Where the Tallgrass Still Grows

Tallgrass prairie once spanned 170 million acres across the United States. Now less than 4% remains.

The rocky soil of the Flint Hills prevented early farmers from tilling the land, inadvertently preserving the largest expanse of this unique ecosystem in the US. This drawing shows a burn area in the grassland, revealing the rocks that saved this important, and now nearly entirely vanished, tallgrass prairie from the national landscape.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve by Karen Kopacz