| Fast Facts |
location
north of Tulsa to the Kansas-Nebraska border
ecoregion
Osage Plains/Flint Hills Prairie
project size
4.9 million acres
preserves
Konza Prairie, Flint Hills Tallgrass Prairie, Sunset Prairie, Tallgrass Prairie
public lands
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Fort Riley Military Reservation
partners
ranchers, Kansas Livestock Association, Tallgrass Legacy Alliance
conservancy initiatives
Invasive Species
natural events
greater prairie chicken courtship dances, spring, peaking in April; wildflowers bloom, spring and summer | |
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The same forces that shaped the North American tallgrass prairie for millennia—fire and grazing—are the key to its survival. |
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Konza Prairie.
© Harold E. Malde |
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Stretching in a narrow band across east Kansas and dipping into northeast Oklahoma, the tallgrass prairie rolls in gentle waves over the Flint Hills. Waist-high grasses blanket the plains, studded with spring and summer wildflowers and sheltering nests of grassland birds such as the greater prairie chicken.
In 1806, during his western explorations, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike named the region for the flinty rock underlying the grasslands. From 1821 until 1870, people traveled through the Flint Hills on the Santa Fe Trail, the major trade and migration route from the East to the Southwest. In places, the trail’s granite markers and wagon wheel ruts are still evident. |
Greater prairie chicken displaying.
© Wendy Shattil/Bob Rozinski |
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The tallgrass prairie evolved under the influence of herds of elk and bison, whose selective grazing and hooves “tilled” the plains and made way for diverse grasses. Fire burned the plains, ignited by lightning and the Kansa and Osage tribes, and fire-tolerant grasses thrived in its wake. More than a century ago, when it once blanketed much of Kansas, the tallgrass was Willa Cather’s muse. | |
Today across North America less than 4 percent remains of the original extent of tallgrass prairie, and the Flint Hills is by far its largest, most intact landscape. The hills’ rocky terrain favored grazing over farming, an agricultural reality that left large swaths of prairie unplowed. Today invasive plants and residential and commercial development assault the last stand of the tallgrass.
The Nature Conservancy initiated a community-based conservation program called the Flint Hills Initiative. The programs’ major goal is to maintain the unfragmented nature of the region. The purpose of the initiative is to keep ranchers on their lands by protecting them from encroaching development. In this way, the Conservancy will safeguard important wildlife habitats as well as the region’s ranching heritage.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in Kansas. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
native tallgrass prairie, oak/native bluestem grass community, streams, grassland nesting birds such as the greater prairie chicken
stresses
habitat loss to industrial and residential development, invasive species, altered fire and grazing regimes, damming of streams
strategies
secure conservation easements, combat invasive species, restore ecosystems through fire management and grazing, engage community
results
20,700 acres protected in three Conservancy preserves; program established for conservation easements. | | | | |
