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Ask A Kansan is a podcast where we're amplifying, connecting and uncovering stories across Kansas.
Every week, Gus and Sydney sit down with the people who actually make this state run — museum directors and ranchers, founders and historians, zookeepers and woodcarvers. From Kansas City to Kinsley, WaKeeney to Wichita, we go where the story is.
You'll leave each episode knowing something you didn't about the state we call home. It's not a history lecture and it's not a business show. It's a real conversation with a Kansan worth knowing.
New episodes weekly. askakansan.com
Ep73
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Pen Disaster
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[00:00:00]
Gus Applequist: So i- if you listen to this podcast, you know that I like pens, a specific type of pen. I like the Fisher Space Pen. and it's like they have one that's shaped like a bullet, and I've had, I've had them forever.
So I was scrolling through Facebook the other day and I found this, which is like a larger Space Pen. It's, it's... And it has, like, the fancy point on the end. I was like, "Oh, this is so cool." So today I started using it, and it just started bleeding all over me.
Sydney Collins: So you and ink don't do well together.
Gus Applequist: No, I don't. I, I have historically made a mess of our office several times trying to-
Sydney Collins: With ink.
Gus Applequist: Oh, no, it's happening again.
Okay, I'm just-
Sydney Collins: Julie, can you get us a paper towel please?
Gus Applequist: I'm gonna... It's okay. I'll just leave it there. It'll be fine. I'm so sorry. This is, this is, uh... Fisher himself is haunting me from the grave, um, for [00:01:00] cheating on his Space Pen-
Sydney Collins: that's what you
get-
Gus Applequist: ... with this-
Sydney Collins: ... for trying to go bigger and better
Gus Applequist: Facebook knockoff.
Sydney Collins: Well, that's -the problem. Oh, goodness.
Wetlands Episode Intro
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Gus Applequist: Welcome to Ask a Kansan ...
Sydney Collins: a podcast where we're amplifying, connecting and uncovering stories across Kansas.
Gus Applequist: And today we are talking about something that often gets overlooked in Kansas.
Sydney Collins: Yes. Which are? The wetlands. And you're like, "Wetlands in Kansas?" But people, remember, this used to be an ocean.
Gus Applequist: Yep. And, and, we have an incredibly important wetland in Kansas, uh, called Cheyenne Bottoms. Yes. And our guest today, uh, is, is, his job [00:02:00] is to inform the public about it.
Sydney Collins: Yes. And I wanna give a little snapshot, 'cause I talk about this. I, I get pretty passionate in the conversation, so I wanted to share a couple photos from when we were- out there. And so, um, in that way people, when we're talking about the things, we kind of- they can kind of visualize it a little bit.
Gus Applequist: I'll try to describe for
our audience listening.
Visitor Center Photo Tour
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Sydney Collins: We'll describe it for our audience So we talked about kind of all the things, um, that are in, the actual, like, visitor center.
And this one is what I thought was fun. It's a, it's a diagram of l- like how prairie dogs live.
But my favorite thing, it says, "Engineers of the prairie."
And I never, like-
Gus Applequist: It shows, like, a cross-section of what their tunneling systems- look like.
Sydney Collins: And, like, there's a- snake that also lives down in, in there.
There's, like, the little family that's, like, all their little cross-section-
Gus Applequist: It's like a children's book.
Sydney Collins: So, uh- we talked about the live, uh, the live animals that they have. It's in their classroom, as you mentioned.
[00:03:00] And so this is Madeline checking out the snakes and the, and the frogs. And, uh, me probably butchering every name on the base- face of the planet. Oh, they also have-
Gus Applequist: Oh look, all those birds ...
Sydney Collins: all this taxidermy of all these- Wow ... birds too, which is really cool.
Gus Applequist: If you're not a fan of taxidermy, just don't go in the classroom.
Sydney Collins: Just
don't go in the classroom. So we'll go through these pretty quick.
But, and then this is a fun little walkout that you can do, and you see Cheyenne Bottoms in the background.
Gus Applequist: Wow.
Sydney Collins: And that's probably the last time she did that fun little smirk.
Gus Applequist: Ooh, I love these things.
these in-
This is one of those, like, sandboxes with a topographical projection on it-
so it changes the color based on the high and low points.
Sydney Collins: Yep. So we don't have to watch the whole thing, but it's, it's me trying to tell her why this is important. And it's, and it's- um, it's kinda fun
Gus Applequist: Zoop.
Sydney Collins: Zoop. This one is pretty funny 'cause then she just does her own thing.
Gus Applequist: if, if Cheyenne bottoms [00:04:00] were depicted in this form-
Sydney Collins: And then just-
Gus Applequist: it would be like blue and light blue, like
Sydney Collins: And then she just grabs a whole handful of sand and was like, "Okay, that works," and she makes- ... a little lagoon.
Gus Applequist: Really cool.
Sydney Collins: Anyway. Oh.
Barton County Side Trip
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Sydney Collins: But while we were there, we we went to, uh, the Barton County, uh, Historical Society.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Sydney Collins: Really cool museum.
Except they have mannequins everywhere.
Gus Applequist: That's a decision.
and-
Choice ...
Sydney Collins: I understand it's to, like, show kind of what the times were. But they're not, like, new mannequins by any means.
Gus Applequist: I
mean, they're looking pretty fly.
Sydney Collins: They are. and so it's fun to kind of go through this museum and just see the mannequins. Um, this is a really cool story. Basically, so they have all of these, um, on the premises of the, uh, historical society, they have all these, like, historical buildings, like a classroom- Uh-huh ... a post office, and things like that. This is a post office. It gives a little history about, you know, a town that's no longer there, but the [00:05:00] middle pe- paragraphs are what's fun. Small town site. Um, this small town site made a perfect location for a movie town for, seven... I am not... I'm gonna butcher this name. Basically, a place in Illinois in 1895. In the movie Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie, starring Jean Peters and David Wayne. Uh, the movie was- ... produced by George Jessel and directed by Henry King. Um, Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie, uh, premiered at the Fox Theater in Hutchison, May 14th, 1952. Oh. So this is, it's the, it's the post office that was- That's cool ... featured in that movie.
Gus Applequist: Very cool.
Sydney Collins: That's now in the Barton County. So I thought that was kind of fun.
And then they have a whole tread of, a whole shed of antique tractors.
So if you're- in Barton County, stop at the wetlands, stop at the s- soci- the, uh, historical society museum. This is the classroom, which has more mannequins. But, um, and then we stopped into Ellenwood at this fun little ice cream shop. So-
Gus Applequist: Nice ...
Sydney Collins: [00:06:00] Anyway, that kind of gives you a little picture.
I don't want to spend too much time on it, but we thought, I thought that was kind of fun.
Gus Applequist: Nice. Well-
without any further ado, here is our interviewee.
Curtis Wolf.
Meet Curtis Wolf
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Gus Applequist: All right, so welcome to Ask a Kansan. Thank you for being here.
Can you please introduce yourself for our audience?
Curtis Wolf: So, uh, my name is Curtis Wolf. I'm the director at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, which is located at Cheyenne Bottoms, which is near Great Bend, Kansas, uh, right in the middle of the state.
