Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

The National Park Service, the Nature Conservancy, and Kansas Park Trust cooperatively manage the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. The majority of the land will still remain under private ownership, with the Nature Conservancy as the current landowner. Below is a short statement from each of the three partners explaining their own individual role in this new partnership.

The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The National Park System comprises 388 areas covering more than 84 million acres throughout the United States and its territories.

The Nature Conservancy is a private nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The Conservancy and its million members have been responsible for the protection of 15 million acres of ecologically significant land in the United States and an additional 117 million acres worldwide. The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is owned by the Nature Conservancy and operated by the National Park Service. This arrangement makes the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve the only privately owned national park unit in the country. For more information visit www.nature.org/kansas.

The Kansas Park Trust, through an agreement with the National Park Service, and its cooperation with The Nature Conservancy, is dedicated to the mission of enhancing visitor experiences at the preserve by assisting in private fundraising efforts, encouraging Congressional support for implementation of preserve management plans, conducting special public events, and operating an on-site bookstore and gift shop.

Originally the National Park Trust purchased the 10,894 acre remnant of tallgrass prairie in June 1994 for future management as a unit of the National Park System. The legislation that created the preserve states that only 180 acres of the now 10, 861 acre preserve may ever be owned by the National Park Service (federal government). Currently 32.5 acres have been donated to the National Park Service by the National Park Trust in a Land Transfer Ceremony held on September 20, 2002.

The 32.5 acres consist of the core buildings of the Spring Hill Ranch, which includes the main ranch house, barn, outbuildings, and also the one-room schoolhouse. This is the first of future land donations to the NPS.

The National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA), created to protect national parklands, founded the National Park Trust (NPT) in 1983. While NPT maintains a close association with the NPCA, today NPT is an independent private nonprofit 501 (c) 3 land conservancy. It is the only conservancy exclusively dedicated to preserving and protecting America's national parks.

Not all national park lands are preserved and protected. In fact, more than 2 million acres are privately owned. The National Park Trust steps in and works with the National Park Service (NPS) to purchase lands from willing sellers in order to protect the integrity of our nation's natural, historic, and cultural resources. The NPT is the only land conservancy dedicated exclusively to preserving and protecting America's national parks.

The NPT purchased the Spring Hill/Z Bar Ranch property in 1994, with the intent to donate the land to the National Park Service. On September 20, 2002, 32.5 acres were donated to the National Park Service in a special ceremony held on the front lawn of the Spring Hill Ranch. No more than 180 acres will ever be owned by the National Park Service. The remainder will continue to be privately owned. This unique partnership is "a model for the nation."

*	Secure from willing sellers privately held property within authorized national park boundaries.
*	Secure privately held property adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of national park units from willing sellers.
*	Acquire land to create new national parks.

To accomplish this, NPT purchases or helps others to purchase land for eventual sale or donation to the National Park Service. The NPT also arranges conservation easements and make loans to preservation organizations such as the Trust for Public Lands, and the Civil War Trust, seeking to enter into partnerships to protect lands; and they accept donations of lands associated with the National Park System

To date, NPT has scrutinized over 100 potential projects. Thus far, they have protected nearly 20,000 acres of land for the benefit of future generations of national park visitors. NPT has been and will continue to be at the very heart of our nation's effort to preserve, protect, and enhance our national parks. The NPT seeks to assure the protection of all NPS lands available from willing sellers for "America's greatest invention", the national parks.

Park Education Resource Center/Bookstore

The Park Education Resource Center operated by the Kansas Park Trust offers books for children and adults, prints, postcards, educational and hand-crafted gifts, natural objects, and culturally related items. The bookstore is open year-round (weather permitting) from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.