The Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway Tour the byway or venture into wetlands of settlers were attracted to the fertile ground for international importance at Cheyenne Bottoms wheat production. Abundant oil also provided and the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, a livelihood for many in the bustling rural two of the largest wetland ecosystems in communities. Today, the byway draws on this Quivira National Wildlife Refuge North America. As the byway moves through past, especially its rich natural habitat for birds breathtaking wetlands teaming with wildlife, and wildlife. Using innovation to protect the endless skies and vibrant flora, one will find wetlands, promoting ecotourism, and honoring the charming rural communities shaped by its history through art and community nature with histories as rich and varied as the activities, this byway provides a natural and Kansas Wetlands Education Center Nature Trail area’s natural resources. While the ancient human experience that is second-to-none. wetlands have attracted wildlife for millennia, The Arkansas River at the Diversion Dam in flood stage. Migrants Mile Trail, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge they eventually brought Native peoples who Immigrants All occupied the land for hundreds of years, Storylines of the Kansas Byways Bridging the American Divide though little remains of their presence today. Storylines of the Kansas Byways While Zebulon Pike’s description of the “Great American Desert” As immigrants and homesteaders were drawn discouraged settlement, the Santa Fe Trail in 1821 and the trains that Fleets of wagons carried settlers over the plains through the byway, including massive freight wagons traveling the Santa Fe Trail. As the by the area’s natural resources, the Native followed brought Immigrants All who discovered that crops could thrive. This area attracted homesteaders of all kinds, among them Germans, rail lines were completed, they replaced these former “highways.” peoples were displaced, often forcefully. Mormons, African-Americans, Irish, and Hispanics. Later, automobiles and local oil reserves helped to populate the byway, Bridging the American Divide. Traveling by the Santa Fe Trail starting in the 1820s and the railroad in the late 19th century, Limestone double arch bridge Glaciated Region Rounded hills and broad valleys feature The Landscapes of Kansas glacial deposits of quartzite. Smoky Hills A larger sea once covered this area Kansas includes a wide variety of landscapes, shaped by both geologic of astonishing rock formations. processes and human activities, such as farming and mining. Many of our byways are based on unique landforms and habitats that provide wonder and Flint Hills High Plains This scenic pleasure to resident and visitor alike. On the Wetlands and Wildlife National Excellent farmland prairie is named for the slopes gently Osage Cuestas Scenic Byway, visitors will discover two of the largest wetland systems in North int rock that downward from This broad terrace covers the the west. panorama has grassy slopes. America, along with seven communities providing an authentic rural experience. steeper eastern slopes than Arkansas River Lowlands western slopes. Filled with wildlife, this byway is a nature lover’s paradise. Irregular hills and dunes follow an ancient river path. Physiographic Regions of Kansas Based on common landscape features and geological history, geologists have Chautauqua Hills Wellington divided Kansas into the 11 different regions shown on the map. These regions This province is Cherokee Lowlands & McPherson only a few miles Bituminous coal Lowlands Ozark Plateau wide, with veins near the (sometimes called physiographic provinces) each tell its own story about Permeable sand The extreme underlying thick surface of this southeast corner Red Hills covers an area sandstone. region reveal its of the state is rich Kansas’ geology. Sandstone and shale mix with areas surrounded by salt mining history. with fossils. of rugged hills, buttes, and mesas. mines and marshes. Wetlands found in the Arkansas River Lowlands region Storylines of the Kansas Byways Land’s Legacy First People, First Nations Immigrants All Bridging the Past Forward American Divide The Kansas byways are as much about people and stories To know America, you must know Native Americans have a rich 11,000- All Kansans are or have been Adaptations and inventions necessary the Great Plains. To know the Great year history in Kansas, inhabiting the immigrants, from the first The Great Plains is an iconic to settling the Great Plains continue as they are about the scenery. The story of Kansas can Plains, you must know Kansas. state since the end of the Ice Age. Native American to today’s American landscape that changed the evolving