Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve ⓘ

Human activity in the Kansas Flint Hills can be traced back about 12,000 years. Humans used the area's natural resources by hunting large mammals and gathering wild plants. Exchange networks extended well beyond the Plains (ca 6,000 B.C.-A.D.1). Beginning about A.D.1, new subsistence and technological traits developed, including the routine production of ceramics, the use of domesticated plants, and hunting with bow and arrow. From about A.D.1000, domesticated plants and associated artifacts reflect a predominantly horticultural existence shifting to settled village life (Jones 1999: 6-9, 14-17).

By A.D.1500 - 1825, efficient horticultural activity was combined with increased bison hunting, almost certainly due to acquisition of the horse by Native Americans. This transition on the Great Plains has clear association with specific Native American peoples. In the preserve area, these included the Wichita , Kansa , Osage , and Pawnee . Their movement throughout the Great Plains during this period prevents attribution of specific peoples to fixed locations in the Flint Hills. The Wichita apparently abandoned the northern part of their territory between 1690-1719, moving south to the Arkansas River in present-day Oklahoma . By the first two decades of the 19th century, the western boundary of the Kansa core territory extended nearly to the preserve area. Pawnee and Osage occupation sites have not been discovered in the general area of the preserve, although the region was probably included in their hunting range (Jones 1999; 17-22).

Explorers and early settlers across the Great Plains provide important information on Native American use of the land and its resources, particularly bison and fire. Native peoples throughout the Great Plains started prairie fires for several reasons: plant management, grazing improvements, acts of aggression, and communications. Little evidence supports the idea of native people practicing large scale annual burning or intentionally setting fires to clear wooded areas. Fires are documented as relatively small. Large fires caused by native people were either accidents or acts of aggression. Some Native Americans in the northern Great Plains used fire to control bison to predict the animals' movement the following spring or to force bison towards encampments. However, these fires were dangerous and difficult to control. They also destroyed vegetation, driving animals further away from camps. Instead, historic bison hunts involved tribal groups, as a community, traveling to a hunting areas ( Moore 1972, Higgins 1986, Arthur 1975, and Evans 1998, personal communication.)

The native peoples of this area grew crops and lived in semi-permanent homes along streams and creeks. The Flint Hills were a communal hunting ground for the tribes. Besides food for the tribes, the Flint Hills also provided much-needed chert or "flint." They used this stone to make tools, weapons, and ceremonial pieces.

The Kansa tribe occupied the mid-Missouri Valley, near the junctures of Missouri River and Kansas River. Forced westward by more powerful tribes, the Kansa relocated along the lower Kansas Valley concentrating their villages between the mouth of the Big Blue River and Stranger Creek. They remained in eastern Kansas during most of the nineteenth century. However, their tenure in the region seemed perpetually in doubt. They were threatened on their eastern borders by successive waves of emigrant tribes and American settlers. Their westward retreat was blocked by the more numerous and nomadic Plains tribes. Ceding their homeland, they sought refuge on a series of shrinking reservations. In 1872 they surrendered their lands in the fertile Neosho Valley. By 1873 most of the Kansa tribe had moved to northern Oklahoma.

Information provided by "The Kansa Indians; A History of the Wind People, 1673 - 1873" by William E. Unrau.

Further information and exhibits can be found at the Kaw Mission located 17 miles north of the preserve in Council Grove, KS on the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway (K-177).

Here at the preserve, cattle graze for 90 days. Cattle can gain over two pounds per day on the lush and nutrient rich grasses of the prairie. In the photo, the cattle are being "unloaded from the trucks one at a time," says ranch caretaker Gene Matile. Mr. Matile is responsible for counting how many head of cattle are off-loaded from the trucks, while keeping a careful eye to watch for sick or injured steers. Once the cattle are unloaded into the holding pens, they are then moved to various pastures where they graze and fatten before being sent to feedlots. During this time, Gene is responsible for taking care of the cattle by feeding mineral supplement, administering medicine as needed, and making sure the cattle remain in the pastures. Even before this cycle begins, he is responsible for burning last season's dead prairie grasses, that will in turn promote new growth.

