A conservation initiative seeks to preserve up to 1 million acres of tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills -- some of the last stands of tallgrass in the nation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering buying voluntary conservation easements in 14 Kansas counties. Participating landowners would have control over day-to-day operations on their land, and be able to pass it on or sell it. The easements would prevent landowners from developing the land for residential or commercial use. The plan, still being developed, also might govern how much or where wind-energy operations could be placed, said Amy Thornburg with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver. "We want to end up with an intact tallgrass prairie. And although intact is a hard thing to describe, you know it when you see it," Thornburg said. "The tallgrass region includes ranching, fire, grazing and prairie chickens. They are all dependent on each other. If it wasn't for the ranching heritage of the area, we wouldn't have a prairie." The sea of grass and wildflowers, which once stretched from Northern Texas through Manitoba, largely has been plowed up, paved over or built upon. Between 2 and 4 percent of the nation's prairie remains, and much of it is in the Flint Hills. "The prairie is shrinking every day through invasion of trees, homes and roads," said Flint Hills rancher Bill Sproul. "I like to think of the easements as preservation of the horizon. The horizon is important to me because it is one of the few things that you can only view from afar."
The easements would prevent landowners from developing the land for residential or commercial use. The plan, still being developed, also might govern how much or where wind-energy operations could be placed, said Amy Thornburg with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver.
"We want to end up with an intact tallgrass prairie. And although intact is a hard thing to describe, you know it when you see it," Thornburg said. "The tallgrass region includes ranching, fire, grazing and prairie chickens. They are all dependent on each other. If it wasn't for the ranching heritage of the area, we wouldn't have a prairie."
The sea of grass and wildflowers, which once stretched from Northern Texas through Manitoba, largely has been plowed up, paved over or built upon. Between 2 and 4 percent of the nation's prairie remains, and much of it is in the Flint Hills.
"The prairie is shrinking every day through invasion of trees, homes and roads," said Flint Hills rancher Bill Sproul. "I like to think of the easements as preservation of the horizon. The horizon is important to me because it is one of the few things that you can only view from afar."
I grew up in a lightly grazed prairie in Osage County, Oklahoma and remember wading through dew covered grass above my knees in June. It was populated with meadow larks, scissor-tailed fly catchers, cliff swallows, dove, cotton tail rabbits and terrapin that I remember. It seemed a vast, rolling sea of grass to me at age eight. The creek bottoms were covered with trees and held other wonders.
The father of a friend was the foreman for the Boots Adams Ranch many miles to the north east. Adams was the CEO of Phillips Petroleum and that ranch has become a tall grass preserve. It is good to see more of this ecosystem being preserved. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
It's the largest relatively intact tall grass prairie left in the US. And it's importance literally lies in the fact it IS the largest intact prairie. There are "prairie areas" in other states but those are arks, not big enough to support the full ecosystem. The Flint Hills is big enough.
And it's absolutely stunning. Mile after mile of rolling hills, carpeted by Big Bluestem, Buffalo Grass, waving as the wind brushes along their tops like a sea of green.
Down at the base of the hills waterways and water collection points, out of the wind, support a wide range of brush and shrubs.
Creeks run joyously along, creating stands of Cottonwoods and River Birches along their banks.
Occasionally forming ponds or even small lakes.
Fire is part of the ecosystem. Recycling nutrients back into the soil for future generations. The plant and animal species have evolved to coexist with it.
The plants have also evolved to be heavily grazed by herds of Buffalo with thousands upon thousands of members.
So its good to see them reintroduced, even in pitiful numbers.
(That's not me. (Thank god for Google®.))
Richard Whetsell, the father of a highschool friend, was the last foreman of Boots Adam's ranch and was involved in creating the The Tall Grass Prairie Reserve from that ranch and possibly other property. Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips Petroleum, had an estate near Bartlesville, Phillips headquarters until recently. On that estate he had bison and pronghorn antelope. At one time those bison were among the few herds that survived. It would be most fitting were the bison now on The Tall Grass Prairie Reserve to be partly descended from those animals. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
