Photo by Troy A. Thomas/Shutterstock
Try to envision an ecosystem in peril and you might conjure images of the Amazon rainforest or the Great Barrier Reef. But right here in North America you’ll find one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems on the planet: the prairie. Before the 19th century, this sea of waving grass stretched from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan all the way down to Texas, and from Montana and New Mexico in the west across the center of the country to Indiana in the east. Due to its relatively simple appearance—open expanses of grassland—it often gets ignored by travelers in favor of splashier habitats, but these areas are hotbeds of biodiversity and are worth visiting in their own right for hiking, wildlife-spotting, bird-watching, and more.
The easternmost section, known as the tallgrass prairie, once dominated the U.S. Midwest, and it’s in particularly bad shape. Before the era of westward expansion, tallgrass prairie stretched across about 170 million acres, or roughly the size of Texas, and it was part of a wider expanse of grasslands (shortgrass and mixed prairie) that covered one-third of the continent. Throughout the mid- to late 1800s, as pioneers “tamed” what they called the Inland Sea, the fragile environment was irreparably damaged. Species like the bison (which once numbered up to 60 million) and black-footed ferret were pushed to the brink of extinction, and native grasses were replaced by monoculture farms and settlements. Today, more than 95 percent of the tallgrass prairie had been destroyed.
But there’s hope! National and state parks, as well as private and public preserves, are making a valiant stand to protect this ecosystem and its inhabitants, as they reintroduce species, eradicate invasive plants, and cultivate native grasses. If you might have dismissed the American prairie as a boring ecosystem to simply drive through on your way to cooler habitats, now’s your chance to stop and stay a while in the home where buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play. These seven parks across Canada and the United States are a great starting point for visiting—and helping to protect—one of North America’s most precious resources.
Photo by Danita Delimont/Shutterstock
Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Oklahoma
At 40,000 acres, this northern Oklahoma preserve is the largest protected tallgrass prairie left on Earth, home to about 2,200 free-range bison, which were reintroduced in 1993. The experience here changes with the season. Starting in late March, you’ll hear greater prairie-chickens make their “booming” call at sunrise and see their attention-grabbing mating dance, during which males inflate bright orange neck sacs. By May, 600 to 700 bison calves begin teetering around wildflower-filled grasslands. As temperatures rise, Oklahoma’s state bird, the elegant scissor-tailed flycatcher, begins showing up, followed in the fall and winter by raptors like bald and golden eagles.
Where to stay: The Pioneer Woman Boarding House
Book now: pwboardinghouse.com
Food Network personality Ree “The Pioneer Woman” Drummond opened this eight-room “cowboy luxury” hotel in 2018 in a 1920s building that once housed a silk shop and then a department store. Amenities include personalized morning coffee, a truffle at turndown, and free wine and beer at happy hour.
Courtesy of Gary Yost/Unsplash
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Known for buttes and spires featuring layers of multi-hued sedimentary rock, this popular national park was practically a main character in the 2020 Oscar-winning best picture Nomadland. While here, you can drive around spotting the usual prairie suspects (like bison and pronghorn) or visit the Fossil Preparation Lab to chat with working paleontologists. The park is also home to a successful reintroduction program for the highly endangered black-footed ferret, which was once thought to be extinct. They’re staging a comeback in the Conata Basin, but they’re nocturnal and live underground so these elusive critters remain very difficult to spot—a trait that comes in handy when they’re hunting prairie dogs.
Where to stay: Cedar Pass Lodge
Book now: cedarpasslodge.com
The only in-park lodging option is this series of cozy cabins; originally opened in 1928, they were completely rebuilt in 2013, with locally made lodgepole pine furniture that conjures the exact image you’d expect from a national park lodge. The adjacent restaurant is known for its fry bread, which is used in Sioux tacos, topped with refried beans and buffalo meat.
Photo by Weldon Schloneger/Shutterstock
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas
The Kansas Flint Hills contain some of the last intact remnants of the tallgrass prairie, and this is the only National Park Service unit dedicated exclusively to this disappearing ecosystem. You can explore the landscape on guided van tours or a self-guided drive with a downloadable podcast. If you want to see the tallgrass at its peak, remember the mnemonic device “tall in the fall”: Grasses start out at just a few inches in the spring and take a full season to reach their surprisingly high peak in the autumn, up to about eight feet in the most fertile soils.
Where to stay: Clover Cliff Ranch Bed & Breakfast
Book now: clovercliffranch.com
Occupying a late-Victorian limestone mansion completed in 1883, this stylish B&B also includes additional lodging in separate houses and cabins on the historic ranch. The owners raise bison, which you can watch out in the pastures—or taste at the Cliff Restaurant. (Be brave and go for the fried Cliff Hangers, known elsewhere as Rocky Mountain oysters.)
