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Konza Prairie usually means the Konza Prairie Biological Station, a tallgrass prairie research site in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas. It is owned jointly by The Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University, run as a field research station by the university’s Division of Biology, and home to the Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. This page separates the station, the LTER program and the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) site that share the land, and shows where each publishes its data. Facts below were read from the station’s own pages on 2026-11-07.
Not the clinic: searches for “Konza Prairie Community Health Center” or dental care refer to an unrelated health organisation, not the research station described here.
What Konza Prairie is
The Konza Prairie Biological Station covers 3,487 hectares (about 8,600 acres, a conversion of the stated figure) in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas, at roughly 39°05’N, 96°35’W. The station describes the Flint Hills as rolling hills over shallow limestone soils unsuitable for cultivation, more than 1.6 million hectares in extent, and containing the largest remaining areas of unplowed tallgrass prairie in North America. The station is open to scientists and students from throughout the world, and its name honours the Kaw (Kanza) people, who were removed from the region between 1846 and 1872.
Who owns and runs it
Who owns the Konza Prairie?
The Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University own it jointly. Kansas State’s Division of Biology operates it as a field research station. NEON’s site page for the station gives the same ownership and operation (sources: kpbs.konza.k-state.edu and neonscience.org, read 2026-11-07).
Three names, one landscape
- Konza Prairie Biological Station is the land and the field station.
- Konza Prairie LTER is the long-term ecological research, education and outreach program on the tallgrass prairie. It began in 1980 as one of the first six site-based National Science Foundation LTER programs; the watershed experiment on the site dates to 1977. Its research themes are fire, grazing and climatic variability as interacting drivers, and global change including land use, climate and hydrology, nutrient enrichment and invasions.
- NEON site KONZ is a core terrestrial site in NEON Domain 6 (Prairie Peninsula), hosted by the station. NEON lists colocated research at the site, including the Konza Prairie LTER, AmeriFlux and the NOAA U.S. Climate Reference Network. NEON terrestrial sampling there began in February 2016.
Is the Konza Prairie part of the Flint Hills?
Yes. The station sits in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas and describes itself as part of that region’s unplowed tallgrass prairie (source: kpbs.konza.k-state.edu, 2026-11-07).
Are there bison on Konza Prairie?
Yes. According to the Konza Environmental Education Program (KEEP), thirty bison donated by the Fort Riley Military Reservation were introduced in 1987. The herd’s land is about 2,400 acres of fenced tallgrass prairie. The standing herd averaged 300 animals between November 2005 and November 2011; that is a dated figure, not a current count. Bison are studied together with fire and climate as interacting influences on the prairie (source: keep.konza.k-state.edu, 2026-11-07).
How long is the Konza Prairie trail?
There is no single trail length to quote. Published figures differ, and trail access, hours and fees are handled by the station’s education program rather than by the research pages. Use the KEEP “Visit Konza Prairie” page for the current trail map and conditions, or contact KEEP at [email protected] or 785-587-0381.
How to search or use Konza data
For researchers, the useful entry point is the LTER data program. Based on the LTER site’s data pages:
- Open the KNZ Data Catalog from the data index on lter.konza.ksu.edu to browse datasets collected since 1980. The site reports hundreds of datasets across many projects, plus GIS layers.
- For maps and spatial layers, use the Konza Prairie Spatial Data Portal (maps-konza.hub.arcgis.com).
- Read the KNZ Data Access Policy and Data Use Agreement before reusing data. The LTER Network Data Access Policy (lternet.edu/data-access-policy) applies network-wide.
- Check each dataset’s metadata, which the program publishes in Ecological Metadata Language (EML), prepared with the EDI ezEML tool and submitted by the site’s Information Manager.
- For NEON’s sensor and observation products at KONZ, use the NEON Data Portal link on the site’s NEON page. Research access requests to the host are made at least two weeks in advance.
The data index does not name a licence, so cite the policy and agreement pages rather than assuming one. For citation practice see the data citation principle and persistent identifiers; for sharing terms see data sharing agreements.
Strengths and limits
- Strength: a continuous record since 1980 with fire, grazing and climate themes studied on one landscape.
- Strength: three programs (station, LTER, NEON) on the same site, so datasets from different methods sit together.
- Limit: data carry access-policy and use-agreement conditions; read them before reuse.
- Limit: the research pages do not give visitor trail, hours or fee details; those come from KEEP.
Related Konza resources
| Resource | What it is | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Station site (kpbs.konza.k-state.edu) | Field station run by Kansas State’s Division of Biology | Ownership, scope, research access |
| Konza Prairie LTER (lter.konza.ksu.edu) | NSF LTER program founded 1980 | Long-term datasets, policy, metadata |
| KNZ Spatial Data Portal | ArcGIS hub of site maps | GIS layers |
| NEON site KONZ | Core terrestrial site, Domain 6 | NEON sensor and observation products |
| KEEP (keep.konza.k-state.edu) | Education program | Visiting, bison, trails |
If you are deciding where to deposit related data, compare general data repositories and basic metadata concepts.
Alternatives
Konza is one site in a larger network. If you need data beyond Konza, or a different way in, these are comparable sources (all read 2026-11-07).
| Source | What it is | Use it instead of Konza’s own pages when |
|---|---|---|
| LTER Network data resources | Network-wide entry point for the LTER program, which lists 26 research sites in the U.S. and beyond and more than 7,000 data sets | You want to compare Konza with other long-term ecological research sites |
| EDI Data Portal | Environmental Data Initiative portal for environmental and ecological data packages with metadata, operated by the University of New Mexico and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology | You want to search packages from many contributors in one place |
| NEON Data Portal | Free, open data products from NEON’s automated instruments, field technicians and airborne remote sensing, with an API and GraphQL access | You want standardised sensor and observation products across many sites, including KONZ |
FAQ
Who owns the Konza Prairie?
The Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University jointly.
Are there bison in Konza Prairie?
Yes, a herd introduced in 1987 on about 2,400 fenced acres.
Is Konza Prairie part of the Flint Hills?
Yes.
How long is the Konza Prairie trail?
See KEEP’s visit page for current trail lengths.
Sources
- Konza Prairie Biological Station, https://kpbs.konza.k-state.edu/ (read 2026-11-07)
- Konza Prairie LTER, https://lter.konza.ksu.edu/ and /data/index.html (read 2026-11-07)
- Konza Environmental Education Program, https://keep.konza.k-state.edu/ and /prairieecology/bison.html (read 2026-11-07)
- NEON, Konza Prairie Biological Station (KONZ), https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/konz (read 2026-11-07)
- LTER Network, https://lternet.edu/ (read 2026-11-07)
- Environmental Data Initiative Data Portal, https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/home.jsp (read 2026-11-07)
- NEON Data Portal, https://www.neonscience.org/data (read 2026-11-07)
