Volume 7, Number 4,
May 1961:
The F.B. and Rena G. Ross
Natural History Reservation

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ABOUT THIS ISSUE

IN THIS ISSUE
- Introduction
- History of the Area
- Description of the Area
- Aerial Photograph
- Accumulation of Field Data
- Weather
- Conservation Practices
- Animals of the Reservation
- Nature Trail
- Cover Picture
- Ross Message

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This page was last modified:
February 24, 2008

This page was originally posted:
June 14, 2005

The F.B. and Rena G. Ross Natural History Reservation
by John Breukelman, Thomas A. Eddy and Emily L. Hartman

Figure 2

Description of the Area

The soils of the area are best adapated to native pastures, particularly those covering steep slopes and surfacing the upland ridges of limestone outcrops. Cultivation should be limited to stream valleys, smooth gentle slopes and high divides where the soil depth is 10 inches or more. The accompanying map is a modification of a map and report prepared in 1941 by the U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service.

The Region A soils are deep, dark, and moderately friable over tight clay or claypan subsoils. Although suitable for cultivation, constant efforts must be made to prevent sheet and gully erosion. There is a two to six percent slope on this land.

In Region B the surface soil is deep to moderately deep, dark, friable, and silty to clayey in composition. This region includes the sloping uplands and slopes below the outcrops on the reservation. This type of region is the one most extensively cultivated elsewhere in the county.

The grayish-brown, silty or gravelly Region C soils are only three or four inches thick. They occur on steep, rough, broken slopes which are frequently littered with limestone boulders. Overgrazing or burning of these areas has resulted in extensive gully erosion.

In Region D the surface soils are light-brown, silty, clay loams with an average depth of three to five inches. The subsoils are gravelly or cherty. Since these soil areas are still undergoing development, proper land management to decrease erosion is extremely important.

Figure 3

The annual rainfall is about 30 to 38 inches, with 72 percent of the precipitation occurring during the normal growing season of 186 days. Average temperature for July is about 79 degrees F as compared to an average January reading of about 31 degrees F. The grasslands are subdivided by modern ecologists into the True Prairie and the Mixed Prairie.

The western boundary of the True Prairie is indistinct, since the deciding factors are climatic; the line of 20 inch rainfall or the 97th meridian is often used. West of this region is a transition zone in which local topography greatly influences the prairie. The largest remaining tract of True Prairie in Kansas is the Flint Hills region. The Reservation lies within the True Prairie, with representatives of both warm and cool-season grasses present, as shown by the following list.

Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi) - Warm-season, tall-grass perennial

Little bluestem (Andropogon scoparius) - Warm-season, mid-grass, perennial

Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans) - Warm-season, tall-grass, perennial

Tall dropseed (Sporobolus asper) - Warm-season, mid-grass perennial

Side-oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) - Warm-season, mid-grass, perennial

Hairy grama (Bouteloua hirsuta) - Warm-season, short-grass, perennial

Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) - Warm-season, short-grass, perennial

Buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) - Warm-season, shortgrass, perennial

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) - Warm-season, tall-grass, perennial

Canada Wild-eye (Elymus canadensis) - Cool-season, tall-grass, perennial

Sloughgrass (Spartina pectinata) - Tall-grass, perennial.

There are probably no prairie areas on the Reservation that have not been grazed during the past 10 years. The extent of grazing has varied considerably as shown by the contrast between lightly grazed and overgrazed areas. (Fig. 3) The best stands of native grasses are found on the western two-thirds of section B and the northern half of section D. (See pages 8 and 9.) Here little bluestem and Indian grass dominate the unbroken upland.

Figure 4

The scattered moderately-grazed areas have a thinner cover of little bluestem, side-oats grama, and tall dropseed. The latter species provides an early warning of disturbance. Some strands of little bluestem contain an equal amount of side-oats grama and indicate recovery rather than degeneration of prairie. On shallow ridges of outrcrops, a marginal community of side-oats grama, blue grama, dropseed, and some buffalo grass dominates. (Fig. 4) Completely denuded areas particularly around the base of rocks are invaded by hairy grama and dropseed. The major prairie ravines (Fig. 5) are capped on the ridges by smooth sumac.

Figure 5

The largest pond on the Reservation, Gladfelter Pond, was constructed in June, 1958. The dam and spillway bank were seeded with bermuda grass. Around the margins of several older stock ponds are side-oats grama, Canada wild-rye, dropseed, and buffalo grass. These frequently migrate up the small ravines feeding into the ponds.

Figure 6

The Reservation is traversed by three drainages. One of these originates in the wooded ravine in Chase County and flows east, then north. The second forms on the east slope of the prairie upland and flows northeast. The third consists of the watershed for the Gladfelter Pond and flows northeast along a scrubby and wooded course. The courses of all three may be seen on the aerial photograph on pages 8 and 9. These creeks vary in amount and duration of flow through the year. For the most part, their banks are abrupt, some grassed and some bare. (Fig. 7) Occasionally they fan out into small local flood plains which are seepy in places and dotted with permanent or semi-permanent pools. In such areas, the tall grasses of the lowlands find a suitable habitat. The most extensive spring (Fig. 8) has at its source and scattered along its course mats of watercress along with water plantain, great bulrush, clumps of Indian grass, and big bluestem. A marshy community of slough-grass and great bulrush occupy a midway position on its downward course to the east wooded creek.

Figure 7

Figure 8

The wooded ravine beginning in Chase County and extending eastward across the county line is the most heavily wooded area on the Reservation. (Fig. 9) Thick stands of smooth and fragrant sumac, coralberry, and dogwood cover the rock-strewn slopes, crest the outcrops, and migrate marginally out into the adjacent prairie. Also scattered along the ridges are Osage organge, red haw, and honey locust. The largest trees in this area are hackberry, red elm, American elm, green ash, black walnut, and red cedar. Core samples of three trees in this area revealed the following approximate ages: hackberry, 35 years old; black walnut, 38 years old; and red cedar, 55 years old.

Figure 9

Clumps and scattered trees of cottonwood, Osage orange, green ash, and box elder occur along the wooded creek in section A. Dogwood, sumac and red cedar seedlings occupy the lower slops adjacent to the creek. One large cottonwood sampled was over 103 years old. The most common hedgerow consists of Osage orange and honey locust. The most diverse hedgerow contains Osage orange, honey locust, red elm, American elm, and hackberry, with dogwood, coralberry, and sumac thickets interspersed. The trees found around the old farmsites include red cedar, green ash, hackeberry, Kentucky coffe-tree, black locust, and honey locust. Plum thickets also remain in some areas. The largest tree on the Reservation is a silver maple over 79 years old located in A 27. One of the green ashes in the headquarters region is over 57 years old.