Courtesy of Andrew Darlington/Unsplash
Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan
Located just across the border from Montana, this mixed-grass prairie park is the only place in Canada to see black-tailed prairie dogs. They live in sprawling “dog towns” with complex interconnected burrows, and lucky for wildlife watchers, they’re easy to spot: If you get up early, they spend the first two hours of daylight foraging and eating, followed by plenty of dust bathing, grooming, and socializing. If you come during the summer, you may also get the chance to spot tiny burrowing owls (about 10 inches tall), who borrow prairie dog colonies to raise their chicks. Visitors can also see 20,000-plus tepee rings, a symbol of centuries of First Nations habitation; drive the scenic Badlands Parkway; stargaze in one of the country’s largest and darkest Dark Sky Preserves; or even join a crew of paleontologists from the Royal Saskatchewan Museum for their annual Fossil Fever dig.
Where to stay: Parks Canada oTENTik
Book now: parks.canada.ca/pn-np/sk/grasslands
If you want to go camping but are allergic to roughing it, Parks Canada offers a dozen “oTENTiks” in the Frenchman Valley and Rock Creek campgrounds. They’re a bit like a mix between a tent and an A-frame cabin, with beds and a raised floor—but no plumbing inside.
Courtesy of NPS/VIP Wendy Rhine
Homestead National Historical Park, Nebraska
This southeastern Nebraska park is dedicated to the human history on the prairie, commemorating the Homestead Act of 1862, which allowed people to claim up to 160 acres of federal land if they agreed to live there for five years and improve it. In other words: cool if you’re into Manifest Destiny, bad news for the prairie. Since 1939, the National Park Service has been restoring the tallgrass prairie—the NPS’s oldest restoration project—by planting grass seeds, controlling invasive plants, and conducting prescribed burns. While here, explore the three miles of trails through 100 restored acres, which will take you past remnants from the life of Daniel Freeman, a Civil War veteran and the first American to file a Homestead Act claim.
Where to stay: The Kindler Hotel
Book now: thekindlerhotel.com
There are plenty of chain hotels closer to the park, but for a stay with a bit of style, make your home base in Lincoln, about 45 minutes away. The city’s first boutique hotel is dedicated to welder and industrial artist Ken Kindler, whose works in copper are shown in the lobby.
Courtesy of Living Prairie Museum
Living Prairie Museum, Manitoba
It may not be the most expansive tract, but if you want to experience the tallgrass prairie without leaving the big(gish) city, check out Winnipeg’s Living Prairie Museum. The land was set aside in 1968, protecting 32 acres of tallgrass prairie, and the preserve now supports 150 species of grass and wildflowers. Each July, the site hosts a monarch butterfly festival, during which you can get free milkweed plants to attract the colorful pollinators to your own backyard, and each Friday during the summer, naturalists offer free guided trail walks. The museum also runs a medicine garden, where members of local First Nations communities can come to gather sage, sweetgrass, and other plants associated with rituals and healing.
Where to stay: Inn at the Forks
Book now: innforks.com
This boutique hotel sits in the heart of downtown where the Assiniboine and Red rivers meet at a popular entertainment district called the Forks, and its on-site restaurant Smith is dedicated to Canadian dishes like pan-fried pickerel, Manitoba beet salad, and a cheese plate with local Saskatoon berry compote.
Courtesy of Jeff Zylland/NPS
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Before he became president, a young Teddy Roosevelt ventured out to the Dakota Territory to hunt bison in the 1880s, and his legacy of exploration and later conservation can still be felt at this lesser-visited national park. It’s divided into three units: the North Unit, which is home to a 14-mile scenic drive; the South Unit, which is near the fun-loving gateway town of Medora (home to an Old West–themed musical revue and the Pitchfork Steak Fondue feast); and the remote Elkhorn Ranch Unit, where Roosevelt lived and raised cattle. While the Badlands encompass some unique geological formations, it’s the seemingly run-of-the-mill grasslands that boast the most biodiversity, and this is where you’ll find grazing mammals like reintroduced bison, elk, and bighorn sheep and livestock demonstration herds of longhorn cattle and horses.
Where to stay: Rough Riders Hotel
Book now: medora.com/roughridershotel
Roosevelt is rumored to have delivered a speech from the balcony of this historic hotel, which now features pressed-tin ceilings, a restaurant serving bison osso buco, and one of the largest private libraries of books on or about the 26th president.
Nicholas DeRenzo
Nicholas DeRenzo is a freelance travel and culture writer based in Brooklyn. A graduate of NYU’s Cultural Reporting and Criticism program, he worked as an editor at Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel and, most recently, as executive editor at Hemispheres, the in-flight magazine of United Airlines. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York, Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Sunset, Wine Enthusiast, and more.
