Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve - Our Partners (U.S. National Park Service)

The National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the Kansas Park Trust work together to manage the preserve and educate the public about the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. The preserve is a public/private partnership with the majority of the land under private ownership by The Nature Conservancy; the remaining is federal property. Below is a short statement of each partner's role at the preserve.

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 over 390 areas covering more than 84 million acres throughout the United States and its territories. National Park Service staff operate an on-site visitor information station, provide visitor services, conduct guided house tours, bus tours, special interpretive programs and hikes, and coordinate/present an extensive list of special events and activities throughout the year.

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 majority of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is owned by The Nature Conservancy and managed by the National Park Service. For more information visit www.nature.org/kansas.

The Kansas Park Trust, in cooperation with the National Park Service and through an agreement 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, sponsoring the annual Arts and Education Contest, and operating an on-site bookstore and gift shop.

Original Partnership

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 creating the preserve stated that no more than 180 acres of the preserve may be owned by the National Park Service (federal government). The majority would remain privately owned. Approximately 32.5 acres were donated to the National Park Service by the National Park Trust in a land transfer ceremony held on the front lawn of the ranch house on September 20, 2002. The 32.5 acres consist of the core historic buildings of the Spring Hill Ranch; the main ranch house, barn, outbuildings, and also the one-room schoolhouse.

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.

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.