Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
Tallgrass prairie once covered 170 million acres of North America, but within a generation most of it had been transformed into farms, cities, and towns. Today less than 4% remains intact, mostly in the Kansas Flint Hills. Established on November 12, 1996, the preserve protects a nationally significant remnant of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Here the tallgrass makes its last stand.
Alerts
- CautionDangerous Highway Crossing
Highway 177 is 60 mph with a blind spot directly across from the house. Safely use the highway underpass to the Fox Creek Trail just south of the visitor center parking lot. Be smart, stay alive.
Fees & passes
Free. No entrance fee here.
Fees are not required to visit the preserve.
Hours
| Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Hours | Daily · All Day |
When to go
May draws the most visits here and January the fewest, averaged over 2021 to 2025.
Visitor centers
- Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Visitor Center ↗Passport stamp
Begin your preserve visit with the visitor center, complete with 10-minute orientation video, exhibits, indoor and outdoor restrooms, and water fountains. The visitor center is located on the left side of the breezeway. Rangers attend the visitor center during regular business hours.
No campgrounds, no webcams or events in Park Service data. What is here comes from the official page. The rest lives there.
Checked nightly. Modules appear as soon as the Park Service publishes the data.
Explore
Things to do
- Nature Trails45 Minutes
Three nature trails (shorter in length) allow visitors to experience the tallgrass prairie first-hand, while remaining in closer proximity to visitor services.
Opens on the Park Service site - Take a Self-Guiding Tour of the Ranch60 Minutes
Stephen F. Jones named his ranch the Spring Hill Farm and Stock Ranch for the springs found on the hill west of the house. The house was built on a hillside with a two-story exposure on the upper side and a three story on the lower level.
Opens on the Park Service site - Try Catch and Release Fishing
Three preserve ponds and Fox Creek are open to the public for catch and release fishing under the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Park and Tourism's Fishing Impoundments and Stream Habitats (F.I.S.H.) program.
Opens on the Park Service site - Explore Tallgrass Visitor Center10-30 Minutes
Park rangers attend the visitor center with a range of exhibits. Geology, ecology, history, and culture all shaped today's Tallgrass Prairie. A modest gift shop provides souvenirs and the park stamp for collecting memories.
Opens on the Park Service site - Take 12 to West Branch4-12 Hours
Up for a full day hike? Set out for marker 27 on the north end of the preserve. This 12 mile rounder provides a grand view of the landscape, bison, and who knows what else. Learn more about backcountry hiking.
Opens on the Park Service site - Bison viewing on the Scenic Overlook Trail30-180 Minutes
Walk along the gravel trail into the unplowed Flint Hills. Here an array of prairie wildlife make their home. The trail winds uphill through Windmill Pasture where a bison herd grazes. It continues to a hilltop on the far side.
Opens on the Park Service site
Show all 7Hide
- Break on the Bottomland Trail10-120 Minutes
The Bottomland Trail offers many amenities and a short walk through the prairie. It's an ideal stop for passing through with a tight schedule. The fine gravel trail loops through a small meadow by the river.
Opens on the Park Service site
Films
National Park Service productions, public domain.
News
- The Preserve’s 21st Annual Labor Day Quilt Display ↗2026-08-27
STRONG CITY, KS.- Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve will host its annual quilt display in the historic barn from September 3, 2026 through September 7, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily.
Map
Interactive map by the National Park Service
Historic landmarks nearby
Public land nearby
Distances are approximate. Wilderness Atlas publishes a center point and an acreage for each area rather than a boundary, so each area is treated here as a circle of the same size and the figure is the gap to that circle.
Kansas guidebooks
We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.
Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject.
