The Kansas Supreme Court ruled today that a county in the Flint Hills region was within its rights to ban large wind turbines to preserve "undisturbed vistas of their wind-swept countryside." Ever since Frank Baum set "The Wizard of Oz" there, Kansas has had a reputation as a flat and desolate place. But the Flint Hills are not only a lush, undulating, never-plowed tallgrass prairie, they're also a prime field area for the students of Emporia University. James Aber teaches there and has put up a thorough guidebook to the rocks, landforms and water of that interesting region. It's just one of the items in my list of Kansas Geology resources.
How have the Flint Hills escaped tillage? I don't know, but the name suggests that they're too hard to plow. I'll bet there's a story, if any Kansas geologists out there would care to comment.
Flint Hills, Kansas — Courtesy earlyjc5 of Flickr under Creative Commons
Comments
what else are you going to do to break down the hold that coal, and toxic means of creating power hold over the U.S.A.. they need those turbines so that they could create power, and help us become independant of the standard power players. Now its just another reason for people not to do a damn thing. I lived there, and people needed those jobs. some people don’t give nature enough credit on minor changes. way to go. you’ve droped the ball for independant power.
We don’t need turbines EVERYWHERE. I like the idea of a turbine-free horizon around our last bit of primeval prairie and the buffalo roaming on it.
I don’t know to much about the flint hills geology, but the little bit I have been in (Konza Prairie) had lots of gravely, steep sloped (approaching cliff) chert hills that I would imagine would be hard to plow.