Flames from this year’s prairie fires will be visible across the country and beyond.
A crew from “The Today Show” will be in the area the weekend of April 14th to film the Flames in the Flint Hills, according to Jan Jantzen, who operates the Grandview Ranch southwest of Emporia. The segment will be broadcast on the weekend version of the show on April 21.
Jantzen’s company offers trail rides, tallgrass prairie interpretive tours and personalized outdoor experiences, in addition to the annual prairie burning event, according to information from his Web site, www.kansasflinthillsadventures.com. His prairie burns have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and on “Motley Fool,” a National Public Radio program.
The NBC interest grew from Jantzen’s meeting a man from Kansas City, who thought an acquaintance who worked for NBC might be interested in doing a story about the prairie fire. She was not able to come to the burn until last year; then, she pitched the idea to “The Today Show” staff and they agreed to do the feature, unless breaking news causes a cancellation.
“NBC thinks their viewers are going to be really blown away by what they see,” Jantzen said.
For the past four years, Jantzen has made prairie burning a hands-on adventure for people who want to be there when the fire races across the hills and consumes the dry prairie grasses. Reservations are limited to 40. The prairie burning is part of the cycle of renewal necessary to maintain the nutrient-rich grasslands that support wildlife, wildflowers and plants, and beef cattle.
Participants light and manage the fire, using safety precautions and under the direction of Jantzen. He blends the activity with information about the prairie and its ecosystem.
“We’re trying to get people who value this place for what it is,” Jantzen said. “This isn’t water slides and golf courses. This is an ‘of the land’ kind of experience that people can’t get anywhere else. That wouldn’t be the case if the Flint Hills and tallgrass prairie weren’t such interesting places.”
Extra activities and tour opportunities have been added to the 2007 burnings.
“This year is the first time we’ve combined it with a wagon trail ride and lodging,” he said. “We’re trying to make it possible for people to justify coming and having a full weekend of things to do. ... We just sold our first package to a couple from Fifth Avenue in New York, N.Y.”
The Country Boys Carriage and Prairie Adventures will conduct the covered-wagon ride through the Flint Hills. Participants will experience “some of what early settlers went through, without all the hardships,” an event brochure stated. A campfire breakfast will be provided on the trip.
“Dance of the Prairie Chickens” will be held on the birds’ booming grounds on Jane Koger’s ranch in Chase County. It will be, Jantzen said, an opportunity to go “eyeball-to-eyeball” with prairie chickens as the males sing and dance to attract female prairie chickens.
The package also includes accommodations at the Prairie Fire Inn and Spa in Strong City, where owners Kevin and Rachel Creager Ireland hang a sheet in the parking lot and show old black-and-white western movies to the lodgers. Jantzen said he anticipated that the Inn and Spa will be completely booked and that Emporia motels will handle the overflow for the weekend.
The Prairie Fire Festival in Cottonwood Falls also will be an option for participants, as will traveling to the Hitching Post at Matfield Green. Jantzen also refers participants to Council Grove for self-guided tours.
“This event will bring people into five different communities and three different counties,” he said. “These folks that come are going to have a tremendous, authentic, participatory experience in the Flint Hills.”
For more information, call Jantzen at 342-2625.