Reference
Wildlife
Seen this monthAmerican Bison 3× · Eastern Meadowlark 1×Research-grade observations within 25 km, last 30 days, via iNaturalist
Full checklist: 127 birds, 40 mammalsHide
Raptors & owlsAmerican Kestrel · Bald Eagle · Barred Owl · Great Horned Owl · Hen Harrier · Merlin · Red-tailed Hawk · Swainson's Hawk · Turkey Vulture
Waterfowl & wadersAmerican White Pelican · American Wigeon · Blue Goose · Blue-winged Teal · Bufflehead · Canada Goose · Common Goldeneye · Common Teal · Great Blue Heron · Greater White-fronted Goose · Green Heron · Lesser Scaup · Northern Pintail · Pied-billed Grebe · Ring-necked Duck · Sandhill Crane · Wood Duck
Shorebirds & seabirdsCommon Snipe · Killdeer · Upland Sandpiper
Gamebirds & dovesCommon Pigeon · Mourning Dove · Northern Bobwhite · Wild Turkey
WoodpeckersDowny Woodpecker · Hairy Woodpecker · Northern Flicker · Pileated Woodpecker · Red-bellied Woodpecker · Red-headed Woodpecker
Hummingbirds & swiftsChimney Swift · Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Also on the checklistAcadian Flycatcher · American Crow · American Goldfinch · American Redstart · American Robin · American Tree Sparrow · Baltimore Oriole · Barn Swallow · Belted Kingfisher · Bewick's Wren · Black-billed Cuckoo · Blue Grosbeak · Blue Jay · Blue-gray Gnatcatcher · Brewer's Blackbird · Brown Creeper · Brown Thrasher · Brown-headed Cowbird · Canvasback · Carolina Wren · Chipping Sparrow · Common Grackle · Common Nighthawk · Common Starling · Common Yellowthroat · Dark-eyed Junco · Dickcissel · Eastern Bluebird · Eastern Kingbird · Eastern Meadowlark · Eastern Phoebe · Eastern Towhee · Eastern Wood Pewee · Field Sparrow · Fox Sparrow · Gadwall · Grasshopper Sparrow · Gray Catbird · Great Crested Flycatcher · Great-tailed Grackle · Greater Prairie Chicken · Harris' Sparrow · Horned Lark · House Finch · House Sparrow · House Wren · Indigo Bunting · Lapland Longspur · Lark Sparrow · Least Flycatcher · Loggerhead Shrike · Mallard · Northern Cardinal · Northern Mockingbird · Northern Rough-winged Swallow · Orchard Oriole · Prothonotary Warbler · Purple Finch · Red-eyed Vireo · Red-winged Blackbird · Redhead · Rose-breasted Grosbeak · Roughleg · Sand Martin · Savannah Sparrow · Scissor-tailed Flycatcher · Sedge Wren · Smith's Longspur · Song Sparrow · Summer Tanager · Swainson's Thrush · Townsend's Solitaire · Vesper Sparrow · Warbling Vireo · Western Kingbird · Western Meadowlark · Whip-poor-will · White-breasted Nuthatch · White-crowned Sparrow · White-eyed Vireo · White-throated Sparrow · Winter Wren · Yellow-bellied Flycatcher · Yellow-billed Cuckoo · Yellow-breasted Chat · Yellow-throated Vireo
Small mammalsAmerican Beaver · Black-tailed Jack Rabbit · Common Muskrat · Deer Mouse · Eastern Cottontail · Eastern Fox Squirrel · Eastern Mole · Eastern Woodrat · Elliot's Short-tailed Shrew · Hispid Cotton Rat · Hispid Pocket Mouse · Meadow Jumping Mouse · Pine Vole · Plains Harvest Mouse · Plains Pocket Gopher · Prairie Vole · Southern Bog Lemming · Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel · Western Harvest Mouse · White-footed Deermouse · bee shrew
PredatorsAmerican Badger · American Mink · Bobcat · Coyote · Cross Fox · Least Weasel · Long-tailed Weasel · Striped Skunk · common raccoon
Hoofed mammalsWhite-tailed Deer
BatsBig Brown Bat · Brazilian Free-tailed Bat · Eastern Pipistrelle · Eastern Red Bat · Hoary Bat · Northern Bat
Also on the checklistGroundhog · Virginia Opossum · long-nosed armadillo
Activities
Activity guides for this park Birdwatching in the national parks · Fishing in the national parks · Hiking in the national parks · Stargazing in the national parks · Wildlife watching in the national parks
All 18 activitiesHide
Weather & climate
Typical weather for the preserve ranges from lows of 0 degrees in the winter and highs of 90 + degrees in the summer. Prevailing prairie winds attribute to winter blizzards and occasional summer storms. Thunderstorms that form on the Great Plains have a rare chance of producing tornadoes. Lightning poses a danger when hiking into the prairie. Please check current weather conditions at NOAA before hiking into the preserve.
Questions people ask
Does Tallgrass Prairie charge an entrance fee?
No. Tallgrass Prairie is free to enter.
Source: National Park Service
Is Tallgrass Prairie open year-round?
Yes. The grounds are open 24 hours a day, year-round.
Source: National Park Service
Is anything closed at Tallgrass Prairie right now?
1 active alert as of October 14, 2026: Dangerous Highway Crossing.
Source: Alerts
How busy is Tallgrass Prairie?
27,531 recreation visits in 2025, number 309 of 387 units that report visitation.
Source: Most visited parks
Is there cell service at Tallgrass Prairie?
At the park's reference point, FCC coverage maps show Verizon 4G LTE, AT&T 4G LTE, and T-Mobile 4G LTE. Coverage inside the park varies by location.
Source: FCC Broadband Map
What is the weather like at Tallgrass Prairie?
Typical weather for the preserve ranges from lows of 0 degrees in the winter and highs of 90 + degrees in the summer. Prevailing prairie winds attribute to winter blizzards and occasional summer storms.
Source: Weather & climate
Follow this park
- Alerts feed (RSS)
- Every active Park Service alert for this unit, one item each, rebuilt with the nightly data refresh.
- Add dates to your calendar (.ics file)
- Fee-free entrance days that apply here and each published hours exception, as all-day events.
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