The concept of including the tallgrass prairie (the last gap in the nation’s park system, in the words of former Secretary of the Interior Steward Udall) in the National Park system was first proposed as early as the 1920s, and sporadic efforts along these lines occurred into the 1980s.  It was not until the early 1990s, however, that these efforts began to bear fruit.  In 1992 Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum convened a meeting at which proponents and opponents reached a compromise that led to the establishment of a Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve on the nearly 11,000 acre Z Bar Ranch in Chase County.  In June of 1994 the National Park Trust, a nonprofit land trust, bought the ranch with the intent of having the National Park Service administer it as a part of the national park system.  The enabling legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in November of 1996.  After three-quarters of a century the prairie park had finally become a reality.

In 2004, Paul Pritchard of the National Park Trust asked Governor Kathleen Sebelius and Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker to be honorary co-chairs for a fund-raising effort to retire the mortgage on the ranch.  At that point Governor Sebelius and Michael Hayden, former governor and current Secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, enlisted the support of Senator Kassebaum Baker and former congressman Dan Glickman to establish the Kansas Park Trust, which then acquired ownership of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve from the National Park Trust.  In 2005, the property was sold to the Nature Conservancy, which, along with the Kansas Park Trust and the National Park Service, now maintains and operates the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve with efforts to ensure that current and future generations can share in the beauty and culture of the prairie ecosystem.

Committed to the 3-way partnership, the Kansas Park Trust is taking the charge of leadership in the development of a visitor center, operating the bookstore/gift shop, and expanding education and outreach.

– Jim Hoy, KPT Board Member and Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies, ESU

KANSAS PARK TRUST BOARD MEMBERS, 2009