April 3, 2009
Smoke on the horizon means the prairie is being cared for.
Don’t worry. It’s April, so those massive columns of smoke rising up over the Flint Hills’ horizon are perfectly normal. And if it smells a little smokey here in eastern Kansas this time of year, that’s a good thing.
In the springtime Flint Hills, where there is smoke there is fire. In many parts of the country, fire is considered a bad thing. Wildfires in California and forest fires in the Northwest make national news, and not in a good way. Many people consider fire, because of its destructive nature, a threat to the environment. Visitors who are unfamiliar with the Kansas tallgrass prairie often become concerned when they witness a grass fire sweeping across a pasture. Recently, I met a traveler who had just arrived to the Flint Hills on an evening flight and had witnessed some pastures burning in the dark. “Somebody had better call that in, that’s dangerous,” was the traveler’s remark.
When homes are endangered and forests destroyed, fire is a bad thing. In the tallgrass prairie, however, fires of controlled burns are not only a good thing, they are an absolute necessity.
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Filed under Flint Hills Overview, Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem
Tags: Backfire, black soil, buffalo, burning tallgrass, controlled burns, fire, Flint Hills, Flint Hills History, hay, Isaac McCoy, John Freemont, Pottawatomie County, prairie fire, smoke, tallgrass prairie, Wamego Kansas
March 28, 2009
Climbing Butterfly Hill against a stiff wind. Are we crazy or what? (photo courtesy of Dena Huff)
Right away, let me make it clear, I suggested we try plan B. You might think we were foolish to go on the hike as originally planned. At least I thought so, and just so you won’t think I’m irresponsible, I want to make it clear I suggested an alternative.
In the end, however, it worked out okay. We went on the hike. Maybe we were crazy, but we were rewarded and it turned out to be a pleasant experience.
What am I rambling about? Maybe you saw the recent news reports that 90-mph winds were clocked on the Konza Prairie Biological Station. I can attest to that news report, because I was leading a hike over Butterfly Hill at the Konza at the time of those 90-mph winds.
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March 23, 2009
Meadowlark (Image: Western meadowlark. Credit: Doug Greenberg.)
Not all birds live in trees. Many kinds of birds love to live in grass, including songbirds like meadowlarks and dickcissels, and prairie specialists like the famed greater prairie chicken. Even killdeers and upland sandpipers, birds related to long-legged shorebirds, have made a home in the tallgrass prairie.
Recently, some of these birds have been in the news. Researchers spent some time in the Flint Hills over the past few years studying dickcissels, grasshopper sparrows, and eastern meadowlarks.
I’m not what you would call an avid birdwatcher. I’ve only recently learned to identify a dickcissel (hint: it’s easier if they are singing). I’m still not totally confident in distinguishing eastern and western meadowlarks (but I do know the western version is the state bird of Kansas). And I’m very sure I don’t know the difference between a grasshopper sparrow and many of the other sparrow species in the prairie (my birdwatching friends are certainly rolling their eyes at that confession).
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March 8, 2009
A weed, otherwise known as an Eastern Redcedar, grows amid tall grasses of the prairie.
Weeds attack even the best of gardens. Those who manage a landscape, any landscape, from the simplist garden to the largest ranch spread, struggle constantly to keep weeds out.
But what are weeds, actually? Why is one plant considered a pest to be eliminated and another plant is a welcome guest to be nurtured? It comes down to competition, I suppose, since plants, like people and other wild animals, compete for resources in their respective landscapes. Such is the case for one of the worst weeds in the tallgrass prairie of the Flint Hills, the eastern redcedar.
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December 24, 2008
The Flint Hills invite you to come closer and take a look.
Maybe I think too much, but lately I’ve found myself wondering about the attraction of the Flint Hills, at least what I find attractive. I can only speak for myself and I fully realize what appeals to me likely will not work for others. Still, I write this in the hopes some of you will relate in some way to my appreciation for this region and share your experience.
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