Sydney Collins: And this is Ask a Kansan, so what is your Kansas background?
Curtis Wolf: So I, uh, born and raised in Kansas. I grew up in Hays, Kansas. Went to school there, went to Fort Hays State University, for a bachelor's and master's degrees, and then, um, eventually went, made my way down to Barton County. Taught, uh, taught biology at Barton Community College for about four years, and right at that same time, the Wetlands Education Center was being built at Cheyenne Bottoms, and had the incredible opportunity of becoming the, the [00:07:00] basically first director, I guess, there.
And have been there, uh, for 17 years, and so- Wow it's been great.
Gus Applequist: Congrats.
Sydney Collins: So what is the Wetlands Educat- Education Center?
Curtis Wolf: A- and that's, uh, I think one of the problems, one of the things that we have to combat- ... is that people don't know about it. And, and-
Sydney Collins: You are very new ...
Curtis Wolf: we sit there going, w- you know, "Why do people not know about it?"
And, uh, so we are a visitor center, nature center, education center right there at Cheyenne Bottoms. And so everything we do, our mission is all about teaching people about wetlands and the natural resources that we have right there at the, at an incredible, wetland which is called Cheyenne Bottoms. And for people that don't know, Cheyenne Bottoms is, um, you know, it's not just a wetland, it's the largest wetland on the interior of the United States. So, you know, if we took a poll, how many people realize that right in the middle of Kansas we have a huge wetland?
Sydney Collins: Well-
Curtis Wolf: Doesn't make sense.
What Is a Wetland
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Sydney Collins: And for the people who don't know, what is [00:08:00] a wetland?
Well, we're like, we're going elementary school here.
Gus Applequist: There you go. Kind, like I kinda know. But let's- But I'd like to hear more specifics.
Curtis Wolf: Okay.
So our favorite definition of a wetland is land that is wet. And actually, that, that actually works, um, okay. But there are some more technicalities to it.
So wetlands themselves, there's typically lots of definitions out there. But the typical, um, actual definitions of technical, uh, wetland is three components. First, you have to have the right soil. So there has to be these hydric soils, which means they have these properties that have been in water, they hold water, um, and tho- that type of thing.
So soil is the first thing. Second thing is plants. You have to have an area that have the right plants. You have these things called, um, that are aquatic of some sort, either obligate aquatics or, they're, they can be in, in water type thing. And so that's the second component. And the third is you actually have to have the water there. There has to be water on the area for at least [00:09:00] part of the year and, um, and go from there. Now, we know in our part of the world, we don't get a lot of rain sometimes. In some years we can go long times. And so wetlands can be dry. Just because you have a dry area doesn't mean it's not a wetland, 'cause you have all these other characteristics that, that make it that. And so we have, again, like the largest wetland on the interior of the United States. A 41,000 acre basin, basically, that makes up Cheyenne Bottoms.
Sydney Collins: Why is it called Cheyenne Bottoms?
Curtis Wolf: That's a, a great question, and I don't have a great answer. That's fine. Um, it definitely goes back to the Native American-
groups that were there, but it's been called Cheyenne Bottoms for a long time.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Curtis Wolf: And, and Cheyenne Bottoms, it is a natural wetland. It's been there for, you know, ever. Um, it was a natural wetland, and, uh, but it's, it's obviously been modified and, and human managed now. And so it's been, been modified a little bit, but it's still a, an incredible natural place.
How the Center Began
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Sydney Collins: So what was kind of the... So the [00:10:00] facility is rather new.
Curtis Wolf: Right.
Sydney Collins: Why was it built?
Curtis Wolf: Exactly that. you know, the Cheyenne Bottoms, having this, this incredible resource right there, there was some untapped potential.
And so it was a huge cooperative effort, um, that started quite a long time ago actually, but then kinda g- gained traction there in the early 2000s of several entities saying, "Hey, we need to capitalize on having this resource here."
And so the City of Great Bend was instrumental in it. And then, so they, th- they had consultants, they had all these studies done that showed, yes, we need to have some sort of visitor center there at Cheyenne Bottoms. And then we had a couple other players came into, to, to the, the mix with Fort Hays State University and the Department of Wildlife and Parks. Ed Hammond, who was the president at Fort Hays for years, and Mike Hayden, former governor of Kansas, and at the time he was the Secretary of Wildlife and Parks- They're good friends. They got together and they said, "Hey, you know, we [00:11:00] need to do something." And, and it makes sense for Fort Hays to be involved with, with their regional institution, having Sternberg Museum, um- Oh, as a player and that sort of thing. We can make that work. And so they got to going, and they were the ones that kind of then got with, with the city of Great Bend, got with Barton Community College, got with all these other players, Barton County, and said, "Let's make this happen." They got, you know, kind of graces from the Kansas Legislature to help out. The actual building itself was built using, through a grant with KDOT-
Tanner Colvin: Oh ...
Curtis Wolf: using mitigation funds that they had, that they could use for that. And then the rest of the, the stuff was kind of, there was a lot of fundraising- private, private, uh, fundraising for that. And, but the legislature, they, they stepped up and said, this is something that we can fund for operations and salaries."
And so, and that's, that's where s- part of our funding still is just state funds. They get funneled through Fort Hays. So Wildlife and Parks was in charge of building the building, [00:12:00] and then the agreement was to turn over ownership and management to Fort Hays State University. Okay. And, uh, so that's who, who I work for.
That's who operates the building.
Sydney Collins: Gotcha. Is there any other, like, partnership with Fort Hays as, like, programs or, um, education, anything like that?
Curtis Wolf: We're, obviously we're, we're part of the university. Right. We, we sit under the, the, uh, Worth College of Science, Technology, and Mathematics. And so that's where we're, where we operate from. With that, we have all the university resources, and a big part of that is to get students involved. In the past, we've had, um, we pay for graduate assistantships- Oh where biology students come down and work for us. They do their graduate research projects down there and, um, and do some of that. And so that's been a huge part. But, um, you know, we're, we're kinda seen as that community outreach portion of the university, which is a major goal of the university and, and, uh, something that we, we kind of provide that aspect. That's cool. So we like to say we're the, the South Fort Hays campus. You know? [00:13:00] Being 70 miles from there.
Sydney Collins: I don't know about South Harmon Institute.
Sorry.
Gus Applequist: So I've been down to Grayben a few times, mostly for music stuff, ironically. Um, but, until that building was built, it was kinda hard to even realize that Cheyenne Bottoms was there. I think, like, birders and, and those folks have always known, but, why, why should this place matter to everybody else?
Why Wetlands Matter
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Curtis Wolf: so, uh, again, wetlands in Kansas are unique. There's no doubt about it. And, and there's so many things that go into that uniqueness, and a, a big part of that is some of its functions, and these are things that matter to us and are, are, you know, ecosystem functions that are out there that most of us don't realize that are happening but are important.
And so it does kinda go back to some of the functions of what a wetland is and why they are important. So one thing that wetlands do is they are very good at cycling nutrients and, and handling [00:14:00] pollution and, uh, getting rid of those pollutants out of, out of an area. Obviously we're s- we're right in the heart of agricultural land, and all the runoff, pesticides, that sort of thing, can have huge effects on water quality and, and that sort of thing.
