A rattlesnake, just part of the wildlife that can be seen at the Cimarron National Grasslands, north of Elkhart, is shown in this June, 2002 photo. Migratory waterfowl, chickens, coyotes, white-tailed deer, an an occasional black bear are also at the national grasslands.
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TRAVIS MORISSE / Associated Press
Cattle are herded along a fence line and an infrequent row of trees on the Cimarron National Grasslands near Rolla, Oct. 28, 1998. Still done on horseback, the roundup covers thousands of acres and takes all day.
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/ Associated Press
The chalk pyramids of the Smoky Hills in western Kansas are some of the state's most unique landmarks. Some are more than 50 feet tall.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
Kansas' fantastic wild turkey population is one reason why sportsmen are buying up land and converting them to private hunting grounds.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
A small herd of mule deer heading to bed after feeding all night in nearby farm fields.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
The Arikaree Breaks near St. Francis. The Arikaree Breaks, in northwest Kansas, were formed when the area was an ocean bottom millions of years ago.
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Audrey Kalivoda / Courtesy
The sun sets on a small watering hole on the Cimarron National Grasslands.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
A prickly pear cactus blooms with a vibrant yellow flower in the Cimarron National Grasslands north of Elkhart, June 1, 2002. The grasslands stretch across 108,175 acres in Morton and Stevens Counties in southwest Kansas.
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TRAVIS MORISSE / Associated Press
Lewis and Clark documented hundreds of new species of animal and plant life along the Missouri River. They also depended on the animals for food for their men, sometimes up to 4 deer a day.
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Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle
A view of the Flint Hills at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Chase County, April 1, 2010.
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Mike Hutmacher / The Wichita Eagle
Seed pods along the bluffs of the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark discovered hundreds of new types of plants on their expedition.
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Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle
A waste land for agriculture, the land left behind after strip mining for coal is a sportsman's paradise with great hunting and fishing.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
Three-state lookout, White Cloud, Kansas
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Harland J Schuster / Courtesy photo
A waste land for agriculture, the land left behind after strip mining for coal is a sportsman's paradise with great hunting and fishing.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
16 year old Chris Beougher sits quietly on the banks of Elk Falls near twilight.
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Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle
Two endangered whooping cranes wade the shallow at Quivira, feeding on dead carp as the sun prepares to set.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
Looking at the moon through a hole in the rocks at the chalk pyramids in western Kansas.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
A dragline pulls coal from a strip mine near Pittsburg in April 1986. Coal mining dominated the economy and culture of southeast Kansas for a century, beginning in the 1880s, and drew tens of thousands of immigrants to the area from Italy and southeastern Europe, resulting in the region's nickname, "The Little Balkans." Although the last mines closed in the late 1990s, the cultural effects of the industry remain.
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RAY BRECHEISEN / Associated Press
Hundreds of thousands geese mill in the sky above Quivira's Big Salt Marsh.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
Flint Hills rancher Bobby Hammond sets fire to thousands of acres in the Flint Hills with no more than a match a little gas and her ATV. Hammond manages 30,000 acres as was in the middle of her annual burn this past week. Hammond stops to survey her work on the crest of a blackened hillside.
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Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle
Hundreds of thousands geese mill in the sky above Quivira's Big Salt Marsh.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
Flint Hills rancher Bobby Hammond sets fire to thousands of acres in the Flint Hills with no more than a match a little gas and her ATV. Hammond manages 30,000 acres as was in the middle of her annual burn this past week. Fires lace the ridge tops as Hammond continues her burning into the night.
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Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle
The more than 7,000 acres of the Cheyenne Bottom Preserve are mostly in a natural state.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
Jan Jantzen, left, and Suzan Barnes stroll together along a hilltop in the Flint Hills north of Strong City. Jantzen runs a business called Kansas Flint Hills Adventures and Barnes operates the historic Grand Central Hotel in nearby Cottonwood Falls. Both are the against the idea of wind farms being erected in the Hills.
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Travis Heying / The Wichita Eagle
Flint Hills rancher Bobby Hammond sets fire to thousands of acres in the Flint Hills with no more than a match a little gas and her ATV. Hammond manages 30,000 acres as was in the middle of her annual burn this past week. Fires lace the ridge tops as Hammond continues her burning into the night.
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Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle
A waste land for agriculture, the land left behind after strip mining for coal is a sportsman's paradise with great hunting and fishing.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
A greater prairie chicken displays his distinctive orange air sacs that he puffs up while courting the female chickens.
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Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle
Scenes from the last, long cattle drive through the Flint Hills, Nov. 5, 2010.
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Beccy Tanner / The Wichita Eagle
Many sporting properties are made more appealing to wildlife by planting food plots, like this, or rich clover.
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Michael Pearce / The Wichita Eagle
The sun rises over the Missouri River north of Atchison, some 200 years after Lewis and Clark first traveled here.
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Bo Rader / The Wichita Eagle
Clark O'Bannon's horse Spot rears on him as cattle pass by on a 19-mile cattle drive through the Flint Hills.
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Beccy Tanner / The Wichita Eagle
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