Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism’s Flint Hills Trail and Prairie Spirit Trail state parks recently received America’s highest trails honor when they were designated National Recreational Trails by the National Park Service. Both state park trails are operated by KDWPT’s Parks Division.

“This is significant, not only for those parks and our state parks system, but for the state of Kansas,” said Linda Lanterman, KDWPT’s Parks Division director. “This is going to draw valuable attention to two great state parks and all they have to offer. And, ultimately, help the local economies that are developing along those trails. This is a big deal.”

The designation brings no monetary prize, but the parks can now use signage that denotes their high quality. The trails will also get special recognition on some maps of America’s trails. Both the Flint Hills Trail and Prairie Spirit Trail are built along abandoned railroad lines and required a tremendous amount of private labor to become reality.

The 117-mile Flint Hills Trail reaches from near Osawatomie to Herington, passing through landscapes that vary from steep, heavily timbered ridges to the Tallgrass Prairie of the Flint Hills.

Prairie Spirit Trail stretches 51 miles from Ottawa to Iola, and also crosses a wide range of scenic topography. The two trails intersect in Ottawa.

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It’s not just out-of-staters finding a new experience at the vast Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. As the pandemic has shut down most other attractions and public spaces, more locals and first-timers are making their way out to hiking trails, which wind through some of the last remaining tallgrass prairie in the world.

Randy Bilbeisi, superintendent at the preserve about an hour south of Manhattan, Kansas said the park has seen an uptick in visitors, even after he made the difficult decision in March to shut down the park’s restrooms and visitor center.

“I realized there were going to be a lot of people still wanting something to do, so I left the 41 miles of trail open to the public,” he said. “It gave people a place to come and spend time without having to spend money.”

Beyond hiking, the park’s trails also offer people the opportunity to see bison, bird watch or even go fishing at some of the preserve’s ponds and creeks. On the prairie preserve, which was formerly ranchland, there’s a historic ranch house, limestone barn and one-room schoolhouse. Visitors can make their experience whatever they’d like, with hiking loops that take less than an hour to traverse or loops that take the better part of a day.

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Partnering with the city of Leavenworth Parks and Recreation Department, a nonprofit organization is helping to provide a new mission for military veterans transitioning back into civilian life.

Military veterans are invited to join forces with community members in cleaning and creating trails and camp sites in Leavenworth, Kansas.

The trail creation and restoration work also includes construction of picnic and fishing areas. The program also welcomes volunteer service from active duty military personnel.

Construction is taking place at VA Memorial Park, a 72-acre tract of land located in the wooded area northeast of the Eisenhower VA Medical Center.

The program, Into the Woods, is the brainchild of Chelsea Barto, a former Army combat medic. She said military personnel are goal-minded and mission-oriented. “This is their next mission,” she said. “It gets them involved in their community.”

Barto said the program is associated with The Mission Continues, a nonprofit organization that empowers service members and veterans facing the challenge of adjusting to life at home.

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