Title of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Docent Manual

Fifteenth Edition
February 2014

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Docent Program Logo

The history of any land begins with nature, and all histories must end with nature.

—J. Frank Dobie, 1943

We cannot simply set large parcels of nature aside — like so many closely guarded masterpieces in an art museum — and tell people not to touch. People are already in the last of our great remaining ecosystems. They’re burst through the museum door and raced down the corridors into the main galleries of the natural world. Now, working together, we must all find new ways to live there, ways that allow both people and nature to flourish.

In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy.

—John C. Sawhill
President, The Nature Conservancy (1990-2000)
(1936-2000)


The Nature Conservancy

Our Mission

To preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters that they need to survive.


Table of Contents

Section

  1. Names and Numbers
  2. Frequently Asked Questions
  3. Volunteer Program
  4. Visitor’s Center Gift Shop Procedures
  5. Emergency Procedures
    • Telephone Numbers
    • Procedures
    • Bomb-threat Checklist
    • Emergency Report Form
    • Emergency Coordination Point Map
  6. The Nature Conservancy
  7. The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve
    • Before the Conservancy
    • Conservancy Establishes the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve
    • Research projects
    • Nature Trails
  8. The Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem
    • Historical Perspective
    • Ecosystem Information
      • What is it?
      • Influencing Forces
      • The Decline of the Ecosystem
      • Four Signature Grasses of the Tallgrass Prairie
    • Stewardship and Management
      • Ecological Goals
      • Recreating an Ecosystem
      • Burning
    • Bison and Cattle on the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve
      • The Christina Adams Bison Herd
      • The Bison Unit
      • Bison Herd Management
      • Cattle
  9. Bison Basics
    • Bison on Nature Conservancy Preserves
    • Bill’s Bison Chart
    • Tallgrass Prairie Bison Herd Growth
  10. Chapman-Barnard Ranch History by Liz Medley
    • Photographs
  11. The Osage Nation
  12. Osage Oil and Ranching History
    Useful facts compiled by Dr. James Rhonda and Jeanne Rhonda
  13. Selected Sources — Oil, Osages, Ranching
    Compiled by Dr. James Rhonda and Jeanne Rhonda
  14. Osage County History by Jenk Jones Jr.
  15. The Docent News Index of Articles