Native Prairie and KDWP
January 21, 2003
Mike Hayden, Secretary
Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
900 Jackson Street
Topeka, KS 66612
Dear Mr. Hayden,
Jayhawk Audubon Society of Lawrence, Kansas, recently learned that the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) has been destroying native prairie by strip disking State properties and lands that it manages for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation. We understand that KDWP is strip disking native prairie to improve habitat for a non-native species, the Ring-Necked Pheasant, solely to benefit hunters. We think the destruction of native prairie, for any reason and in any manner, is appalling.
In spring 2000, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers became aware that KDWP was strip disking its property. The Corps assembled a panel of experts to evaluate the effects strip disking has on native plant communities. The panel concluded that research was insufficient to justify strip disking native prairie and that the practice would likely cause permanent damage to the fragile prairie ecosystem. In a January 25, 2002, letter to KDWP, the Kansas Biological Survey expressed concern about the effect strip disking had on biodiversity and encouraged "the use of practices that do not destroy prairie."
Leading scientists consider prairie grasslands as the most endangered ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere. Today, only 1-3% of the tall-grass prairie and 6-7% of midgrass prairie remains. After more than a century of conversion to cropland and urban sprawl, most prairie in Kansas has disappeared with tragic consequences for native prairie flora and fauna. Habitat alteration and loss caused many native North American grassland species to suffer severe population declines. Grassland birds are most threatened by these changes. Thirteen species dramatically declined since 1967 when their populations were probably already much depleted. Of these, Dickcissel, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Henslow's Sparrow populations decreased by 38, 66, and 94 percent, respectively.
Some early travelers found the prairie unbearably monotonous and perhaps unsettling in its spacious silence, but most spoke of a landscape of diversity and splendor. Far from an epitome of sameness, grasslands are one of the most productive ecosystems in the United States. Besides grasses, they support many kinds of wildflowers, desert plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Pioneers watched tall stands of golden-brown Big Bluestem, Indian Grass, Prairie Cordgrass, and Switchgrass wave in the wind, and they were dazzled by wildflowers-Bird-foot Violet, Indian Paintbrush, Prairie Smoke, Compass Plant, Prairie Larkspur, Black-eyed Susan, Prairie Blazing Star, and dozens of others. They marveled at the prairie animals-Tumblebug, Prairie Mole Cricket, Regal Fritillary, Plains Leopard Frog, Ornate Box Turtle, Prairie Kingsnake, Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Burrowing Owl, Prairie Dog, Black-tailed Jack Rabbit, Mule Deer, Pronghorn, Bison, Kit and Swift Foxes, Badger, Black-footed Ferret, and many other spectacular animals. They witnessed raging prairie fires that allowed grasses to grow back green and lush.
The grasslands that evolved in North America over the millennia succumbed within half a century to European settlers who quickly exploited the rich soils and unbroken spaces. The existing plants and animals yielded to cultivated species or those able to adapt to conditions created by humankind. Thus, the natural grasslands in the United States have all but vanished. Sadly, one must search today to find good examples of the beautiful prairie landscape that so overwhelmed the pioneers, where open space seems to extend forever and existence feels, if for a moment, without bounds. These remnants provide critical habitat for many species of plants and animals-and human beings need them, too!
With private interests destroying large expanses of native prairie, it is of paramount importance that state and federal governments set a proper example by protecting this highly endangered ecosystem. We find it incomprehensible that the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks would deliberately destroy the native prairie that so clearly defines our Kansas heritage. Considering the little native grassland that remains and the disastrous effects strip disking has on the native plant and animal communities, we strongly encourage you to stop strip disking the native prairies on all lands you manage.
Sincerely,
John F. Neas, Ph.D., Conservation Committee
Cc: Kathleen Sebelius, Governor, State of Kansas
Colonel Donald Curtis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers