Driving DirectionsFrom Cole Camp, take Route U north 4 miles. HighlightsThis area is composed mostly of grassland with a few small crop fields and old field habitat scattered around the area. A small unit of trees exist along a portion of the riparian corridor.This area falls within the Cole Camp/Hi Lonesome focus area, which has been indentified as an important landscape in the Greater Prairie Chicken Recovery Plan. The area plan recommends the reclaimation of the vegetative cover from one of shrubby/tree cover interspersed with cereal grain row crops to one predominated by both native warm season grasses and forbs or wildlife-friendly exotic cool season grasses. Most of the conversion has been completed. About This AreaThe original portion of this 601-acre area was acquired by the Conservation Department in 1967. Prior to that purchase this entire area was native prairie, but the landowner plowed it prior to acquisition by the Conservation Department. Additional acres were added in 1997.Early management emphasized small upland game species. Current management efforts are focused on grassland species and their habitat needs.This area has been designated by Audubon Missouri as an Important Bird Area (IBA). IBAs are sites that have been identified by Audubon as those that are most crucial for bird populations, due to their abundance and/or diversity of birds present.High quality grasslands are important habitat for many species. This area is being managed for grassland diversity that provides habitat for a diverse group of plants and animals. Because less than one-half of one percent of our original prairie remains, some of these species have become increasingly rare.Area managers use prescribed fire, grazing, and other management practices to maintain healthy grasslands, simulate historic disturbances, and limit the negative impacts of invasive species.