The Harvard professor got a heck of an education one afternoon in western Kansas. It began when he asked, “What are all these cattle doing in lesser prairie chicken places?”

When he left Scott City the next day, he better understood how wildlife and agriculture can co-exist. Also, good ranchers can be some of America’s greatest conservationists.

Most of today’s Americans are far removed from agriculture, both in proximity and knowledge. Yet their power at the voting booth and supermarket determines much of how things go in rural America. The need to educate these uninformed has never been greater.

Two years ago, the professor was among the first of people from 32 states and 12 nations to come to Gove and Logan counties to watch lesser prairie chickens dance in the spring. Linda Craghead, then-Kansas tourism director, had advised a program to draw positive attention to the birds and bring more income to local economies. Under the lesser prairie chicken initiative, ranchers earn up to $500 a day for a few hours of access. Local guides, cafes and hotels are well paid, too.

The program encourages eco-tourists to explore other areas of Kansas. It’s an ideal way to educate visitors on agriculture’s positive relationship to Kansas wildlife.

Much of what it takes to feed the world is misunderstood by Americans. That includes grazing patterns, the use of sprays, timely grassland burning and the need to put as much in production as possible to counter dismal commodity prices.

While working for Craghead, I got to guide many visiting eco-tourists. Every morning included discussion on the need for large grazing animals to keep prairies healthy.

Most of our time was on the Hoeme Ranch, north of Healy and along the Smoky Hill River. It was easy to hold a group’s attention describing how the family used cattle to replicate the grazing patterns of bison.

Continually moving across the landscape, such intensive grazing provides several stages of grass growth for successful nesting, chick-rearing, feeding and winter cover for the birds and other wildlife.

The sights of golden eagles on the ranch’s rock formations and herds of pronghorns and mule deer running across miles of healthy prairie helped support our cause.

We were also able to dispel a common notion that agriculture producers don’t care about wildlife. I explained several times that most landowners like wildlife, but they understandably love their families and their land as well. That often forces actions that are good for the bottom line but maybe not for wildlife.

Most farmers and ranchers, visitors learned, are open to options that can benefit both.

A New Hampshire couple was especially awestruck by the beauty of the region. They said they never thought they’d ever see a single lesser prairie chicken, yet they were sitting within a few yards of dozens of the displaying birds and knew there were many more within a few miles.

I told them they themselves were partially to thank. They didn’t understand.

So, I explained even though they lived 1,500 miles away, their federal tax dollars helped fund things like the Conservation Reserve Program. The hundreds of thousands of acres of native grasses planted within the program are very important habitat for prairie chickens and other species of wildlife. The money the program provides landowners gives them a way to have income and benefit not only wildlife, but soil and water conservation.

They vowed to pay better attention and to support such programs and left with a greater appreciation for the western Kansas prairies and the ranchers who support its wildlife.

Mission accomplished.

Pearce writes from Lawrence.