Kansas has some hidden treasures. Some of those treasures are people, and some are spectacular wildlife. You don’t commonly find the two combined, but I was lucky enough to experience that situation.

Michael Pearce is an uncommon man and is one of those treasures. He has the intellectual and literary skills to present ideas and concepts with words and pictures in a way that makes everyone a better person. He was the Outdoor Editor for the Wichita Eagle. He has made journalism and wildlife recognition a lifetime project. He has a beautiful cookbook for grilling and wild game preparation that is terrific! He has spent his career making life and living a creative process that makes his family and all of us better stewards of the land and our wildlife. His intellectual curiosity is so deadly honest. He has championed underprivileged kids and endangered wildlife. He hunts and fishes with great skill and dedication. He answers the hard questions about the survival and preservation of our natural world even when the answer isn’t what we would like to hear. He is honest to a fault and I am genuinely honored to have him as a friend.

Michael called me last week and asked if I was interested in Lesser Prairie Chickens. We have Greater and Lesser chickens in Kansas. Most by far are the Greater chickens. The Lessers are sensitive to their environment and climate and are concentrated in western Kansas. How many of you know where Healy, Kan., is? It is east of Scott City on K-4. If you go north of Healy a few miles, you come to the Hoeme ranch, which has multiple leks of Lesser Prairie Chickens and blinds set up for observation and photography. A group of Swedish birders came to see Lessers up close. They were successful beyond their dreams.

Michael manages and protects these leks and birds. I was grateful for the invite and left Hoisington at 3:30 a.m. for the 2-hour drive to Healy. The birds lived up to their reputation and I got some terrific images. We also saw burrowing owls and mule deer and antelope. The unusual landscape of isolated bluffs of sandstone is so unique. Little Jerusalem isn’t too far and is another spectacular treasure in Kansas. The land is vast and uniquely beautiful, and the wind blows silence across your face. Viewing that expanse of land and sky is mesmerizing — it takes you back in time to a calm, simple view of how it was. The fossils in the bluffs are voluminous. They certainly tell a story of creation and evolution of the earth. I am still awed by that visit. Thank you, Michael Pearce.

We discussed the fate of the Lesser Prairie Chickens. You would think that someone would classify them as endangered and life would go on and the chickens would multiply. It is far more complicated than that. The classification of “endangered” triggers a huge government response that involves the management and use of the private land of a Kansas citizen who is already burdened by government regulations. If your ranch has an endangered species, you lose control of some or all of the water and land usage. It is not an idle threat that some ranchers would choose to eliminate the species from their property to keep the government from interfering with their lives. 

The chickens on the Hoeme ranch are lucky birds. I saw the best birds in the safest place I could imagine. Thanks again, Michael Pearce.

Doc

Doctor Dan Witt is a retired physician and nature enthusiast. He can be reached at danwitt01@gmail.com.