Welcome guide to the wetlands

wetlandcenterThe Cheyenne Bottoms are among the greatest natural treasures of Kansas, drawing hunters and birders from throughout the state and far beyond with a riot of ducks, geese, whooping cranes and other wildlife. But the important wetlands system long had to speak for itself, offering visitors no opportunity to ask questions or otherwise fully comprehend what they see there. That changed with Friday’s opening of the Kansas Wetlands Education Center near Great Bend, a 11,000-square-foot, $4.2 million facility for research and public education. Kansans owe their appreciation to Kansas Wildlife and Parks Secretary Mike Hayden and project partners including Fort Hays State University, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the city of Great Bend and the Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation, which gave $500,000 for the center’s Koch Wetlands Exhibit. As the attraction helps interpret Cheyenne Bottoms for kids and other visitors, it stands to both enrich their visit and underscore the need for conservation.

12 Comments

  1. JWink
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 6:20 am | Permalink

    Meanwhile, below the eye of the media, the Kansas Highway Department, KDOT, is cutting, slashing, grinding its way through the Ninnescah River alluvial wetlands along Highway 54. And destroying and burning thousands of trees in its questionable l00 million dollar widening of Highway 54 between Kingman and Pratt. Currently most of the damage is being done in the vicinity of Cunningham, Ks.

    KDOT’s long range objective is to build a major 4/6 lane divided Super Highway from Wichita to El Paso, Texas and across the Rio Grand River to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

    Is this KDOT highway project more important than alternative uses of these tax funds? And is this to be the new NAFTA super highway since Texans would not allow it through central Texas?

  2. beber
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 7:22 am | Permalink

    If Mike Hayden had anything to do with it, expect a drought, and the Bottoms to dry up.

  3. beber
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 7:27 am | Permalink

    BTW: It’s a paddling of ducks and a gaggle of geese, not a riot. Whooping cranes have no accepted flock nomenclature: I suggest “an extinction of” Whooping cranes. Get it right

  4. Maggotpunk
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 7:39 am | Permalink

    It makes sense to have a building about the wetlands because, after Kansas destroys all their wetlands, the only place you’ll see them is in a museum.

  5. Monkeyhawk
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 7:40 am | Permalink

    Why don’t they just teach regular cranes to whoop?

  6. outlander
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 7:42 am | Permalink

    Got one going in my backyard.

  7. Agnatha
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 9:46 am | Permalink

    Actually, Mike Hayden has been a strong conservationist for a long time, and the education/visitors center is long overdue.

  8. wichhick
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 10:20 am | Permalink

    beber ……………must have gotten up early as he is lying as if sleeping late would stop him from doing so

  9. Barnie
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 12:19 pm | Permalink

    I think Cheyenne Bottoms is also the Windiest place in the U.S.

  10. donndublin
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 3:48 pm | Permalink

    another scroll over thread by Rhonda

  11. BlueJay
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 3:51 pm | Permalink

    THIS is a good use of public funds! We should have more places like this.

  12. fleettwood
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 3:54 pm | Permalink

    Why don’t they just teach regular cranes to whoop?
    ________________________________________

    Simple. Put little cowboy hats on their little crane heads. Add whiskey. WHOOP!!