Celebrating 30 Years of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve

More than a quarter century ago, the dream of so many to see a significant piece of the iconic tallgrass prairie permanently conserved finally became a concrete reality. A fledgling chapter of The Nature Conservancy took a gigantic leap of faith that it could make a difference at a scale beyond conventional thinking by acquiring the 29,000 acres in 1989 that was the historic Barnard Ranch. And what an amazing difference it made.

The effort took an entire organization and a group of visionary Oklahomans to do what others had been unable to do. It was a short, but consequential meeting in an airplane hangar in Oklahoma City where the Oklahoma trustees through Joe William’s urging and leadership made the decision that forever changed the world of prairie conservation. A decision that asked us all to think bigger than we had in the past.

“The clock can’t be turned back - reincarnation, of course, is a vain desire – but the clock is running out for nature and we must all do what we can wherever we find ourselves in life, and we must do it with some real sense of urgency.” - Joseph H. Williams, June 1997

Today, the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve – now at 40,000 acres – is renowned for not only the conservation the acquisition accomplished, but the ideas and inspiration it has exported over the decades.

Join us in celebrating 30 years of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. Plan your visit and learn more at nature.org/tallgrass.