Tallgrass Prairie

Seven small plots represent the majority of the grass and forb species that dominated the 52 million acres of tallgrass prairie in Kansas before 1840: native wild flowers, western wheatgrass, sideoats grama, little bluestem, switchgrass, big bluestem, and Indian grass. Of those 52 million acres, only about 4.5 million remain today, while the rest are used for crop production, introduced cool season grasses, homes, and transportation routes. Settlers and Oregon Trail travelers would have encountered grasses that, if left ungrazed, could stand as much as ten feet tall by October. Their abundance led many travelers to wander off course in search of livestock feed and wild game for human consumption, but they were forced back to places such as this one to cross creeks and rivers, because the main Oregon Trail had been overgrazed and overhunted in the late 1840's and early 1850's, leaving ruts miles away from the main trails.

Kansas · United States