Konza Prairie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Konza in spring with herd of bison in distance

The Konza Prairie Preserve is a 3487-hectare (8,616 acre, 13.5 square mile) preserve of native tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas. It is located south of Manhattan, Kansas.

The Konza Prairie is owned by The Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University, and operated as a field research station by the Kansas State University Division of Biology. The Konza ecosystem contains forest, claypan, shrub and riparian communities in addition to the dominant tallgrass. Limestone outcrops are found throughout the Konza Prairie landscape.

The Konza is the largest remaining area of unplowed, tallgrass prairie in North America. It supports over 7,600 types of plants, 40 types of mammals, over 200 types of birds, 34 types of reptiles and amphibians, 20 kinds of fish, and over 700 types of invertebrates. A herd of approximately 300 bison is maintained on the Konza and native deer are also present in large numbers.