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Walking Trails
As you enjoy and explore the 5 miles of walking trails at the Refuge, you are likely to see pheasants,
badgers, buffalo,
elk, white-tailed deer,
monarch butterflies, and a wide variety
of beautiful native
prairie flowers. Begin our trails at the Prairie Learning Center.
 Tallgrass
Trail - A two mile black-top trail through reclaimed
prairie
Savanna Trail
- Half mile gravel trail winding through ancient oaks
Prairie Overlook Intrepretive
Trail - An ADA accessible paved trail, offering views of
prairie plantings, buffalo, and oak savanna |
Prairie Learning Center - Begin trails here
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The Tallgrass Trail
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Become
a
Member
or a
Volunteer
Today!
Call
515 994-3400
or
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The Tallgrass Trail is a 2-mile long trail. It
has a black-top surface and has benches to rest and watch the
prairie life around you about every 1/3 mile. It has long, gradual
slopes that will take you down by the stream. This trail is accessible
to everyone, including those in wheelchairs, walkers, or on crutches, though
it does require some endurance. The trail has 6 stations.
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Station 1
If you listen
and watch closely, you may hear the sweet calls of meadowlarks and see
them landing in a patch of Indiangrass
The meadowlark
has a black "necklace" on a yellow chest
Meadowlarks
build their hidden nests on the ground at the base of plants
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Station 2 - What to Watch for...
You are now
at the creek. Creeks are the travel corridor for many animals
See tracks
of skunks, rabbits, raccoon, or turtles in the mud
Cottonwood
trees (across the creek)
Damselflies
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Station 3
This is the
station where you may catch a glimpse of the Refuge buffalo
As the
buffalo graze and trample the prairie, they are actually helping the prairie
grow thicker by selecting certain species for survival over others
You may
also see the brown-headed cowbird, which follow buffalo herds to eat insects
from the buffalo backs
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Station 4 - What to watch for...
The bird kestrel
Little
bluestem grass
Butterflies
Pocket
gopher mounds
Purple
spikes of blazing star
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Station 5
The prairie
plants and grasses provide a natural habitat for many prairie creatures
Indiana
bats, a federally endangered species, live in the savanna and woods - you
may see them along the stream at dusk
Each spring,
pregnant female bats leave their wintering caves in Missouri and return
to the Refuge to raise their young
Nests
of red-tailed hawks in trees
Black-eyed
Susans
Butterfly
milkweed
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Station 6
Watch for
wild turkey
Badger
holes in the hillside
Dragon
files catching other insects
Big bluestem
grass
Canada
wild-rye
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Please enjoy this trail and all of the Refuge
Help us to protect it...
Stay on
the trails
Collecting
plants or animal, building fires, or taking pets along are all prohibited
Please
do not litter
To protect
people on foot, no bicycles or skateboards are allowed
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Top of Page
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Credits
© Copyright, 2001 Friends of the Prairie Learning Center
All Rights Reserved Legal
Notices
email: buffalo@tallgrass.org
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