Summers are hot and winters are cold.
The chief conservation problem in Kansas has been the protection of the soil from erosion by wind and water. This has been partly accomplished by improved farming practices and by the planting of trees. In the northern half of the state the rivers of the Missouri Basin are being developed primarily for flood-control and irrigation purposes. Since 1925 many of the state's natural resources have been administered by the Kansas Fish and Game Commission. After Kansas was opened to white settlement in 1854, the Indians began to surrender their lands.