ConocoPhillips supports The Nature Conservancy's efforts to restore the 39,000-acre Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northeast Oklahoma. Originally spanning portions of 14 states and covering more than 142 million acres, the tallgrass prairie was one of North America's major ecosystems. Today, less than 10 percent of the original tallgrass prairie remains. Large, unbroken tracts of tallgrass prairie now exist only in the Flint Hills of Oklahoma and Kansas.
The Conservancy's goal is to recreate a functioning tallgrass prairie ecosystem using fire and bison. Fire has been reintroduced to the landscape by using carefully controlled, or prescribed burns. The practice removes dead vegetation, controls encroaching woody vegetation, and increases the vigor and flowering of many plant species.
Grazing by bison also was one of the primary natural forces that shaped and sustained the presettlement tallgrass prairie. In 1993, the Conservancy reintroduced a herd of 300 bison that will grow to a herd of 3,300 animals freely roaming the preserve.
ConocoPhillips has been a long-time sponsor of the Preserve and several of its employees and retirees serve as docents. As an outgrowth of ConocoPhillips' sponsorship of a three-part television series, Oklahoma's Last Great Places, the Oklahoma Nature Conservancy developed teaching materials based on the series. Information about the Spirit of the Last Great Places is available through the Oklahoma Nature Conservancy.