And so wetlands, one of the things they do is, is do a very good job of, processing those things out of, of an area. And so, you know, in Cheyenne Bottoms, they, it, that's where the water comes from is runoff. So it collects in watersheds up in the higher parts of the county and rolls down into the, this bowl basically that makes up Cheyenne Bottoms.
And so we collect all of those things that are coming off of the fields and whatever else, and that's one of the things that wetlands do an excellent job of doing. Second is the water quantity issue, um, so that's a very good thing of, of handling flooding and mitigating the, you know, the, the floodwaters that that come through the area and, [00:15:00] and the, the damage that that can, can, can occur. So it's a place where water can be deposited very easily and, and that sort of thing. It's kind of a sponge, so to speak, to, to soak that up. And then the, the habitat, characteristics of providing habitat for all of this biodiversity. That's one of the things with the, the programs that we offer to kids.
We try to get them to understand the word biodiversity, 'cause wetlands themselves, that's, that's the key. Biodiversity, the, the diversity of living things that are there is huge, and like I said, wetlands can be one of the most biodiverse things, biodiverse ecosystems in the, in the world. They provide homes for, for all of these things, and so that's, that's the other part of it. Um, it allows people to come out there and enjoy the, the recreational, uh, aspects of it. Uh, bird watching, hunting, photography, and just, just spending time outside, being in an incredible place to, to go and enjoy nature Um, get out of the, the city and, [00:16:00] and that sort of thing. So I think those are some of the major aspects of what wetlands provide and why it is an important place, why, why we shouldn't just pave it over And, and go from there. So...
Sydney Collins: Well, brilliant.
Inside the Building
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Sydney Collins: I wanna talk about the building for a minute because when you... 'Cause it's kind of just out there-
Curtis Wolf: It is ...
Sydney Collins: in the middle of this wetland.
Curtis Wolf: You're right. '
Sydney Collins: Cause I, my daughter and I went, um, last summer. We used our, shout out to, uh, Sunflower Summer.
Curtis Wolf: Sunflower, excellent.
Sydney Collins: Um, and did kind of a little tour. We stopped in Ellwood, W- Great Bend, Barton County Museum, and And, and then w- it was a good little day trip. And like you drive out there, and you're driving and you're driving, and you're like, "This s- thing is in the middle of nowhere." Like, "I don't think I'm ever gonna find it." And then it's just like this big beautiful building-
that's like a giant U almost.
and so it's so cool. I didn't think... I didn't look anything up, to be honest. I was like, "Well, this looks fun. We'll just go here today." And [00:17:00] we went, and I was like, "Oh, there's actually a lot more out here than I thought." I was like, "I should've planned more time out here."
So, can you ta- uh, can you tell us, like, what is in the building? What is in the museum?
Kind of, um, kind of the... How... I don't know. I, I wish- I could just show all the pictures- 'cause it's so cool. But can you give us- a little insight?
Curtis Wolf: Well, you know, that's, that's the enticement now of getting- people out there saying, "Well, you gotta come see this."
Gus Applequist: It's a mystery. "This awesome building."
Sydney Collins: It is a mystery.
Curtis Wolf: Uh, and you know, I am not, I'm not an artsy person. I'm not a architectural- type guy, but... And you know, I've been told that any, any time you have good architecture, you're gonna have people that love it- and you're gonna have people that hate it.
And we hear both sides. They say, "What is that god-awful building out there?" The other people, "That's a really awesome design," and everything else. So I guess it's something. But the building itself, um, it's... It... So we are a visitor center.
Sydney Collins: Right.
Curtis Wolf: So we're there as a place for people to come visit Cheyenne Bottoms, to stop in, get a map, see what's being seen, get some information about what wetlands are, that sort of thing.
And so they can come in and do that. For that purpose, [00:18:00] we've got a wonderful exhibit hall. So, uh, it's the Koch family actually a do- made the major donation that, that, uh, gave us our exhibit hall. We went through an exhibit renovation project in 2018, and so, um, one of the things with that is we made it highly interactive.
And so basically every piece that we put in has an interactive component. And so it's all... Our exhibit hall kind of does several things. It says what wetlands are and why they're important. It, talks about the wetland communities, the plants and animals that you can see there at Cheyenne Bottoms, and then it, kind of tells the Cheyenne Bottoms story, the histo- history. We have a big timeline that shows prehistoric Cheyenne Bottoms up through today and, and all the things that have happened. So that's kind of the goals of that exhibit hall, to, to give that information. We have a lot of live animals. So we, we are an education center as well, so we offer... Our, our educators do a phenomenal job and, and we do upwards of [00:19:00] 700 programs a year, outreach and, you know, on site.
And so, part of that, um, talking about all sorts of environmental education and, uh, all of those components. So, um, we have a lot of live animals that we use for our programs, uh, about 25 species of pretty much all things that can be found right there at Cheyenne Bottoms. And, and so we utilize those animal ambassadors for that. We also have that available when people come in to go visit in our classroom. So we have a wonderful classroom. We have a wonderful auditorium. Um, we, we show about a 15-minute video, uh, that we produced a few years ago. it gives the story of Cheyenne Bottoms, gives a snapshot of what it is, and so people can do that. We have a wonderful gift store, again, kind of that, that, uh, visitor, visit- visitor center type thing, and all the proceeds from that go back to our programs. And a lot of local art type things in there, Kansas Made stuff, and, and, uh, and then one of the few places in central Kansas you can find good field guides [00:20:00] to identify- um, animals and plants in this area too, so. So that's a big part of it. But we have a lot of outdoor resources too at the center, a nature trail. Um, there's a wetland behind the center that we use for our programs. And, um, and then we'll take people out on van tours as well. We've got a 12-passenger van, and, a huge part of it is getting people out to the wetlands. And, uh, and so we do do that as well.
Sydney Collins: I, I'll just, quick story. Um, so I mentioned we went out there last year, and I think one of my favorite parts is going to see the... We didn't realize there was, like, live animals there when obviously we went, but there's like an aquarium kind of in the main hall with a snake in it. And, it was kind of towards the end. We were, we were about to leave and, and, uh, one of the, uh, gals that worked there, she's like, "Well, I can take him out if you wanna look at him." And my daughter's like, "He's good right here." Like she was like, "No, I'm good. Thanks, though." "Appreciate it." But, I do wanna give a shout-out to your team 'cause they were, like, super interactive- Awesome ... when we [00:21:00] were there, and we were very fortunate. Like, we were the only ones there- which I couldn't figure out.
Gus Applequist: We gotta fix that, people.
Sydney Collins: That's right. Like, I- That's right ... couldn't figure out how we were the only ones there. so they, like, were super amaz- sh- she was four at the time, so sh- they were super amazing of getting on her level and telling her all the things. And you're right, it's super interactive. Like, you can match, like, we talk about, you know, bird species- of all the bird species that are there. You can match the birds with... Um, there's a video that I found today of me, of my daughter matching all the birds and me trying to, pronounce all the names. Did not go well. And my, I don't think my daughter learned anything from me. That's right. But it is a, such a cool, place. Um- and the best part is it's, very accessible to families.
