Tallgrass Prairie in the Midwest
and Its History
Lawrence, Kansas, financial professional James “Jim” Walden
provides clients of Clayton Wealth Partners (which also has an
office in Topeka) with risk-adjusted solutions. One of James
Walden’s passions is exploring the outdoors. He particularly
enjoys the Konza Prairie, located about 50 miles west of
Lawrence, Kansas.
The protected, 8,616-acre tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills is a
remnant of a type of ecosystem that once spanned 167
million acres, from southern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.
Today, only an estimated 4 to 13 percent of that habitat
remains, with the majority located in the Flint Hills. This region

has a rocky and shallow soil that could not traditionally be
plowed.
Interestingly, the prairie was looked on as a wasteland by
many early 19th century migrants moving westward, who
bypassed the relatively fertile prairie ecosystem on the
Oregon Trail en route to destinations that were agriculturally
inferior. However, once agriculture took hold, land allocated
to prairie was rapidly diminished. Between 1830 to 1900, most
of the land was converted to corn, wheat, and soybean
development.
The US government fostered this through regulations such as
The Homestead Act of 1862, which provided 160 acres to any
adult willing to live in a place and till the soil for 5 years. The
Timber Culture Act of 1873 made such deeds contingent on
planting 40 of the 160 acres with trees and keeping them
alive a full decade. As a result, trees, as well as agriculture

(and exurbs), populate much of the former tallgrass prairie
environment. Today, a new industry has taken root in the rural
land as well, with large-scale wind farms and wind turbines
found across the Great Plains.