The Nature Conservancy - Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas

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Digital photo essay: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
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“Whatever else prairie is – grass, sky, wind – it is most of all a paradigm of infinity, a clearing full of many things except boundaries, and its power comes from its apparent limitlessness...”

— William Least Heat-Moon PrairyErth

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Saving America's Prairie Heritage

Possibility, Optimism, and a Unique Partnership

by Cara Byington

The prairies of the Great Plains are signature American landscapes. Wide lands under wider skies, they are symbols of seemingly limitless opportunity and enduring hope. On the tallgrass prairies of the eastern plains, it still sometimes seems that all things are possible.

In that spirit of possibility and optimism, The Nature Conservancy has embarked on a unique public-private partnership with the National Park Service and the Kansas Park Trust to help protect and manage the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Established in 1996, the preserve encompasses nearly 11,000 acres in the Flint Hills region of Kansas and was the first national park dedicated solely to the protection of America's prairie heritage.

Sadly, it is a heritage that has all but vanished. That is the modern irony of America's historic grasslands, especially the tallgrass prairies: The landscapes still seem so vast that they belie their own fragility and their ever-increasing scarcity. These are landscapes of urgent conservation need.

In 2004 the future of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve itself was in doubt after the original private partner ran into financial difficulty. The Conservancy stepped in to purchase the land, and today, in a partnership that is perhaps a model for future cooperative efforts, the Conservancy owns the preserve, and the National Park Service manages it for public access and education. The Park Service also maintains ownership of the preserve’s historic buildings.

The preserve is an important link between the past and the present and is held in trust for the future. In his book PrairyErth, about these prairies of the Flint Hills, William Least Heat-Moon writes that "people connect themselves to the land as their imaginations allow."

In a time when less than 1 percent of America's once vast tallgrass prairies survive, we need places like the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve to fire our imaginations and allow us to forge enduring connections to the landscapes of our history.

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Learn more, do more to preserve the prairie:

Where We Work: The Nature Conservancy in Kansas
Together with communities, businesses, and members, The Nature Conservancy has protected special places that define the landscape of Kansas, including tallgrass prairies, wetlands, mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies.
Places We Protect: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
Encompassing some 11,000 acres in the Flint Hills, the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve has become the only privately owned national preserve in the country.
Director's Letter: A New Day Dawns on the Prairie
A personal perspective on conservation, partnership and the future of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
How You Can Help: Support our Efforts
Donate online now to help us protect and restore natural landscapes in Kansas. It's fast and secure!