Starting in mid July, cattle are gathered and loaded back onto the semi trucks for shipment to feedlots. Here are some photos from several days of "gatherin" in the Flint Hills at the preserve. These modern day cowboys utilize many of the same whistles, calls, and horsemanship techniques that have been used for centuries. Imagine the sounds made by the cattle and cowboys as both go about their daily routine. As the cattle make their way south from the far northern pastures to the loading pens, their low "bawling" sounds are met by the gentle, calming calls of the cowboys on horseback as they are driven to their next destination.

Cattle are herded from the pastures and wait their turn in the pens before loading onto the semi trucks.

It was a dusty, dirty day in the pens today. Cowboys Gene Matile, Norm Wilson, Bruce Brock and others assist in pushing and encouraging cattle through the loading chutes and onto the trucks.

Cattle and cowboys play a vital role on the prairie. Cowboys were the working class of the cattle industry. For a dollar a day and "found" (board and room, where it existed), a young man worked long hours--occasionally risking life and limb--to tend the cattle of another. The job was seasonal, but if he proved his worth and won a place in the outfit, he lived a way of life that in the popular imagination has become synonymous with freedom and rugged individualism.

The first cowboys were Mexican vaqueros who herded Andalusian cattle--also called Texas Longhorns--imported by Spanish colonists. It is from these early cowboys that much of the lingo of the trade was acquired. On trail drives buckaroos (vaqueros) wore heavy leather chaps (chaparerras), roped calves with a lariat (la reata), and kept their horses among a herd called a remuda.

For centuries, the south central and northern plains provided habitat for the bison and home for nomadic Indian tribes who hunted the shaggy animals for food, clothing, and shelter. But the nation's rapid post-Civil War western expansion, powered by an unprecedented industrial revolution, led to the slaughter of the bison and increasing confinement of Indians to reservations. The sea of grass that was the unfenced open range drew cattlemen, whose beef could be transported by railroad to teeming eastern markets.

Most cowboys were young - in their teens and twenties. Unlike the all-white casts of Hollywood westerns, the historic cowboys were a mix of ethnic groups reflecting American society. About a quarter were African-American, with a strong representation of Hispanic cowboys. English, Irish, German, and French immigrants were to be found, and among the finest were the American Indians. What bound them together was upholding the reputation of their "outfit" (the ranch or cattleman that employed them), the teamwork, and shared adversity of working cattle on roundups and trail drives, and personal pride in what they did.

It was a young man's trade, for the hardships of six-month trail drives, and the injuries sustained in working with livestock, took a physical toll. Some cowboys eventually became cattlemen, while others stayed on the ranches as cooks or handymen. Those who witnessed the close of the open range saw the end of their way of life, and if they knew no recourse, stayed in the business as ranch hands, tending a barbed wire fence, cutting hay, or winter feeding the livestock that free-ranged no more.

Stephen F. and Louisa Jones moved to Strong City, Kansas in August of 1878. Stephen came from southeast Colorado where he was engaged in a successful cattle operation called the JJ Ranch with his two brothers Jim and Peyton. Shortly after his arrival to Chase County, Jones bought 160 acres along Fox Creek from Jamima Rocker and William M. Langston for $2000. The Chase County Leader reported on September 19, 1878, that Jones had started building a residence on the farm and referred to him as the cattle man from Colorado.

Jones purchased 1,409 acres of land for $4001 from the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. He also purchased property (from 40 - 1,000+ acres at a time) from individuals, the sheriff of Chase County and the Texas Railroad between 1878 - 1883. He eventually amassed 7,000 acres of land. He had the entire ranch enclosed with 30 miles of five-foot high stone fence to accommodate his cattle operations. On a hill with freshwater springs surfacing, he chose a site for his new home. David Rettiger was contracted to build the house from Cottonwood limestone quarried just two miles south of the building site. In 1881, the three story stone mansion was completed at a cost of $25,000. A short time later, construction of a massive three-story barn and stable was completed, measuring 110 x 60 feet and costing $15,000. He named his estate the Spring Hill Farm and Stock Ranch. In 1882, Jones generously donated two acres north of his estate to the school district for the construction of the Lower Fox Creek School.

