On April 21, 2001 Hoisington was hit by an F4 tornado leaving many vacant lots. Since some of these lots were in the flood plain, homes could not be rebuilt. One such lot is now home to the Hoisington Bird Sanctuary.

The city acquired the lot shortly after the tornado.  A local citizen suggested the lot be cleaned up and used for something beneficial to the community and environment - so the idea of a bird sanctuary was born.  The HHS Environmental Science Class was in charge of developing and implementing the plans.  The class did research, with help from Rob Penner with the Nature Conservancy and also the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.  During the school year they planted trees and shrubs, put in a drip irrigation system, along with a brick sidewalk.  Birdhouses and watering stations were installed as well. Dylan Donovan built the benches as a part of his Eagle Scout project.  Shawn, Justin, Robert and Veronica Ludwig built the gazebo. Bird seed was donated by United Ag Service and the City of Hoisington was instrumental in helping complete the project.
 

Maintenance is jointly done between the City of Hoisington and the HHS Environmental Science Class.