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| Photo Credit: Flickr (Miguel Vieira} |
"A
child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with
full hands;
How
could I answer the child? I do not know what it
is any more than he.
I
guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of
hopeful green-stuff woven.
Or
I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord. - Walt Whitman
How DOES one describe something that is nothing?
Because that’s exactly what the Tallgrass Prairie National Reserve is just
outside the town of Strong City, Kansas.
It's open skies, open fields, never-ending horizons, and hills of
nothing. But that nothing is something
that only God could’ve created. It’s not
anything a writer or author can paint and portray. It’s wide-open space of beautiful
wildflowers, vista and wildlife. The Tallgrass Prairie
National Preserve is the only unit in the National Park Service dedicated to
preserving a rare relic of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. So those fields of ‘nothing’ – are definitely
something.
When
you’re standing in the middle of nearly 11,000 acres of prairie tallgrass in
Kansas, all you can hear are the birds and the wind. It brings a sense of calmness and
peacefulness that is indescribable. Your
mind can’t help but think back to when travelers and settlers once crossed the
very prairie land you’re standing on by ox and wagons so many many years ago.
Prairies
began appearing in the mid-continent from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago and have
developed into one of the most complicated and diverse ecosystems in the world,
surpassed only by the rainforest of Brazil.
Tallgrass prairie once covered approximately 170 million acres of North
America. It was the continent's largest
continuous ecosystem supporting an enormous quantity of plants and
animals. Some of the grasses include Big
Bluestem, Indian Grass, and Switch Grass and they can grow to heights of eight
feet in the fall, depending on moisture and other factors.
Sadly,
over time, the vast majority of the prairie was developed and plowed
under. Today, less than 4% remains,
mostly here in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
This makes it one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems in the
world.
On
November 12, 1996, legislation created the 10,894 acre Tallgrass National
Prairie Preserve to protect a sample of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem.
With
help from the NPS, the
natural prairie cycle of weather, wildfires and animal grazing has sustained
the tallgrass prairie and its diverse plant and animal species ever since.
Now
you can find over 500 species of plants, nearly 150 species of birds, 39
species of reptiles and amphibians, and 31 species of mammals. Much of the
prairie vegetation and wildlife is far too tiny to be seen from a passing car.
For those who take the time to stop and look closer, a delicate world of
magnificence and natural wonder is waiting.
Visitors
can enjoy historic house tours of an 1880s limestone mansion, a massive three
story limestone barn, Lower Fox Creek {one-room} schoolhouse, and nature trails
that appeal to any age – some of which pass you up close and personal with
bison. Cell phone tours of the historic buildings and prairie are available as
well. Starting late April, guided bus
tours into the prairie are available daily. Bus tours are wheelchair
accessible.
New
exhibits in the visitor center and Junior Ranger activities are available on
site or may also be downloaded via the website. Completion of five activities
are required to earn a Junior Ranger badge. Children may complete a Leave No
Trace Scavenger Hunt to obtain a patch. Both activities are available in
Spanish. Visit the website for hours and
location.
Just how the prairie speaks to you
depends on you. Some may find it
literally, fields of nothing. But most will
find the beauty and the hopefulness of what was, and what is.