After only nine and a half years, Jones sold his grand estate and property on February 13, 1888, to his neighbor and banking partner, Barney (and wife Bridget) Lantry , for $95,000. Lantry consolidated this ranch into his own Deer Park Place estate of 5,800 acres, spanning 13,000 acres total. According to the Chase County Historical Sketches, Lantry's ranch was called Deer Park Place because he kept a small herd of deer for his own amusement. After the two ranches were combined, the entire ranch was called either name. The Lantry family did not live in the mansion, but preferred to stay at their residence just outside of Strong City. Employees of the Lantry's lived in the mansion. The Lantry home is the current site of Carol's Country Inn.

Lantry was wealthier than Jones. He made his fortune in stone cutting. It is said that Barney Lantry and Sons, a contracting firm in Chase County, became one of the world's greatest contracting firms, and at one time was credited with being the largest supplier of crushed rock and building stone to railroads (Chase County Historical Sketches v. 1, 33-34). The Lantrys had quarries throughout Chase County. The company secured contracts from the Santa Fe Railroad for building stone bridges and laying ballast. They also helped build the Mexican Railroad, and constructed the famous cog line railroad to the summit of Pike's Peak.

On March 14, 1907 there began a series of property divisions for the ranch (due to death) when Charles and Nannie Patten purchased 9,682.55 acres of the Spring Hill/Deer Park Place Ranch from the Lantry family. Barney Lantry died in 1895 and one of the sons, Henry Lantry, followed in 1904. The Pattens paid $180,636.92 for the property. The Pattens did not live in the house.

On March 15, 1909, Otto and Flora Benninghoven purchased the house, barn, and outbuildings, along with the surrounding 1,080 acres from the Pattens on a time payment basis. The Benninghovens lived in the stone house for many years. They farmed much of the Fox Creek farmland and ran cattle and sheep on the pastures. They even raised turkeys for a period of time. After the death of Otto in 1917, Flora and two of her sons operated the ranch until they were forced to sell it during the Depression.

On April 6, 1921, the Pattens sold the remaining 8,602 acres of pasture to Lester and Beulah Urschel for $400,000.

During the 1930s Depression, the Urschels and Benninghovens both sold their properties. On April 18, 1935 the ranch was transferred to the Prudential Life Insurance Company from the Benninghoven family. The buyer was the very wealthy Kansas City resident, George (and Elizabeth) Davis . Mr. Davis began to reassemble the Spring Hill/Deer Park Place ranches by purchasing 10,000 acres from the Urschels. He purchased the property on May 7, 1935 from the insurance company.

Mr. Davis purchased the Benninghoven's homestead and acreage. For the most part, the original Jones and Lantry ranches were back intact. Taking advantage of the low land prices, he acquired a total of 70,000 acres in the state making him the largest landowner in Kansas at the time. All of Davis' holdings became known as the Davis Ranch . Fred Howard was hired as manager for the Flint Hills operation and lived in the Lantry house. A top ranch hand, Hazel Slabaugh and his wife Erma were hired to manage the Spring Hill Ranch area. The Slabaughs lived in the Jones' house for many years.

George Davis resided in Kansas City and through his busy life had been a leader in many organizations. He was involved with national politics as the president of the United States Chamber of Commerce. He was also president of his own large-scale farm and ranch operation, the Davis-Noland-Merrill Grain Company . The ranch went under this name after Davis transferred title to the new ownership in the 1950s and for many years after Davis' death in June 1955. During this time the barn was altered to accommodate a new granary and to help modernize the ranch's operations.

In April 1971 the stone ranch building complex was entered on the National Register of Historical Places.

In 1975 the Davis-Noland-Merrill Grain Company operations merged with the Z Bar Cattle Company. The ranch was then renamed the Z Bar Cattle Company .

In 1986, the Z Bar Cattle Company disbanded, and the 10, 894 acre ranch was placed into a trust and was managed by Boatman's National Bank of Kansas City . The ranch continued to be managed for grazing and ranch managers lived in the house at this time.

