Method: Integration of Cultural and Natural Values Through the General Mangagement Plan

The Planning Team

Because of the controversy over the establishment of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, the NPS Midwest regional director decided that the preserve's general management plan should be prepared within the region rather than by the Denver Service Center. The process took nearly three and one-half years to complete but was regarded very positively by the National Park Service, the National Park Trust, and interest groups and individuals in surrounding communities. Those on the planning team believed it was important to move slowly and be thorough in gathering all existing information, and to seek public input and involvement throughout the process in order to garner support. Both the National Park Service and the National Park Trust have focused on constituency building and developing good relationships with other organizations and individuals.

The 13-member Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve advisory committee includes three representatives of the National Park Trust; three representatives of local landowners, cattle ranchers, or other agricultural interests; three representatives of conservation or historic preservation interests; one range management specialist from a Kansas university; and one representative each appointed by the governor, the county commission, and local municipal officials. The committee members advised the National Park Service in preparation of the park's general management plan and environmental impact statement, and will continue to advise the Secretary of the Interior and the director of the National Park Service on the development, management, and interpretation of the preserve.

Before developing a series of alternatives, the planning team developed a set of "desired futures" for the preserve based on the park's mission. As well as addressing ecological issues and visitor experience and education, the desired futures stressed the need for managing natural and cultural resources together "to preserve the character-defining features of the Flint Hills cultural landscape." The team also stressed maintaining a strong partnership between NPS and the National Park Trust and maintaining an effective working relationship between the preserve's management team and the preserve's neighbors, adjacent communities, and other partners to foster cooperation on issues of mutual interest such as viewsheds, water quality, transportation, and fire management.

Use of Expert Panels

Because of the limited time for detailed scientific studies on site, the planning team looked at research that has been conducted at similar locations in the Midwest, such as the Konza Prairie Biological Station operated by Kansas State University, the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve operated by The Nature Conservancy in Oklahoma, and Walnut Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa. The team also assembled two panels to solicit scientific, technical, scholarly, and practical resource management advice.

The enhancement panel was composed of academics in natural resource fields who could contribute expertise in conservation biology, rangeland science, botany, zoology, and terrestrial and aquatic ecology. The panel was asked to provide opinions on the effects of different fire and grazing regimes on biodiversity and productivity in the tallgrass prairie ecosystem based on research conducted in ecologically similar areas.

These recommendations were then given to the sustainable management panel, a group made up of practitioners with experience in livestock and bison ranching, economics, cultural geography, ecology, and recreation. This panel was charged with translating the enhancement panel's recommendations into an on-the-ground management strategy consistent with NPS management policies, and drafting an economic analysis for various management options in order to meet the sustainability objectives stated in the legislation. The panel was also asked to consider recreational opportunities for the public and to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of Spring Hill Ranch.

The Plan

The preferred management alternative was not one of the preliminary alternatives presented early on, but was a composite developed in large part from public input and consultation with the advisory committee and expert panels during the planning process. The preferred alternative will divide the preserve into four management areas: the visitor information and orientation area, the Flint Hills ranching legacy area, the day use area, and the prairie landscape area. Integrating the management of natural and cultural resources will pose the greatest challenge within the prairie landscape area. Here, the cultural history of Native American groups will be a major educational thrust. More than 400 vascular plants have been inventoried, 200 of which were of concern to native peoples. Cultural artifacts also exist from the ranching period; these include spring boxes, more than 37 miles of stone fencing constructed in the 1870s through 1890s, and stock ponds mainly constructed in the 1940s and 1950s. Potentially, these cultural resources could become instrumental in achieving natural resource management goals. For example, stock ponds might provide needed water sources for maintaining a bison herd, and stone fences could act as fire breaks in a fire management strategy.

Because there is very little public land in the Flint Hills region and a significant population looking for recreational opportunities on large tracts, managers of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve will need to play a careful balancing act to provide recreation while protecting resources "unimpaired." The current thought is to minimize development and tie recreation to experiencing prairie culture through lower-impact activities such as hiking or primitive camping. The preserve can provide visitors with a unique opportunity to camp out under the stars and sense the vastness of the open prairie much as cattlemen did more than 100 years ago.

Interdisciplinary Approach to Planning