Majestic Kansas
By Sarah Burke, Special to The Gazette
Friday, February 27, 2009
“The Nature of Kansas Lands” edited by Beverley Worster, University Press of Kansas, 2008, $34.95.
“The Nature of Kansas Lands” contains not only breathtaking pictures of Kansas natural treasures, but the words used to describe the journey of the photographer and the picture itself truly sets this book apart from your average nature book.
Using an abundance of adjectives, Kansas is laid out as a majestic, living landscape that will make every Kansan sit back and appreciate the world around us. Each page not only contains a picture and a story, but it also has interesting facts about Kansas.
For instance, did you know that an endangered species, the Riffle Beetle, is found only at Scott Lake in Gove County? Did you know that there are more than 6.6 million cattle in Kansas, but there are only 2.8 million people? (Page 35)
The book contains photos and stories on five Kansas lands: Waterways, Woodlands, Grasslands, Farmlands and High Plains.
The Flint Hills in Chase County are mentioned in loving detail. While reading this you can vividly imagine the photographer’s journey to find the true heart of the Flint Hills. The photographer describes the Flint Hills: “Like the sea, this land swells and ripples. But this land has a body, bones, and muscles. It is hard flesh.” (Page 37)
Another standout passage describes a journey in Anderson County.
“Along the road, green came up to meet me. Young corn, just above the ground, undulated anxiously in row upon row of pale green ink. Wheat, sorghum, brome, taller and a darker green, rose up in dense masses in other fields, as if laid on the earth in thick paint, with meadows of grass stretching out easily into the corners of the landscape’s canvas.” (Page 54)
Anyone interested in Kansas, nature or facts will really enjoy this book published for the Kansas Land Trust. This book would also be great for families planning vacations. Why leave the state when natural wonders already await you close to home.
This would be a great present for anyone wild about Kansas or non-Kansans who do not know what a unique land we live in. Web sites to check out that deal with Kansas nature are:
• Kansas Land Trust, http://klt.org/
• Tallgrass Prairies National Preserve, http://www.nps.gov/tapr/
• Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/
• On the Shelf is written by staff and volunteers of Emporia Public Library.