Senators, Nancy Kassebaum-Baker and Bob Dole introduced legislation to Congress, which would allow the Federal government to create a national preserve. On November 12, 1996, this legislation was approved creating the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. The main portion of the preserve will remain in the private ownership and management of the property will be through a partnership with the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS will never acquire more than 180 acres by donation from the private land owner. In September 2002, thirty-two acres were donated to the NPS by the National Park Trust. This area includes the house, barn, outbuildings, and Lower Fox Creek school. In 2005 the majority of the preserve was sold to The Nature Conservancy. Together the NPS and The Nature Conservancy will work toward preservation of the tallgrass prairie, while sharing in the story of ranching legacy, American Indian history, and the diverse tallgrass prairie ecosystem here in the heart of the scenic Flint Hills of Kansas.

"Whenever you stop on the prairie to lunch or camp, and gaze around, there is a picture such as poet or painter never succeeded in transferring to book or canvas... [We] ought to have saved a ....Park in Kansas, ten thousand acres broad - the prairie as it came from the hand of God, not a foot or an inch desecrated by 'improvements' or 'cultivation.' It is only a memory now."

By 1884, D.W. Wilder was already seeing the loss of the prairie. The idea of preserving the prairie as a national park appeared as early as 1832. Painter George Catlin, who spent time with Native Americans in the northern Great Plains said there should be a “nation’s park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature's beauty!"

Scientists understood in the 1920’s that very little of the native prairie was left undisturbed in its natural condition. Victor E. Shelford, of the University of Illinois, and the National Research Council's Committee of the Ecology of North American Grasslands identified four sites on the Great Plains with sufficient diversity of native grassland plants to be considered true prairie. In 1930, he proposed incorporating one of them into the National Park System.

The idea of a prairie park persisted through the Great Depression and World War II. Various groups proposed various forms through the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and into 1990s, when H.R. 2369 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1991.

The bill would create a tallgrass prairie park from the 10,894-acre Spring Hill/Z Bar Ranch in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Representatives of National Park Trust , National Audubon Society; the Flint Hills National Monument Committee, which drafted the bill; as well as Dr. David Hartnett, associate professor of biology at Kansas State University; and Dr. Sid Stevenson, assistant professor of recreation and park management at Kansas State University testified before Congress in support of H.R. 2369.

At that time and in that place, Federal ownership of that amount of land was controversial. From 1991-1994, U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum convened a group of stakeholders, many with opposing views, to seek agreement on the formula for a tallgrass prairie park. In January 1992 Senator Kassebaum convened the group and a different model for a national park emerged: the conditions of the park’s creation would mirror those in the previous legislation. However, it would be a public/private partnership: publicly managed land by the National Park Service, but privately owned land.

The Z Bar Ranch was for sale by the Boatmen's National Bank of Kansas City, but Kassebaum’s group was unable to negotiate a sale in 1992. In June 1994, the National Park Trust was able to arrange the purchase of the Spring Hill/Z Bar Ranch, to assist in the creation of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.

In 1994, Senators Nancy Kassebaum-Baker and Bob Dole introduced Senate bill S. 2412 Congress, which would allow the Federal government to create a national preserve. Under the bill, the National Park Service would own no more than 180 acres of the preserve, leaving the majority of the preserve’s land in private, non-profit ownership. On November 12, 1996, the 10,894-acre Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve was created as the 370th national park unit under Public Law 104-333. 1

At the preserve’s dedication, Senator Kassebaum-Baker called the preserve a “model for the nation.”

For nine additional years, the National Park Trust and National Park Service planned and developed the park. In April 2005, the National Park Trust completed its mission at the preserve by transferring its land ownership to The Nature Conservancy , which now works closely with the National Park Service on a wide range of tallgrass prairie restoration projects. The Kansas Park Trust assisted in the transfer of preserve property from the National Park Trust to The Nature Conservancy.

Today, the NPS and The Nature Conservancy work toward preservation of the tallgrass prairie, while sharing the story of ranching legacy, American Indian history, and the diverse tallgrass prairie ecosystem here in the heart of the scenic Flint Hills of Kansas. 2

1 Rebecca Conard, Principal Investigator, Susan Hess, Research Assistant, Tallgrass Historians L.C.: “ Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Legislative History, 1920-1996 ,” (for National Park Service Midwest Support Office, Omaha, Nebraska, 1998)

2 Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Quick Facts, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, 2014

"We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations the important thing is not to achieve, but to strive."

