Where the Deer and Antelope Roam

Our Kansas State song cites this line, but I have seen few antelope in north-central Kansas where those lines were pinned. Instead, I find pronghorn antelope in far western counties of Kansas where there is a greater expanse of land for them to roam. Antelope, prairie chickens, black-footed ferrets and other prairie wildlife have been pushed out of their original ranges as human civilization with its agricultural practices claim the prairie. I am concerned that discontinuance of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will soon force more native wildlife from our prairies. The CRP program paid farmers to establish long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible farmland. CRP land proved to be a great environment for many prairie plants and animals. Now that the program is being discontinued, land-owners will be tempted to get a return on the previous CRP land by cultivating it. Once again the native creatures will have to struggle for a place to live and room to move.