"Return to PrairyErth" Trailer

 

Following up on the acclaim and success of Blue Highways, William Least Heat-Moon's next work was 1991's "PrairyErth: A Deep Map".  This book was a quadrangle-by-quadrangle study of Chase County, Kansas.  By its subtitle "A Deep Map", it was a different sort of non-fiction work, in that not only is the cultural history of each quadrangle described, but a much more detailed look was also taken at the subsurface geology, soil characteristics, climate characteristics.

Put another way, Heat-Moon's narrative touches on nearly every imaginable aspect of the terrain in the Flint Hills Province of Kansas, such as the people, the vegetation, the history, the infrastructure (road and railroad history, current and abandoned), the geology, the climate, the growth and death of individual communities, and the history of numerous old preserved barns, houses, and stores.  

There is even a watershed map of the area describing individual drainage basins.  [This is another of Heat-Moon's books that sorely needs an Index to facilitate referencing the wealth of information provided.]

Figure 1.  (Photo by B. Masterson.)

The unique geology of the Flint Hills Province helped preserve a portion of the Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem, protecting it from unintended obliteration by grain farming activities.  The Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem (or Biome) had once covered an estimated 170 million acres in several states but was reduced to 4% of its original coverage by farming.  

In the Flint Hills, if memory serves me correctly, the surface stratigraphic layer was a chert-rich Pennsylvanian limestone.  As the limestone was removed by weathering and erosion, slivers, lenses, and other shapes of resistant chert (flint) were left behind in the soil, making tilling for grain production a very difficult task.  Not suitable for tillage and farming, the soil and vegetation were still suitable for cattle farming and grazing, which was less-disturbing of the flora.

Seated in the Rain Shadow of the Rocky Mountains, the remainder of the bountiful, rich soil consists of windblown "loess" (pronounced "lerse").  When not disturbed by repeated tillage, the thick subsurface mat of small grass "roots" (rhizomes) helps hold this soil in place.  The preservation of the soil helps maintain the Ecosystem's unexpectedly rich species diversity.  

At the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve an estimated 500 species of plants have been observed, almost 150 of birds, 39 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 31 species of mammals have been observed as well.

Prior to William Least Heat-Moon calling attention to this relict, but important prairie ecosystem, there had been local preservation efforts.  But internal conflicts between stakeholders and fear of surrendering more land to "outsiders", whether wealthy absentee owners without roots in the area or to government, stalled the efforts.  With "PrairyErth's" attention, there was more of an incentive to arrive at a workable compromise.

What eventually came about was the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, as a unique public/private partnership between the National Park System and The Nature Conservancy.  (There may be some privately-held grazing land within the preserve, as well, with there being a cooperative agreement between the public and private parties for the sake of Tallgrass Prairie Conservation.)

The Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem's dominant grass is the native Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), which can reach 8 feet in height while having a deep, complex root system that binds the soil together.  The depth and richness of this soil profile help protect the root system, allowing a Resiliency in the face of periodic range fires, which prevent the establishment of woody shrub and tree species.