- Location
- Kansas
- Current protection
- Mostly private land
- Status
- No active campaign
- Tier
- Tier 2 · National Monument
- In the book
- Not featured in Undiscovered America
Why should it be a National Park?
The shortgrass and mixed-grass plains of western Kansas were once the heart of bison country, a sea of grass that stretched from Canada to Texas. Almost none of it is protected as public land today.
The Great Plains are the least protected of America's great landscapes. A prairie park big enough for bison to roam as they did 150 years ago would be one of the greatest National Parks in the country.
The history of National Park Campaigns
In 1987, planners Frank and Deborah Popper proposed returning much of the Great Plains, some 139,000 square miles across ten states, to a Buffalo Commons. In 2009 the Kansas City Star's editorial board revived the idea as a prairie National Park in Kansas where bison could roam again.
- Distinct National Park attempts
- 1 (2009 editorial proposal)
- Other designation attempts
- 1 (1987 Buffalo Commons concept)
Sources
- National Parks Traveler, "Newspaper Turns Back the Calendar and Calls for 'Buffalo Commons National Park' in Kansas" (2009)
- Wikipedia, List of proposed National Parks of the United States
- 1987
Frank and Deborah Popper's article "The Great Plains: From Dust to Dust" in Planning proposes a Buffalo Commons of about 139,000 square miles across ten Plains states.
- November 2009
The Kansas City Star's editorial board calls for a Buffalo Commons National Park in Kansas.