Land trust adds 6,800 acres

Kansas cattle rancher Rod Moyer maintains an appetite for the tallgrass prairie landscape of the northern Flint Hills.

"I like that you're here with nature and not with cars, people and concrete," he said. "I need green space and open air."

Moyer, 66, chose to preserve the view by including his 6,800-acre chunk of rural paradise in a conservation easement under the permanent protection of the Kansas Land Trust. He hosted a celebration of the transfer Thursday at a ranch house about 10 miles east of Junction City.

Addition of the Moyer acreage - largest in this portion of the Flint Hills - expanded the Kansas Land Trust's roster to 42 properties and 15,500 acres statewide.

"This basically affords rock-solid, permanent protection," said Jason Fizell, executive director of the trust organization working to preserve lands of ecological, scenic, historic, agricultural or recreational significance.

The land had been earmarked for a 100-turbine wind farm, but the agreement shields the property from encroachment of developers. The ground will remain in private hands, but be reserved for recreational activities and agriculture, primarily cattle grazing.

The transfer was completed with assistance of the the U.S. Army's compatible use buffer program at Fort Riley, the Natural Resource Conservation Service's farm and ranch land protection program and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

Moyer, the third generation of his family to farm and ranch in the area, said he had no relatives interested in actively managing the ranch that he began acquiring in the early 1990s.

"I would like future Moyers to understand somewhat of what their background was about," he said. "Also, that other people would be able to travel through and understand something about a working cattle ranch."

Jeff Keating, program manager for Fort Riley's buffer program, said the easement would help sustain the Army's training operations by protecting airspace for helicopter traffic. There was concern the turbine towers might interfere with radar systems at Marshall Army Airfield.

The vast majority of North America's tallgrass prairie fell under plows or was converted to other use by developers. The remaining 4 percent is coveted by conservationists.

Valerie Wright, environmental educator for the Konza Prairie Biological Station, said the area's plants and animals would benefit from preservation of the ecosystem.

"If you have little islands of habitat, then it's more difficult for species to survive, to mate and find food to live on," she said.