|
Green Memorial Wildlife
Area
|
One of several benches along the hiking trails.
- All photos on this page by Jim Mason
|
Quaint and colorful! An oak-hickory-bluestem mix at the southern edge of
the Glaciated Region is the quiet, natural setting for the Green Memorial Wildlife Area.
Restored bluestem prairie, oak-hickory hillsides, and a bubbly brook are the intermingling
habitats at this site. |
The pink quartzite rocks you will see here and there were transported from South Dakota
by glaciers during the Kansan Ice Age. Shingle oak, red oak, redbud, pawpaw, and western
buckeye make up the woodlands. Spring through fall, Wildflowers such as ox-eye daisy,
coneflowers, compass plant, penstemon, black sampson, and black-eyed Susan are seen in the
prairie plots. Wildlife food is provided by Wild gooseberry, elderberry, black raspberry,
highbush blackberry, Wild strawberry, and riverbank and raccoon grape.
Look for five-lined skinks, racers, and ornate box turtles. Cricket frogs frequently
call on spring and summer nights. The nests of eastern woodrats can be found in rock
crevices. Signs of coyotes, raccoons, red foxes, and white-tailed deer are abundant. Great
horned owls, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, vireos, and warblers
are found in the woods. Upland sandpipers, eastern meadowlarks, scissor-tailed
flycatchers, eastern kingbirds, red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, and northern harriers
can be seen in the grasslands.
|
|
This property has a rich cultural history. It was the site of
Uniontown, one of the early Kansas settlements (1848 - 1859). Old stone fences,
historic gravestones and abandoned farm implements speak of the past inhabitants. |
|
The sloping grade of the Oregon Trail can be readily seen at the south
edge of the property. This sign is at marker #12 on the Oregon Trace hiking trail. |
 |
 | No facilities |
 Camping not allowed.
Discover what to see, eat and do in Kansas.
Plan your trip today, at TravelKS.com!
 Post Creek Trail (1 mile); Oregon Trace
Trail (0.75 mile).
Click the icon to find a birding list for Shawnee County.
Click the icon to locate nearby Geocaches
|
 |
Directions:
From Topeka, take 1-70 10 miles west to exit 346. Go 2.5 miles north to Willard. Take 2nd
Street 0.5 miles east to Gilkerson Street. Follow Gilkerson 0.7 miles south to the parking
area (red dot).
For a Google Map of this site,
click here. |
Ownership:
The entity responsible for management of Green Wildlife
Area is the Kansas
Department of Wildlife, Parks &
Tourism. If you have specific
questions about use or management of this site, contact them at (785) 273-6740. 83 acres
Visit
their website to download the brochure for this area.
|
Funded by the
Chickadee Checkoff Program
Click here for a brochure! |
The Natural
Kansas web site
© 2011
by
the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks
& Tourism.
Re-publication of site content in any form other than for personal use
requires written permission. If you are a Kansas resident, please
assist with this and other wildlife viewing and conservation programs
by contributing to the Chickadee Checkoff on your state tax form. |
Questions or comments about Natural Kansas may be directed to
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism
|