Curtis Wolf: That's right.
Sydney Collins: and I wanna give that big shout-out because... Sorry, I'm go- I'm going on a real rant here. But- I remember after our visit, I sent the link to all my mom friends. I go, "You can bring your [00:22:00] strollers in. You can do- this, um, uh, paved path through the butterfly- garden. You can do, like, all these different things with your littles, and it's so accessible. And everything, they, like, they can touch almost everything.
Curtis Wolf: That's right.
Sydney Collins: And so I think at least, I don't know, two or three of my other mom friends went out with their s- with their kids too, so-
it's just such a cool place. That's great. Sorry. I'm going on a rant.
Curtis Wolf: And not to mention, and it's free admission too.
Sydney Collins: It's free. Wow.
Curtis Wolf: Even without the Sunflower Summer App.
Sydney Collins: Even without the Sunflower App. But, but, like- ... And that's, uh, I just... I don't know. Sorry. I get on a rant, and I get really passionate- I love it ... about places that I love.
Curtis Wolf: I love it.
Sydney Collins: Okay. Uh, but I do wanna- Could- Oh, go ahead.
Wildlife and Bird Migration
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Gus Applequist: Could you talk a little bit about, like, what all is in the wetlands?
Like- That's a good one ... um, 'cause, 'cause obviously it's, it's, it's not necessarily things that you're gonna find everywhere in Kansas, right?
Curtis Wolf: You're exactly right. You've hit the nail on the head there. So wetlands themselves are unique for Kansas especially. I mean, the, the L- Kansas landscape, uh, less than [00:23:00] 1% of the Kansas landscape is wetlands, uh, meeting that definition that we talked about.
There are wetlands there, though, and Cheyenne Bottoms is a huge one. And so it presents a very unique habitat that's going to attract some very unique visitors. And so the, the wildlife that's there that utilizes, um, the, the area is, is phenomenal, and that's- spending time out in the wetlands is, is the best way to see that stuff.
And every time you go out there, you're gonna see, see wildlife of some sort. What Cheyenne Bottoms is really known for is the birds, so the bird life that stops there, and again, and I say that word stops there is the, the key thing. So Cheyenne Bottoms is wetland. We've got a lot of birds, and that's what we're known for, but the times for, to see the birds is during the migration times. So we're known for a stop, as a stopover- for migrating shorebirds and waterfowl especially. And most of these are things that aren't spending their time in Kansas for very long. They're coming through in the spring and [00:24:00] fall during that north-south migration, and looking for a place to stop over to rest, to eat, to put on some energy reserves just to make it to their next destination. And like you mentioned, not... Most of these birds are not things that you would expect to see in Kansas. These things are, on beaches and shorelines. Um, some of them coming from South America is where they've spent their winters, and, um, they're only stopping here just to get to their next place, and eventually on up to their breeding grounds, which oftentimes is up in the Arctic Circle, sometimes even over to Alas- Al- Alaska, some even over to Russia. And so these birds are, are on an incredible journey. They come in here, they're looking for a very particular habitat, and it's not grasslands, okay? It's, it's these, these wetlands. And wetlands prov- They're one of the most productive ecosystems anywhere. And what they're looking for is insects to eat.
Most of these are, most of these birds are eating insects, and especially insect larvae, which [00:25:00] most of them are aquatic. And wetlands provide a huge biomass of, of these, these aquatic invertebrates. One of the stories we tell is that at Cheyenne Bottoms, one of the bases of the food chain there is these thing called bloodworms.
So bloodworms are a little red worm-looking thing, but it's actually an insect larvae. It's a non-biting midge fly. And these little worms, a, you know, half-inch long type thing, there's been studies have shown in one square meter out in the muck and mud of Cheyenne Bottoms, there can be upwards of 65,000 of these- My gosh
in one square meter. So if you're a shorebird- ... coming in, landing, walking around the shallow water, sticking your nose down into that mud, good chance you're gonna find these things. And they're incredibly nutritious, for these birds coming through. And they're, and the bloodworms are only one of them.
There's a lot of other aquatic invertebrates too that, um, are there and, and are accessible. And so that's why the birds stop there. And, and it, it's a giant bird buffet- as they come in, and, uh, [00:26:00] that's what they're doing, is gobbling up these things, so.
Gus Applequist: I knew Kansas was known for its truck stops, but I had no idea-
Curtis Wolf: And, and exactly. Well, here's even a better story.
Sydney Collins: A bird buffet.
Curtis Wolf: Here's even a better story to kind of illustrate how important this is. So, it was back in 2020, um, April of 2020. There was some researchers were studying this one particular shorebird called the Hudsonian Godwit. They're one of the bigger shorebirds.
They're about a foot tall, and they're one of the long distant migrants that we get. And so there was some researchers that put radio transmitters on some birds down in Chile in South America. So were studying where they went. They had one particular bird left Chile and flew for six days straight without stopping and landed at Cheyenne Bottoms It was there for about a week.
The researchers actually came out. They were able to get, get binoculars on the bird and, you know, it was tagged and that sort of thing. They were able to find it, watched it, and that sort of thing. It left Cheyenne Bottoms after about a week, went up to the Dakotas, I think, for a while, spent time, and then on up to the Arctic Circle. But this is [00:27:00] happening, and most Kansans don't realize this, that, you know, thousands if not millions of birds are doing this every spring and fall without us even knowing it. And without places like Cheyenne Bottoms for them to stop at to rest and to make this journey, they're, they're done for, and that's why it's such an important place, so.
So pretty cool story, I think.
Education Programs Highlights
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Sydney Collins: you mentioned programs that you have over, what, seven... Did you say 700- programs each year? We do, we do a lot. Can you [00:28:00] maybe just give us 100? I'm just kidding.
So- Just give us some of the highlights-
of what kind of programming people can go to your website and find and be interactive with and things like that.
Curtis Wolf: So we have two full-time educators, uh, one that works for Fort Hays and one that works for the Department of Wildlife and Parks, and they do a phenomenal job. These two, two ladies are some of the most passionate people I've ever met, for educating children and adults about our, our natural resources and why we should care, why we should care about them.
And so the programs, all of them that we offer go back to that environmental education, um, aspect. And so we're trying to teach people, and, and then we use the wetlands, we use Cheyenne Bottoms as the example kind of thing for the most of these. And so, we do tons of school field trips and- Right ... and school outreach programs.
That's the, uh, our biggest component, which we love. We love getting in the classroom. We have, every, uh, uh, fall we host our second grade wetlands day. We o- [00:29:00] we invite all the second graders in Barton County to come out, and so it's usually about 300 kids- Oh, wow ... that are there for the day. Um, they rotate through seven stations that are all wetland themed, and, they, they have...
Stargazing And Camps
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Curtis Wolf: It's one of the most chaotic days of the work.
Sydney Collins: I can only imagine.