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, established November 12, 1996, is the only unit of the National Park System dedicated to the rich natural and cultural history of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem . This 10,894 acre portion of the once vast tallgrass prairie is being preserved as a critical resource for the benefit, education, and enjoyment of this and future generations. It is a unique public/private partnership between the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy .

The National Park Service's Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network monitors the plants, animals, and natural features in the preserve over time. Monitoring these natural resources and how they might be changing can help park managers protect the preserve's special tallgrass prairie communities.

Tallgrass prairie once covered more than 170 million acres of the United States, from Indiana to Kansas and from Canada to Texas. Nearly all of it is gone, plowed under for agriculture or urban development. An ancient past survives in the irreplaceable Flint Hills tallgrass. It takes all season for the grasses to reach their maximum heights. The phrase "Tall in the Fall" is one to remember when visiting the preserve. Like everything in nature, they start out small. By early October the grasses reach their limits and turn golden brown.

This sea of grass was once a shallow sea of water. Between 200 and 300 million years ago, the gray and white limestone and steel tough flint began to form on the Permian Sea floor. The resulting Flint Hills geology was too shallow and rocky for plowing but excellent for pasture. The natural prairie cycle of weather, fires and animal grazing has sustained the diverse tallgrass ecosystem ever since.

The list of local species found include over 500 plants , nearly 150 birds , 39 reptiles and amphibians , and 31 mammals . The threatened and endangered Topeka Shiner is a minnow that dwells here and in other prairie streams. Much of the prairie flora and fauna are too small to see from a passing car. Take the time to stop and look closer. A subtle world of special beauty and natural wonder is waiting.

Monarch butterflies and many pollinators are declining in number. The widespread planting of herbicide tolerant corn and soybean lines, intensive farming, and the ethanol mandate have led to a rapid loss of habitats for monarchs, many species of bees, and other pollinators. This loss of habitat threatens the monarch migration and all the species dependent on the services of pollinators to provide the fruits, nuts, seeds, and foliage they feed on.

Monarchs and pollinators need our help . Planting milkweeds provides monarch caterpillars with host plants. Nectar plants help adult monarchs and other pollinators. Help maintain the monarch migration and sustain the pollinators whose services maintain our ecosystems.

Prairies historically covered nearly one third of North America. This sea of grass stretched from the Rocky Mountains to east of the Mississippi River and from Saskatchewan, Canada south to Texas. It was the continent's largest continuous ecosystem supporting an enormous quantity of plants and animals. Prairies began appearing in the mid-continent from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. They have developed into one of the most complicated and diverse ecosystems in the world, surpassed only by the rainforest of Brazil.

Prairie climates range from two extremes. High heat and drought in August to bitter cold winters locked in ice with frigid winds. Prairies exist in areas too wet for desert yet too dry to support healthy forests. Prairies respond to their environment, which includes soil type, water availability, and natural disturbances such as fire and grazing . These resulted in three distinct prairie regions. In the rain shadow of Rocky Mountains, dry short-grass prairie thrives with ankle-high buffalo grass and blue grama. The eastern tallgrass prairies are wetter, supporting big bluestem, Indian grass, and switch grass up to eight feet in areas. Between these two lies the mid-grass prairie dominated by side-oats grama and wheatgrass. Midgrass prairies have a mixture of shortgrass prairies in dry sites and tallgrass in wetter sites.

The prairie is well known for its fauna. Some authors have estimated between 30-60 million bison roaming the prairies prior to 1840. Elk, deer, and antelope also grazed in astounding numbers. Large predators preying on the grazers included grizzly bears, panthers, and wolves. Hoards of smaller wildlife from birds to pocket gophers adapted to this unique ecosystem.

