Tallgrass Prairie National PreserveSeite 9 von 27
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve: Park Service to Own No More Than 180 of 10,894 Acres
The Park Service will own no more than 180 acres of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. The majority of its 10,894 acres stays in private, non-profit ownership. The preserve protects an 1880s limestone ranch and a piece of the Kansas Flint Hills.
How it was created
In June 1994, at the request of Kansas Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum-Baker, the National Park Trust bought the Spring Hill/Z Bar Ranch to help create a national park. On November 12, 1996, the preserve was created as the 370th national park unit. At its dedication the senator called it a "model for the nation." The National Park Trust and the Park Service developed it together for nine more years. In April 2005 the Trust finished its mission by transferring its land to The Nature Conservancy, which now works closely with the Park Service on tallgrass prairie restoration. The Kansas Park Trust helped with the transfer.
Spring Hill Ranch
Stephen and Louisa Jones arrived in Kansas in August 1878 with their fifth child, Loutie, to start a cattle ranch. Their success in the beef business in Texas and Colorado left them with $100,000 to spend on it. Construction of the buildings began in late 1880 and finished by early 1882. The ranch eventually covered 7,000 acres, all purchased by the Joneses, with more than 30 miles of stacked limestone fence. They sold it in 1888 to their southern neighbors, Barney and Bridget Lantry, for $95,000. At least 11 owners have maintained the grounds from the late 1870s to the present.
Lithograph of Spring Hill Ranch, Kansas Atlas, 1887.
| Building | Finished | Style | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranch house | Late 1881 | French Second Empire | Eleven rooms, 3,500 square feet; limestone quarried east of Strong City; built into the hillside for insulation, with the kitchen between the first and second floors; telephone service wired in less than ten years after the telephone was invented in 1876 |
| Barn | Early 1882 | German bank barn | Around 19,000 square feet; built into a hillside to insulate the animal stables; stables on the first floor, equipment on the second, hay and grain on the third, reached by ramps for horse-drawn wagons; electricity and steel beams added in the late 1940s |
| Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse | May 1882 | Limestone | Land donated by Stephen Jones, materials and labor by neighbors; first classes in September 1884, once a teacher was hired; classes until 1930; restored by local garden clubs in 1968; on the National Register of Historical Places in 1974 |
The Joneses lived in the ranch house for only five years, moving to Kansas City in 1886. In the 1900s it served as a work site, residence and ranch manager's quarters. A large windmill once stood between the barn's ramps in the 1880s but was soon taken down because high winds made it vibrate dangerously. The schoolhouse held from one to 19 students in grades one through eight and went back to the ranch in 1930, when it became a ranch hand's house and storage.
Spring Hill Ranch House at sunrise. NPS photo.
The limestone barn framed by cottonwood trees. NPS photo.
Looking uphill at Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse. NPS photo.
The Flint Hills
Geology. Alternating layers of limestone and shale make up most of the Flint Hills rock, with chert, commonly called flint, in bands or nodules inside the limestone. Shale erodes much faster than the limestone, which exposes the chert at the surface and gives the hills their steepness and "stairstep" look. Scientific estimates put the hills at nearly 300 million years old. Mud and the remains of marine plants and animals settled on the bottom of ancient seas and later became the three rock types. Because the rock lies so close to the surface, most of the landscape is hard to plow, which has helped keep more of the original character. Chert is hard and erosion-resistant, which made it a useful toolmaking material for tribes that hunted bison and other grazing animals here.
Exposed limestone outcrop topped with tall grass. NPS photo.
Grasses. More than 70 grass species grow here, and four dominate: big bluestem, little bluestem, Indiangrass and switchgrass. Grasses make up around 80% of the plant life but only around 20% of the species. Many tall grasses reach four to seven feet in the right conditions, peaking in September and October. With 30 to 35 inches of precipitation a year on average, roots 10 feet long or more help them survive dry spells, and most of the plant's biomass is underground. The dense root network binds the soil together like steel in concrete and, as it decomposes, builds the soil by capturing large amounts of organic carbon that might otherwise become a greenhouse gas.
Wildflowers. More than 400 species of forbs (non-woody broadleaf plants) grow here, about 80% of the species but only around 20% of the plant life. Many are legumes that fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, and their deep taproots act as nutrient pumps and decompose into carbon-rich soil. Prairie turnip and purple coneflower had edible or medicinal uses that several tribes valued.
Wildlife. Over 35 species of reptiles and amphibians, more than 150 of birds, over 35 of mammals and over 30 of fish have been identified, along with hundreds of aquatic invertebrate species and at least 1,000 species of insects. Much of the wildlife depends on the cover that grasses and wildflowers provide.
Male greater prairie-chicken in a courtship pose. NPS photo.
People, fire and cattle
Native peoples. The Pawnee, Osage, Wichita and Kansa all hunted in the Flint Hills and worked its chert into tools and weapons. They lived near water and set fires to draw bison and other grazers to the fresh growth. The state of Kansas is named for the Kansa, the People of the Southwind. They lived on ancestral lands and then on a reservation near Council Grove until they were forcibly moved to reservation lands in what became Oklahoma in 1872. They remain a sovereign tribal nation, the Kaw Nation of Oklahoma. Four sovereign tribal nations exist in Kansas: the Prairie Band Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Sac and Fox, and Iowa.
Drawing of Kansa Meach-o-shin-gaw, c. 1870-90. NPS photo.
Fire. Fire is a basic part of the prairie ecosystem, used by Native peoples and later by settlers. It burns off old growth so plants get more sun and moisture. Fire burns only the top 20% or 25% of a grass plant, since the growing parts sit at or below the soil surface, and it prompts the roots to send up fresh shoots. In patch burning, a newer method, about 30% of the prairie is burned and the burned patch moves each year, producing a mosaic. Grazing animals follow the fresh growth, spreading their grazing over a wider area while unburned ground rests, regrows roots and shelters wildlife.
Cattle. Ranching is the backbone of the Flint Hills economy. Spanish explorers and colonists brought cattle, horses and cattle culture in the 1500s, and settlers began building enclosed ranches here in the 1870s. Cattle grazing, though different from bison grazing, also stimulates the grasses. Cattle are not native, and around 30% of their diet is forbs. Roundups and many other ranch activities look as they did 100 or more years ago. Beginning in May, cattle can graze for three months, six months, or a year or more, depending on grazing methods and the market.
Bison
Bison are the largest grazing animals in North America, and their grazing is a basic part of the ecosystem. An estimated 30 to 60 million once lived on the continent. By 1890, fewer than 1,000 remained in the wild, and an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 live there now. They are commonly called buffalo, but true buffalo, the cape buffalo and water buffalo, live in Africa and Asia. About 90% of a bison's diet can be grasses and similar plants, which encourages the growth of wildflowers. Bison can be dangerous if not given enough space.
Three young bison running. NPS photo.
Sources
- National Park Service, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Quick Facts; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The preserve's own website is nps.gov/tapr.