The tallgrass prairie ecosystem once covered over 400,000 square miles in North America. This area extended from Canada southward to Texas and from the Rocky Mountains east to present-day Ohio. Today, just one percent of this terrain remains in existence in its natural state, much of which is located in the untamed Flint Hills of eastern Kansas.

There had been a movement for nearly 50 years in favor of some sort of preserve of the minimal resources of this vast prairie that were left. In 1994, the National Park Trust bought a large section (nearly 11,000 acres) of land at the historic Z-Bar/Spring Hill Ranch in Chase County. This rekindled interest for the project, and a bill was introduced in 1996 to both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Sponsored by members of the Kansas congressional delegation, including Senators Nancy Landon Kassebaum and Bob Dole and Representatives Pat Roberts and Ann Meyers, the bill ended up passing through both houses of Congress. The newest United States National Park was born under the name of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. The park is located 18 miles west of Emporia, or just 2 miles north of Strong City on Highway 17

Turner, C.L., et al. “Soil N and Plant Responses to Fire, Topography, and Supplemental N in Tallgrass Prairie.” Ecology v78 n6 (1997): 1832-1843.

National Park Trust. “Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Frequently Asked Questions.” 9 Feb. 2000. http://www.parktrust.org/zb-faq.html

Finally, the two websites both do an amazingly good job of covering anyone’s interest in the area. For the avid scientist, they provide good information about the natural features of the land. The would-be traveler to the park also can gain a lot of information, including history and what to see while in the area. Maps are included for reference. My faith in the truth of the material here comes from the fact that one is from the National Park Trust, which owns the land, and the other is from the National Park Service, which maintains it. If anyone knows all there is to know about this land, it would be these two organizations.

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