Kansas prairie

Bird watchers, animal lovers and even those interested in plants and insects are taking notice: there seems to be less of almost everything on the prairie. Why are so many wild things seemingly disappearing? Commentator Rex Buchanan shares his thoughts.

The plains spotted skunk is becoming harder to find in the central U.S. states it calls home. As federal officials consider the skunk for federal protections, researchers and environmentalists are hoping to learn more about the long understudied species.

These ranchers tried to protect grassland from trees and shrubs in all the traditional ways. It didn't work. So they brought in hungry goats that turned woody plants into a cash stream.

From a field on an Illinois university campus, to rare, untouched land in Texas, here are some efforts to replant once-abundant prairie in the Midwest and Great Plains.

The tallgrass prairie is mostly confined to the Kansas Flint Hills in eastern Kansas. But earlier this year, some of that grass - up to 5 feet tall - started sprouting further west, out in the Smoky Hills of central Kansas. What's going on here? Commentator Rex Buchanan explains.

A new documentary profiles ranchers in Greenwood County, Kansas, including a young couple trying to make a go of it as ranchers and small business owners in rural Kansas.

The lesser prairie chicken was once a common sight in the southern Great Plains, but its numbers are dwindling. Even so, it lost federal protections earlier this year for a second time. Now states and landowners are overseeing conservation efforts

Virtual fencing uses GPS collars, sounds and electrical cues to move cattle across a landscape. Along with saving ranchers time, researchers say this new technology can help protect, and create, wildlife habitat.

Trees and shrubs are invading prairies, hurting the wildlife and making it harder to ranch. Yet it's hard to know the full extent of the problem, so Kansas State University found a way to map it out on the cheap.

The Flint Hills Trail travels through tallgrass prairie and along riverside bluffs. It also offers a chance to stop at historic sites, such as the Allegawaho Heritage Memorial Park near Council Grove.