Tallgrass prairies are an extremely complicated web of life. Eighty percent of the foliage is dominated by 40-60 species of grass. The other 20% of the primary vegetation is composed of over 300 species of forbs or flowers. The prairie also has over 100 species of lichens, liverworts, numerous woody trees and shrubs along protected areas like creeks. Prairie landscapes vary in soil types, depth, moisture, and slope. This creates many different niches for plant communities to fit into. For example, in the wet seeps, sedges and prairie cord grass thrive where bluestem and buffalo grass would drown. Species which require more moisture and deeper soils thrive in bottomland prairie areas . The dry, shallow, wind-blown hilltops host the drought-hardy hairy grama

Fires sweep across the prairie consuming everything in their path. A barrage of organisms feed on prairie plants as fast as they grow. The secret to vegetation survival in such a hostile environment is underground. Three quarters of the prairie biomass, or plant material, is the root system. The visible plants on the landscape are merely the photosynthetic leaves gathering sunlight. Just beneath the surface lie the main stems or rhizomes, running horizontally. The ground protects them from drying, grazing, trampling, fire, and frost. Tough fibrous roots descend from these rhizomes. Roots of some plants such as dotted gayfeather (blazing star) grow 10 to 15 feet deep. The plant utilizes microscopic "rootlets" numbering in the billions. Even smaller than rootlets are mycorrhizae which draw in nutrients too small for rootlets to obtain. The roots are so numerous that they would stretch for miles if placed end-to-end. The competition for nutrients and resources is fierce. Plant roots interweave so thickly that early settlers cut bricks out of the sod to build homes and schools.

Europeans discovered the rich soils that exist in the prairies around the 1860s. Finding the soils outstanding for crop production, they plowed the prairie anywhere they could to grow domestic crops like wheat and corn. Today, the most fertile and well-watered region, the tallgrass prairie, is less than 4% of its original area. This makes it one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems in the world. The rocky Flint Hills of Kansas remains the largest region still unplowed. This geologic region averages 60 miles wide and stretches from the southern Nebraska border into northern Oklahoma.

Scientists and researchers from around the world come to study this amazing and important prairie ecology. They recognize these grasses and forbs are the cornerstone of an important environmental "sink". Here the powerhouse of prairie plants are stored allowing this hearty ecosystem to regenerate despite fire, grazing, flood, and drought.

This "sink" removes tons of carbon from the atmosphere. The balance of prairie life both below and above ground has given the tallgrass prairie ecosystem a resilience surviving 10,000 years of climatic change.

The National Park Service's Heartland Network Inventory and Monitoring Program and others have gathered baseline data on plant and animal communities on the preserve. Collectively, there are 500 different species of plants found on the preserve. The greater plant biomass exists in the long tentacled roots reaching deep underground like an upside-down subterranean forest.

The name tallgrass prairie can be deceiving. Though many grass species grow taller than people, short grasses and several other plant categories are found on the preserve. Tallgrass prairie is classified by the amount of rainfall rather than the species which grow here.

Most native prairie wildflowers are classified as forbs: any herbaceous plant growing in its native habitat except grasses and grass-like forms. Herbaceous plants are non-woody vegetation with succulent leaves and stems.

Through efforts of members of the Kansas Native Plant Society and three speeches presented by Chase County Elementary School children to the Kansas State Legislature, Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) was named "State Grass of Kansas" by the Kansas State Legislature on July 1, 2010. Go to the Kansas Native Plant Society website to learn about the project and more.

Learn more about what you can do to help Bring Back the Monarchs program at MonarchWatch.org . You can even build a Monarch Waystation in your backyard.

* Did you know over 70% of our native plants and more than 30% of our crops are pollinated by insects?

Three pet-friendly trails are open 24 hours all year. Nature trails have deeper soil yielding taller plants during the fall. Great for stretching your legs if you feel like a half mile to 6 mile trek.

Explore deeper into the prairie 24/7. Cautiously walk through the upland vistas with roving bison. The further you get from the visitor center, the more the landscape surrounds you. Over 40 miles of trails branch off from 4 parking areas. Enough to explore at least twice!

The prairie has a long history of ecology and culture. Check out the podcasts, cellular tours, and virtual tours of the preserve, schoolhouse and historic ranch. Ranger tours are also available by reservation.

White Nose Bat Syndrome : the bat-killing fungus spreading across North America. Butterfly Count Information - Data taken from the annual butterfly count.