Curtis Wolf: Uh, but it's one of my favorite days. It really feels like we're doing what we should be with that. And so, so those types of programs kind of make sense. But then, you know, we, we take the opportunity to o- offer all these other types of programs, too.
anything from stargazing programs. Cheyenne Bottoms, you mentioned, we're out there- kind of in the middle of nowhere. It's one of the greatest night skies you can see out there. And so we, uh, usually a couple times a year we have in the fall The Perseid meteor shower. We do a meteor shower viewing party- Oh
which is, uh, a great event for us. And, uh, then we y- will oftentimes invite the Fort Hays Astronomy Club to come down, and they do a star-gazing program with us, and, and that's a fun one, too. So, so those are, those are great opportunities. But then we, we, we have summer [00:30:00] day camps, for the kids, where we...
This year we had, um, eight day camps that we hosted, all a different theme. Kids come in for the full day, and it allows us... You know, it's one thing to have a program for an hour or so with the kids. Being able to spend a full day, you can really get into some more depth, and, and those are so popular. We always have waiting lists on, on those, and so that's great.
Turtle Tots And Programs
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Curtis Wolf: We have preschool, um, our Turtle Tots programs.
Sydney Collins: Oh my gosh, that's so
cute.
Curtis Wolf: It, it's, it's awesome. We have Turtle Tots. It's a monthly, monthly program for the age three to five-year-olds, and they come out and, and we keep them rolling. You know, you got a- about 10 minutes at a time is about all you can get.
But you gotta keep 'em going. But that, that's great. And so, so those are, those are wonderful things. We- in the past we've brought in, you know, guest speakers and had, you know, programs, more presentation-style things on, on various topics. So there's all sorts of programs that we offer.
Butterfly Festival Spotlight
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Curtis Wolf: And then our largest is our Butterfly Festival, um, that we offer in-
in September every year. And, and we usually have 6 to 700 people out there for it, and, hold, you know, morning of [00:31:00] talking about pollinators and why they're important, and how that goes back to the wetlands even. And so, um, that's a, that's a fun one.
Sydney Collins: Can we talk a little bit more about that? Yep. I see you brought s- Yep
a visual for us.
I wanna talk more about that. Give us g- the background of w- of why we, uh... One, what the festival is. Yep. Why it's important, and then what's going on with this fun little visual here.
Curtis Wolf: Absolutely. And I, I'll give credit to, uh, one of our f- our former educators that was at the center for about 15 years, and she retired.
Pam Martin. Uh, she was with Wildlife and Parks, and she had a huge passion for butterflies and, and especially monarch butterflies. And so that's why we kinda started this Butterfly Festival. so I think we've done it for about 13, 14 years that we've had this festival, and we, we time it with the migration of the monarch butterfly.
So we have birds that migrate through the wetlands, um, throughout the state of Kansas. We also have the monarch butterflies. And so, in the fall especially is a fun time to go out and be able to see these. And so we, we have a [00:32:00] festival that isn't just about the monarchs, it's about all pollinators. We try to celebrate all of the, the pollinators as we, as we go with that.
Monarch Tagging Explained
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Curtis Wolf: And so we have all sorts of different activities that go on, but kinda the highlight of it is tagging monarch butterflies. And if people aren't familiar, uh, this started in Kansas, a program at the University of Kansas called Monarch Watch.
Sydney Collins: Oh.
Curtis Wolf: And they, uh, Chip Taylor is the guy that... He's, uh, he's one of the renowned monarch butterfly biologists in the world, and he started Monarch Watch, and a big part of that they do is monarch tagging. So they employ- public, the public, to go out and catch monarch butterflies as they're migrating and put a little tag on them. So, and everyone says, "How do you tag a monarch?" Basically it's a little sticker. So, this one up here shows what the tag looks like. Oh. So it's a little sticker that has a unique number on it.
When you get the, the butterfly in hand, it's very easy, and they- [00:33:00] they've researched where to put the sticker so that it doesn't affect their flying- and that sort of thing. Doesn't, you know, fly in circles or something like that. Um, get them off balance. So it's, uh, it goes there, and then you release...
You- you take a little bit of other information, whether it's a male or a female, and it's a real easy way to tell.
Migration Generations Story
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Curtis Wolf: Um, but you release the, the monarch, and it's... The monarch's story is incredible. It's this, the ones that are coming through here in the fall are this last generation of the year that makes their way down to Mexico, which is where they overwinter.
It's, uh, in Central Mexico, these mountainous areas. It's, uh, been shrinking, that area. But it's, it's, uh, these- these forests down there where all these monarch butterflies go to overwinter, and the trees literally hang with thousands of- of monarchs, and they, they go there. Some of the monarchs that we release here make their way down there, and this is a study to try to get a better idea of that migration. Biologists down there will [00:34:00] look for these tags, and every year, some of the monarchs that we tag right here at Cheyenne Bottoms, they are found down in Mexico. I mean, can you imagine, you know, a little thing like this flying that far is an incredible thing. A long way. So, and it goes back to their, their life cycle.
These monarchs, so, uh, the migration of them doesn't even make sense. It- it absolutely doesn't make sense. You have monarchs that leave the roost site in Mexico in the spring. That first generation, their job is to breed and lay eggs, or wake up first- and then breed and lay eggs as they s- make their way north, and then they die off.
It's their children that continue that migration north through the summer, and then they get up into the United States. They make their way up into the northern part of the United States, even southern Canada. And they're laying eggs as well as they can. They're gonna eventually die off. Their children continue it on, and as we get to about the end of summer, they start coming back, [00:35:00] and they're laying eggs.
And- and they're, they're going from there. They die off. It's then this fourth generation, so it's the fourth generation from the ones that left Mexico in the springtime are the ones making their way back in the fall, and those are the ones that are coming through here- Around this time, and they're the ones that we tagged to, to learn a little bit more about them, so.
Sydney Collins: Crazy.
Curtis Wolf: It's a crazy thing, and so- I never knew that.
Gus Applequist: There's your great-great-grandpa butterfly. Great-great-grandpa butterfly. Can you imagine?
Sydney Collins: I feel like that should be a kids book-
Curtis Wolf: I think there are some ...
Sydney Collins: that goes through the generations. I'm sure there are That actually makes so much, the great-great-grandpa butterfly.
Festival Activities Rundown
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Curtis Wolf: So, so with our butterfly festival, that's, that's one of the highlights is doing that. But then we'll have other activities. you know, we, we always have a, a honeybee demonstration hive. Oh. Uh, we work with a, a beekeeper in the area, and he brings out a, a demonstration hive and has stuff there. We'll have crafts.
We'll have a obstacle course that people can kind of figure out what happens to the butterflies as they're making this migration. We'll, we'll do seed [00:36:00] bombs. We shoot seed bombs into our prairie, so we-
Sydney Collins: Oh, that's fun ...
Curtis Wolf: they're made of wildflower seeds and these little clay things, and they have these big slingshots, and they get to- I'm coming for that
fling them into there. So, so that's fun. And so all sorts of different activities that are just a, a wonderful way to celebrate this incredible thing that happens.
Cool.
Birds Impact On Wetlands
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Gus Applequist: I have a nerdy question.
Sydney Collins: go for it.
