust department of Boatmen’s National Bank of Kansas City. With the philosophical support of the bank’s Vice President Dudley Alexander, the Society proposed that it become the long elusive tallgrass unit of the National Park Service.
The National Park Trust assumed responsibility for purchase and took a mortgage in 1994. Congressional authorization of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve was approved in 1996, but political considerations restricted federal ownership to 180 acres. The historic ranch house, barn, other outbuildings and the Lower Fox Creek School built in the early 1880s have been well preserved and are open to the public. Governor Kathleen Sebelius, former U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker, former Congressman Dan Glickman and others formed the Kansas Park Trust in 2004 to assume responsibility for the mortgage, buy back a lengthy grazing lease, and make more of the property available for hiking, birding and other forms of public enjoyment. As a result of a major bequest, The Nature Conservancy acquired title to most of the property in 2005, and the Kansas Park Trust is striving to assist the National Park Service with establishment of a visitor center. The preserve remains a work in progress that will eventually be a masterpiece.
--by Ron Klataske, with text on Native Americans by Ronald Dane Parks, historical eras of cattle by Jim Hoy, and geology by George Potts.
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