Konza Prairie remains one of Kansas' near-pristine and rare vistas
Decline of natural tallgrass prairies spells trouble for certain species
12 a.m. Thursday, May 31, 2007
Manhattan — This time of year a vast ocean wave of emerald covers the Konza Prairie.
"We're on the western edge of the original tallgrass prairie," said Valerie Wright, Education Director for the Konza Prairie Biological Station.
The original tallgrass prairie stretched about four million square miles from Canada to Texas. And now?
"Basically it's less than 4 percent. Some people actually say it's less than 2 percent," Valerie said.
Valerie says the Konza Prairie is part of one of the last remaining large areas of tallgrass prairie on the North American continent.
"The plant community is very rich, very diverse on the prairie, over 600 species of plants," Valerie said.
Konza Prairie Walk
Konza Prairie Annual Wildflower Walk
Sunday, June 10th
7 to 9 p.m.
Call (785) 587-0441 to make reservations
Learn more at www.k-state.edu/konza
Free to Friends of Konza Prairie members $5 to the public. No pets please.
Butterfly Hill Trail generally closed to the public will be open. There are seven miles of hiking trails open daily to the public, designed for walks of 3, 5 or 7 miles. Pets and bikes are not permitted.
The shrinking tallgrass prairie came as a result of settlers and farming. Because the Konza Prairie has a shallow soil layer with a very rocky underlayer it could not be plowed up for farming and has remained basically untouched.
Eva Horne, Interim Director for the Konza Prairie Biological Station, said because the Konza Prairie has remained in its near-native state it is the perfect area to do research.
"We have somewhere between 150 and 200 research projects every year," Eva said.
Eva says it's important to study the Konza Prairie to understand other tallgrass prairie areas.
"We don't know what other kinds of things are in any of the areas that we're loosing a lot of, every year. So that's the main goal out here is to understand how the prairie works before we loose it all and we can never get it back again," Eva said.
The Konza Prairie is about 8,600 acres with migrating birds, wild turkeys, Bison, and rich plant life. 49 News Reporter Dana Davis' favorite plant is a magenta and gold-tipped flower plant called a Cat Claws Sensitive Briar. The tiny leaves close when touched.
Both Eva and Valerie say the better we can understand our environment, the better we are able to live with it instead of making it the way we want it to be. And the Konza Prairie is a good example.
"It's part of our earth our system. It's part of what we are. It's part of our history and it's part of us," Valerie said.
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