Gus Applequist: okay, so I, like, I know that any ecosystem, like obviously everything affects everything else, right?
So, so we've kind of heard how Cheyenne Bottoms is this wonderful truck stop, this benefit to these migratory birds. What effect do the migratory birds have on the wetland?
Curtis Wolf: That's a wonderful question there. And-
Sydney Collins: That's a great question.
Curtis Wolf: and it, so they might have some effect, but it's probably not nearly as a- as- as a big of effect.
and one of the things, you know, when, when Cheyenne Bottoms is dry, we've- we've gone through some droughts here in the last, you know, few years, and, and we've had years where it's bone dry. Birds don't stop. There's [00:37:00] nothing for them. Sure. And so they're gonna continue on, and, you know, birds are survivors.
They're gonna go and find somewhere else even though it's not maybe what they would prefer. They're gonna find Wilson Lake or Konoplice Lake that will provide some shoreline habitat, but it's not nearly as expansive. And so, you know, they're gonna utilize those areas, uh, instead of Cheyenne Bottoms when we're dry.
But, on the other side, the only major thing would be obviously you get these birds in there and, and, you know, we get waterfowl as well. There's times during the year where we can, uh, Cheyenne Bottoms can hold 250 to 300,000 geese-
Sydney Collins: Oh my gosh ...
Curtis Wolf: at a time. That many geese are producing a lot of goose poop and, and the nutrients that come in, um, they come into the wetlands, you know, with that.
And, um, you know, but again, it goes back to these wetlands are very good at cycling these nutrients, and they're processing that. You hear about in the state all these, uh, lakes that have blue-green algae problems. And [00:38:00] usually that's the, it's the case is n- there are too many nutrients coming into the water, causes these algal blooms. You don't see that at Cheyenne Bottoms because the, the, that wetland, the plants that are there, there's so many plants, and they're, they're able to process those, those nutrients really quickly to where you, you usually don't have big problems like that. And so I don't know, wetlands are so dynamic that they are just used to changing, and they're there f- you know, kind of providing that service to the, the animals too.
And so you don't, don't really see any issues
Managing Cheyenne Bottoms
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Gus Applequist: You mentioned that, that part of what you do is, is, this is how you said it, but, but you sort of need to intervene in, in that ecosystem. Right. What, what does that intervention look like, and what purpose does it serve?
Curtis Wolf: So the man- like I, like I mentioned, Cheyenne Bottoms, it's a natural wetland.
It's been there for hundreds of thousands of years. Um, but man has started managing it. And so in the [00:39:00] 1950s specifically, the state of Kansas and the Department of Wildlife and Parks, they kind of came in and said, "We need to protect this area." And so through some, some ways of going about it, they acquired the land, and so that makes up, the biggest part of Cheyenne Bottoms, which is called the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area.
So it's a state wildlife area. Um, it's about 21,000 of those acres is, uh, managed by the Department of Wildlife and Parks, and it's highly managed. One of the things they did in the 1950s is, they took this huge wetland, and they divided it into pools. So they, they put in dike system to separate it into about nine different pools, and it's all about w- managing the water. So you go back in history, and Cheyenne Bottoms was there, but it would go dry about two out of every five years. So about half the time it's dry, and like I mentioned, a dry wetland doesn't provide anything for these birds as they're coming through and that sort of thing. So one of the things that the state did was they said, "We wanna maximize the years that we have water." So they, [00:40:00] they said, "We can do that by storing water in certain pools during the heat of the summer, and then during the migration times when we need it, flood those pools so that the habitat's there for them." They also were able to put in an inlet system where they can divert water off the Ark Kansas River and Walnut Creek.
And so they have a water right that they can bring so much water into this canal system, uh, to supplement the natural source of water. And so that helps provide a little more water to provide, you know, more years of water there. So it's managed. There's a manager that for Wildlife and Parks, that his job is to make those decisions of where to put water at certain times of the year and go from there.
And then it also allows them to dry out pools, and they can go in and plant food plots for the birds or, or do some other habitat management, uh, with that. And so, so that's ... It's highly managed. Um, and, and some people say, "Well, that, you know, that goes [00:41:00] against the, the natural cycle." But I think it's, it's much improved. The wildlife is benefiting by this management, and I think they do an excellent job.
Gus Applequist: They need every advocate they can get.
Curtis Wolf: They do. They do.
Nature Conservancy Partnership
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Curtis Wolf: And then, and you get on the other side, there's, uh, so Wildlife and Parks has about 21,000 acres that they manage. There's a little over 8,000 acres that's managed by The Nature Conservancy.
And so The Nature Conservancy, and I know you guys have had- people from The Nature Conservancy on here- and they, they do exactly that. They purchase areas and- And manage that area for a particular habitat, and it's all about the habitat, all about providing a place for wildlife to, to thrive.
And so they've bought up about a little over 8,000 acres of the Cheyenne Bottoms basin, and a big part of their goal is to restore that land and let nature take its course and, and do its, do its thing. And so they're, they're providing an excellent habitat as well. And, and Wildlife and Parks and, and, uh, Nature Conservancy work together very well and [00:42:00] have more of a landscape view of things.
And, and, uh, and so that's how it's managed.
Sydney Collins: I feel like we could sit here and talk about- I- ... the wetlands for like hours ...
Curtis Wolf: that's exactly right.
Kids In The Wetlands
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Sydney Collins: But to, to kind of wrap up, I wanna ask Is there a story that sticks out to you from someone who's visited or someone who has i- been impacted by the work that you guys are doing out there that really sticks out to you?
And I, you know, uh, I've been in education for a while now and, and I, I, I so value our teachers, and I, I, I totally get it why someone wants to be a teacher. With all the stuff they have to deal with and everything else, I get why you wanna be a teacher because you get immediate feedback usually. When you're teaching something and you see the light bulb go on- that will bring me back every time, and that's what we, we see that. Um, in this day and age, kids aren't going outside. They, they just aren't. And even in the, the 17 years that the center's been there, the kids that we were doing programs with [00:43:00] when we first opened compared to the kids now, it's almost night and day difference.
Even in a rural setting that we're in where you'd think that the kids are still out, they're not. And it's scary. And so, you know, I always s- One of the programs that we love to do is to get, take the kids, they come in. We have a ton of waders and and rubber boots, and we get 'em all in the, the waders and boots, and we, we get 'em out into the water, and they're looking for those aquatic invertebrates, those bloodworms and that sort of thing. The... I always say the first 10 minutes is total chaos. They forget how to walk. They're falling over. They're... And, and everything. I mean, it's, it's total chaos- 'cause they've never done that. They've been told, "Don't get in the water. Don't get muddy." don't get dirty. And we're sitting there going, "Have at it."
Do it.
Curtis Wolf: And so they get in there and... But then you l- I literally see the light bulb go on when they dip through with the sieve and they go, "Oh." "What are these things?" You know, they're catching a big dragonfly nymph [00:44:00] that's this huge thing that looks like something from a sci-fi movie or, or the bloodworms or that sort of thing.
