Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park is the newest state park in Kansas, which opened on October 12, 2019.

Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park provides a tremendous opportunity to connect people to the wonders of the prairie. It is a one-of-a-kind landscape in Kansas and the state’s largest Niobrara Chalk formation.

These chalk badlands provide unique and important habitat for ferruginous hawks, cliff swallows, Say’s phoebe and rock wrens, as well as many native amphibians and reptiles. Little Jerusalem is also home to the single largest population of Great Plains wild buckwheat, an endemic plant that is found in the chalk bluffs prairie of western Kansas and nowhere else in the world.

In addition to the modern wildlife, fossils of swimming and flying reptiles dating back 85 million years have been found here, though ancient clams and oysters are more common.

The chalk badlands are highly erodible and many of the property’s features (e.g. tall chalk columns, historic inscriptions) are fragile. Therefore, visitor access must be carefully managed to avoid negative impacts and damage to the natural resources on the property. That's why The Nature Conservancy partnered with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) to designate Little Jerusalem a unit of the state park system.

Contact

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
620-872-2061

The Nature Conservancy - Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park

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