A Little Taste of Kansas

In less than one week, our team leaves for the field. I have so much to do! But we are still having fun back in Kansas. I spent a delightful Saturday with 31 freshman Biology students visiting the Konza Prairie (thanks to Target Fieldtrip grants for funding us!) Most students in Kansas seem to know more about the rainforest than our own gorgeous native prairie. We drove 1 1/2 hours to the Flint Hills, hiked 3 miles and got to see the recent burns, new wildflowers peeking through (we had snow even last week--spring has been late to come this year!), a Horned Lizard, and lots of tiny fusillinid fossils in the limestone outcroppings. Our guide taught us to use the sumac as a toothbrush, but Jenny and Josh decided they would rather never brush again than to have to use the homeade brush. We learned that the keys to keeping prairie around are grazing, fire, and climate (lots of wind!) We identified all three native grasses, Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indian Grass, and Switchgrass. Then we took a 10 mile driving tour on our bus into the bison fields where they maintain a herd of about 300. Our guide said we were very fortunate getting to see so many bison. We even got to see some babies nursing on their moms. I think all the freshmen girls missed the part on how dangerous these 1000 lb beasts can be, because they all wanted a pet bison to take home (they wouldn't fit on the bus though). We ended the day with ice cream and headed home. My hope is that some of our kids will get to return with their families to see the majestic Greater Prairie Chickens booming on their lek, or take the Prairie Wildflower tour in June. Thanks to our new friends at the Kansas State University Konza Prairie Biological Station for a fabulous tour!