And, and the light bulb goes on and they're, they're like, "This is cool." And so then they're collecting and, and doing that thing. And we've, we've had kids, you know, being that we've been open for 17 years, we have, have kids that were, that came out with their school group when, f- one of those first years, and now their kids are- That's scary. I feel old. When you have their kids that are now coming out, and the parents are like, "I remember coming out in sixth grade, and we were... You know, we did this." And, and that's, that's cool. And that's... To me, that's what the Wetlands Education Center is all about. That's, that's why we're there is to provide that. I always say if people don't know about something, they're never gonna care about it. And so- providing that awareness, this place-based education, which we're in a perfect place for that, to provide some, some pride in what's right there in, in Barton County is, uh, to those people. There's no reason that kids coming out of the schools in Barton County [00:45:00] shouldn't know exactly what, what Cheyenne Bottoms is and why it's important. So that's, that's what we do.
Visit And Stay Connected
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Sydney Collins: Well, where can people find you and find more information?
Curtis Wolf: We'd love to have people check us out. Our website is phenomenal. You mentioned our programming. All of our, our school programming is all listed on there. We just updated our program guide, and so you can go in and s- if you're a teacher, um, let us know and, and we can, we can see what we can do to help you out. Our events, um, that are coming up are on there. We send out an e-newsletter about once a month. You can sign up for that on our website, to see what's coming up, and we'll put, you know, bird sightings and what the wetlands are like too on there. and so that, that's a, a way. Facebook, we do a lot on our social media with, with Facebook and, and events and what programs that we've done, pictures from programs, and so, um, check us out on that. And, uh, just come out. Come out and, and check us out. A great day trip. We're right in the middle of the state, so you can get to us from about anywhere, uh, pretty easily to come visit, [00:46:00] so.
Sydney Collins: Well, thank you so much for being on.
Gus Applequist: Thanks. Appreciate it.
Curtis Wolf: No, thank you guys.
Host Takeaways And Birding
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Gus Applequist: Well, we hope you enjoyed that interview. What, what takeaways did you have, Tanner? You've probably been out to Cheyenne Bottoms more than anyone.
Tanner Colvin: Um, I definitely love, um, wetlands of Kansas and, and being able to explore them. I've been out to Quivira, uh, more than, more than Cheyenne probably. Um, Quivira's run by the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Gus Applequist: Oh, okay.
Tanner Colvin: Um, so Curtis isn't over that, but, um, you know, he, he appreciates that area as well, so. Um, I [00:47:00] really enjoyed the episode. Um, I think, um, they're definitely kinda hidden gems of Kansas.
Gus Applequist: Y- you have a, a, you know, background in Audubon and, and birding, to some extent. C- I, I, one of the questions that if we had had time I wanted to ask him was, like, what was the coolest bird he'd ever seen out there?
Do you have an answer to that question?
Tanner Colvin: Um, not out there, but- ... um, out at Quivira, um, last year, I, we actually have a story on our website about, um, a whooping crane. So I was able to go out and, um, and, uh, view, I think I saw eight that day. Wow. And the coolest one was a, uh, a family group. a mom and dad and, and the juvenile. Um, they would've had the juvenile up in the wood- well, up in, uh, Buffalo Up in central Canada, uh, north- north central Canada. And, um, they would've just been taking that bird, the, the chick, down to, uh, Aransas, um, National Wildlife Refuge down in Texas. So, they were- Wow ... making its first trip down, and then when it comes back up [00:48:00] this fall, um, it's probably by itself.
Um, so-
Curtis Wolf: Wow ...
Tanner Colvin: really cool to just see how, how they work and, and that they use these areas in Kansas as stopping points, and they're, and they're vital stopping points for, for many birds. But the whooping crane's an easy one 'cause it's, like, six foot tall. Um, so- uh, they're, they're easier to spot than some little shorebird.
Um-
Gus Applequist: Well, so if, if you're interested in checking out either Quivira or Cheyenne Bottoms, just here's my advice for you. If you're not a birder and you're, like, kinda curious about it, go watch a movie starring Steve Martin and Jack Black called The Big Year. And if you're like me, you'll get a little bit of energy for birding out of this. And then go, go to these places and see what you see. and and if you know a birder, take some pictures and, and ask them what birds you're seeing 'cause there's some great stories about where these birds are coming from and, and going to.
Tanner Colvin: And we'll, we'll give a couple shout-outs. Um, Audubon of Kansas does some great things. They're on our list to, to have come on as well. Um, and then, uh, the, the Kansas Tourism [00:49:00] has, uh, byways all across the state. And, uh, the Kansas Wetlands and Wildlife Byway starts around Hoisington, and then goes through Cheyenne Bottoms, and then goes down to Quivira. They're both pretty close to each other, so it's a cool little byway that you can kinda do that.
You get to go through a lot of the places that Sydney talked about in the opening. So
Gus Applequist: Great. Cool. Well, and thanks for stepping in for Sydney. She had, she had to go take care of an errand real quick, and so Tanner stepped in for us.
Dartography Sublette And Haskell
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Gus Applequist: So I do have a... And this means that you get to throw the dart because- Oh, all right
it's, it's time for Dartography, uh, our new segment where we throw a dart at a map of Kansas, and then I do some research about it. All right. So last time, Sydney threw a dart, at the map, and it landed on, uh, roughly Sublette, Kansas. Have you ever heard of Sublette? I
Tanner Colvin: have.
Gus Applequist: Sublette is, is, like, 20, 30 miles southwest of Dodge.
So it's, it's kinda out there. Yep. And, it's not far, actually, from Cimarron and, and Ingalls, which we talked about on the first segment. So this is in Haskell County, and it's actually, um... They, they [00:50:00] have...
There's about 1,400 people that live in Sublette. And so I'm gonna talk a little bit about Sublette and, and, and a little bit about Haskell. Interestingly, Sublette is named for William Lewis Sublette, who was a famous fur trader and mountain man in the 19th century. It's kind of weird. He actually didn't have any connection to this area really whatsoever personally. But his business partner, who was Jedediah Smith, was killed just a few miles away, on the Cimarron Route. So what's funny is that the ... It's likely that the railroad named Sublette, but instead of naming it after the guy who died, they named it after his business partner, which he was also famous. So anyway, that, that's kind of interesting. Probably what, what Haskell County is best known for is possibly not actually true, and it's, it could be the origin of the Spanish flu epidemic that started in 1918, which killed about somewhere between 20 and 100 million people across [00:51:00] the, the world. So what we do know is that there was, uh, in February of 1918, there was a pretty bad flu epidemic in Haskell County. it sounds like there were s- you know, a lot of people sick and a, and a few people died. But it wasn't until, like, a month or so later in Camp Funston, which became Fort Riley, that, that the Spanish flu really ignited, and then the soldiers went off to fight in Europe, and it just went crazy. But modern historians think this might have been more of a coincidence, but we'll give it to Haskell County anyway.
