Those wishing to take a bus tour of the prairie at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve will no longer have to pay for it effective immediately.
Several other changes are in store for the preserve as well to provide greater services for visitors during hard economic times. User fees will no longer be collected.
“The tours have not stopped,” Superintendent Wendy Lauritzen said. “We’re just dropping the tour fees.”
Preserve staff hopes that the money saved in user fees will be funneled back into the communities of Strong City, Cottonwood Falls and other nearby communities. Tourists won’t have to pay for the bus tours any longer and won’t have to pay for the Spring Hill Ranch tours.
“The change in operations may encourage area schools, already strapped for cash, to bring their students on field trips to the preserve without worrying about tour fees,” a press release stated. “The preserve does not have an entrance fee and that will remain in effect.”
There are several operational changes as well:
• The operational hours of the public buildings at the ranch complex will be 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the preserve’s headquarters will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Cottonwood Falls.
• There is a new 4.8-mile trail being developed at Fox Creek. The trail will originate one-third of a mile east of the Saint Anthony Cemetery. This would bring the preserve up to nearly 22 miles of trails.
• The National Park Service staff at the preserve have worked with the Nature Conservancy, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to establish a fly fishing designated area on the upper Fox Creek area on the preserve.
• The National Park Services Acting Director Dan Wenk said the agency wants to eliminate the use of lead in fishing tackle in parks by the end of 2010. Instead, tackle should be made of tungsten, copper and steel.
Tallgrass Prairie National Prairie Preserve is located two miles north of Strong City on Kansas State Highway 177. For more information call (620) 273-8494 or go www.nps.gov/tapr. Superintendent Wendy Lauritzen can be reached at (620) 273-6034.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Posted by MisterO (anonymous) on April 17, 2009 at 9:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yay! This has been a long time coming. It will be great to have more public recreation opportunities in the Flint Hills.
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)