to serve humanity. Land’s Legacy, the first byway storyline, explores First People, First Nations focuses on most recent Kansan. complexion of the American saga. Kansas settlers were faced with a foreign be organized into five storylines, like chapters in a novel. the land itself and how that landscape has shaped pre-Columbian history, before contact with landscape that challenged their abilities to adapt, The Great Plains is a land that fundamentally human history. As a vast grassland – that once Europeans, American settlement, and the Immigrants All follows the people who came adjust, and persevere. Many from the humid, changed the way Americans view the country and Kiosks and signs along the byways tell the larger story extended unbroken from the Missouri River to subsequent displacement of tribes. This storyline to and settled in Kansas. While discussions of forested eastern United States were unprepared themselves. American settlers pushed west, but the Rocky Mountains – the Great Plains defines presents Native American heritage independent settlers often bring to mind stories of Euro- for the treeless expanses west of the Missouri it wasn’t until they were able to occupy the space with context to enrich your experience, spark your interest this country and its people as fundamentally as of the eventual influences of Euro-American American pioneers, this storyline also includes River Basin. With harsh winters, endless wind, in the middle, Bridging the American Divide, that any of the nation’s better-known landscapes. peoples. While it provides basic facts concerning Native American tribes who were forced to come and scarce wood, new adaptations and inventions in the state, and shine a spotlight on its unique landscapes America was finally complete from sea to shining Often overlooked, the stunning landscapes the Native Americans in Kansas, it is more to Kansas, whether they stayed or not. From were developed to tame the rugged landscape. sea. The Kansas Byways, in general, stretch across and varied wildlife of the Great Plains provides than a retrospective, emphasizing the history settlers to traders, soldiers to passers-through, As inventions such as the American windmill and communities. a rural landscape where travelers are exposed a scenic backdrop against which this country and importance of the Native Americans to migrants to refugees, Immigrants All is about continue to evolve, Kansans illuminate the way to some of the most open vistas in the nation, a was made whole as the last frontier for present-day generations. people and their efforts to eke out an existence forward by drawing on the lessons of the past. landscape that redefined America. American settlement. in the Kansas territory. There is no native Kansan; all are immigrants. Experience Kansas along its 12 distinctly unique byways. With nine scenic and three historic Explore the Byways byways—including two National Scenic Byways—you can connect with the state’s authentic PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS High Plains Excellent farmland slopes gently culture, natural beauty, and rich history against a backdrop created over the millennia. downward from the west. 10 Arkansas River Lowlands Irregular hills and dunes follow an 1 ancient river path. Goodland 1 - LAND AND SKY 4 - POST ROCK 7 - PRAIRIE TRAIL 10 - GLACIAL HILLS Red Hills Leavenworth Sandstone and shale mix with areas Travel northwest Kansas where the wide-open Over weathered bedrock in the Smoky Hills, this Along the byway, follow the steps of Native This scenic byway gets its name from the rolling hills of rugged hills, buttes, and mesas. Manhattan expanse and endless sky meet on the horizon. Along scenic byway displays its striking beauty across Americans, explorers, and pioneers as they sought and rock-strewn valleys carved by ancient glaciers. Topeka this scenic route, one can scale the highest point in fields, pastures, prairies, and special places like food, shelter, adventure, and a better life. Early The receding ice left a beautiful landscape of fertile Smoky Hills A larger sea once covered this area Kansas, explore the rugged Arikaree Breaks, follow Wilson Lake. The challenging landscape required traders followed the nearby Santa Fe Trail, 19th farmland and nearby rivers. Its magnetic presence of astonishing rock formations. Lawrence 2 Olathe the Great Western Cattle Trail, and learn about pioneers to earn their space here, as revealed by century cowboys drove cattle along the Chisholm has drawn many visitors, from Lewis and Clark, to 8 Hays 4 Wellington Salina agriculture adaptation in the dry High Plains. the route’s namesake limestone fence posts. This Trail, and today tourists visit places like Kanopolis Kansas’ earliest settlers, to present-day sightseers. & McPherson Lowlands creative and