Like- All right. ... uh, good job killing a whole... Never mind. And then the, you know, the other thing I found was kind of interesting in the history of this area is that Haskell County was one of the worst affected areas by the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. Um, in fact, the county is specifically mentioned as one of two case studies featured in Donald Worster's definitive scholarly work, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the [00:52:00] 1930s. And in that book, Worster's thesis is basically that the origin of the Dust Bowl was not natural, but caused by modern agriculture, and that was, like, a pretty big finding. And, and Haskell and this area was a big part of that, and, and those findings kind of shifted agriculture away from those practices that caused the Dust Bowl. And so I wanna kinda finish up by just talking about how crazy agriculture is in Haskell County. In 19- not 19, sorry, in 2022, Haskell was number one in Kansas for total market value of agricultural products sold. It was 23, number 23 of 3, over 3,000 US counties for ag products. It was number one in the, in Kansas and the number two county in the US for cattle and cows.
Tanner Colvin: Wow.
Gus Applequist: That equates to $1.64 billion in sales. They had, in 2022, 413,827 head of cattle against a human population of [00:53:00] 3,780. That's- ... basically 100 cattle per person in this county, um, which I just found pretty crazy. I, I wouldn't have guessed that. But apparently-
Tanner Colvin: I
mean, it, it, southwest Kansas and panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas- with all the, the beef industry that's down there, Uh, but I d- those numbers are impressive.
Gus Applequist: They've they've got cattle. Just another couple little random things. One is, Sublette was home to the 1926 World Wheat Queen, Amanda Hopkins.
I don't know what's happened to the World Wheat Queen competition these days. Huh. But, uh-
Tanner Colvin: Maybe Ask a Kansan can bring that back. The Ask a Kansan World Wheat Queen.
Gus Applequist: Not a
bad-
Tanner Colvin: But they have to come from Kansas, obviously.
Gus Applequist: There you go. It's kinda like how there's Miss Universe, but, uh, I don't think there's been any contenders from outside of Earth.
right. Uh, and then I just wanna close by saying, you know, that, um, this area is like, like a large portion of Kansas facing a lot of water issues, and there's a lot of [00:54:00] debate going on locally, um, and regionally about how to, how to, how to sustain in a future where they, you know, have less and less water.
So power to them as they figure out how to do that.
Tanner Colvin: It's a, it's a problem in many places, but, um, southwest Kansas is, is, gonna have some challenging times coming ahead if, if we don't- deal with it now, so.
Gus Applequist: But I think if, if history tells us anything about the people of Kansas, it's that they find ways of, of innovating and rising to the occasion, and, and I think they'll do that again.
Next Dart Northeast Kansas
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Gus Applequist: Well, do you wanna do the honor of throwing a dart- Throwing a dart ... at the dartboard and see where our next one's gonna be? I have to stay over here. The dartboard's on top, or the dart is on top of the dartboard. So I'm gonna narrate.
Tanner Colvin: Where do you want me
to throw it from?
Gus Applequist: Uh, just behind that camera, wherever you want. So he's lining up. He threw. Oh, wow, we are in, uh, northeast Kansas. Where are we around? Just north of Holton. We might have to have a special guest on the podcast next time we do this because this just [00:55:00] happens to be very near where, uh, our, our fellow, Fili coworker Tim Burns is from
Tanner Colvin: Right near Whiting
Gus Applequist: Whiting
Tanner Colvin: I
think is how you pronounce it Whiting.
Gus Applequist: Oh,
man. I'm excited
Tanner Colvin: So I don't know how, how, how accurate those maps are, if they put towns that are, um- Uh ... no longer on them or not, but so we'll have to do some research. I've never heard- of that town before, so just north of W- of Holton.
Gus Applequist: I, in the two segments we've done so far, I've been really surprised just how much information there is and how it's, I, I'm, I'm always ready to be surprised by Kansas.
Kansans In The Wild Shoutout
---
Tanner Colvin: Can I, uh, can I do, uh, one shout-out from somebody that I met on my trip? Please. All right. Well, I gotta get their names right here, so let me, let me pull this up right quick. So I recently got back from Colorado, just today or yesterday, and when I was, um, in Colorado, I got to do a hike. And, um, the day before, I was, just hiking up the t- path just a little bit, and I met, um, Mark and, uh, Mariah, I'm sorry if I butchered your name, Carney from Emporia, uh, father and [00:56:00] daughter duo. And I asked them, you know, where they're from. They said, "Emporia." I said, "Salina. Cool, cool." You know, we started talking. We got down the, down the trail, and I asked them, um, "Can I take a photo of you guys?" And just figured I would do a post, you know, um, through Ask a Kansan. And I said, um, you know, "Why are you doing this?"
And he said that, um, it's been a lifelong goal of his to always climb a 14er. Um- Wow ... when he was young, he lost a lung to pneumonia.
Gus Applequist: Oh my goodness.
Tanner Colvin: And he did the 14er with one lung. Um- Wow ... so congratulations to both of them. They made it up and, and back down off a, off of Grays Peak. But I thought it was really cool that that was a life goal of him, and then he got to share it with his daughter.
And I asked, I asked her how, how it was and, you know, to do that, and she, she started tearing up and said, "Very emotional." And-
Gus Applequist: Wow ...
Tanner Colvin: um, so it was really cool, kind of a- we're, we're talking a little about Colorado on Ask a Kansan, but-
Gus Applequist: No, but
we're-
Tanner Colvin: it was pretty cool
Gus Applequist: ... it's, it's Ask a Kansan, you know? They
were Kansans.
Yep. Yep. And, and I, anytime we, we encounter Kansans out in the wild- Yep ... that's great.
Tanner Colvin: Shout
out to them. Congratulations- for doing
it, so
Gus Applequist: And congrats to you, too- on, on summiting. That's really cool.
So anyways.
Final Credits And Signoff
---
Gus Applequist: Well, you've reached the end of another episode of Ask a Kansan.
Thanks for tuning in. This is [00:57:00] where I normally hand off to Sydney. Um-
Tanner Colvin: Uh, visit our website, um- AskAKansan.com. Uh, we've got our merch. We're working on a new shirt. Um, we've got The Curious Kansan newsletter that, that we produce each month, um, just talking some behind-the-scenes stuff. we're gonna add in a new segment on that on what our previous guests are up to, so-
you can kinda tune back in to previous guests. Um-
Gus Applequist: We
have a, a, a, a world, uh, significant- update- uh, from one previous guest, so that'll be
interesting.
Tanner Colvin: So make sure you tune into the, uh, the August. We're in August now, so- tune into the August, uh, edition of, uh, The Curious Kansan newsletter.
And you can sign up, sign up for that at AskAKansan.com.
Gus Applequist: I'm, we're gonna try to get in the habit of, of doing a little bit of a credits thing at the end here, so I'm gonna try that out on you. Ask a Kansan is a production of Fili Creative in Salina, Kansas, produced by Kansans locally here in Kansas. Our team consists of Tanner, who is our photojournalist and story producer, Julie, who is a producer for us as well. We've got Merlin in the back, who's our technical director. Sydney and I are [00:58:00] co-hosts, and, you know, thanks to our whole team. Thanks to Everyday Lights for the use of our theme song. Horse Thief Canyon, and I think that's it.
All right. You nailed it. I'm glad I didn't have to do that.
It'll get easier over time. Well, thanks, and have a great day.