{"id":1951,"date":"2026-08-10T14:03:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/?p=1951"},"modified":"2026-09-16T13:04:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T18:04:37","slug":"native-lands-restoration-kansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/native-lands-restoration-kansas\/","title":{"rendered":"Jayhawk\u2019s nonprofit works to restore region\u2019s native landscapes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KU Alumni\u2019s Jayhawks Give Back<\/a> program is presented in partnership with Andrew Wymore, senior realtor with ReeceNichols<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jayhawks Give Back celebrates \u2019Hawks who are making a difference in ways big and small. Each quarter, we feature a member of the KU family and their story. If you know a Jayhawk who should be featured in Jayhawks Give Back, let us know<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/path><\/svg><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When she first set out as a large-format photographer, Courtney Masterson began with scenes she found visually arresting: an old wooden house being swallowed up by vines, the awakening of spring, the intricate patterns in leaves. Eventually, her photos took a dark turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy work started to get really heavily focused on the harder parts (of nature) to observe,\u201d says Masterson, g\u201916. \u201cI did a series focused on air pollution and soil pollution, the broken human relationships with nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masterson admits these images were sadder and less palatable\u2014not the type of art people would want to purchase to hang on a living room wall. But if her photography was steering her toward a new path, she couldn\u2019t yet see where it might lead. It wouldn\u2019t be a zoom lens that brought things into focus, but a human guide, pointing out what she\u2019d been missing with the naked eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing landscapes anew<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was 2007, and Masterson, who was studying photography and multimedia art at Johnson County Community College, needed a science elective. Since her photography drew her outside, she decided botany would complement her work. When the professor urged the class to volunteer in the community, Masterson met the mentor who would change her course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Masterson had lived in the Kansas City area since she was a teenager, she\u2019d never knowingly set foot on what\u2019s known as a remnant landscape\u2014land that has never been tilled for crops or built upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a cool day in early spring, and Rocky Point Glade, an old-growth grassland in Swope Park, still seemed gripped by the dormancy of winter. But Masterson\u2019s guide, Linda Lehrbaum, who at the time was the program manager for the conservation nonprofit <\/strong>Kansas City WildLands, started directing Masterson\u2019s attention to the undergrowth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we walked around what looked like dead leaves, sleeping trees and brown landscape, she started to point out these little plants, these beautiful flowers that my eyes had just skimmed over,\u201d Masterson says. \u201cAnd it just blew my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Courtney Masterson with blue grama, a drought-tolerant grass and key species in the shortgrass prairie ecosystem of North America.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among the ephemeral species that Lehrbaum identified were nodding trout lilies, translucent-white ghost pipe and the light pink petals of spring beauties. Masterson, even with her artist\u2019s eye for composition, light and detail, had been blind to these species\u2019 fleeting appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such remnant landscapes are not only exceedingly rare, but are under perpetual threat by development and environmental degradation. Only 6%<\/a> of the original forests in the U.S. and less than half<\/a> of the wetlands remain. Tallgrass prairie<\/a> covers less than 4% of its original area, making it among the world\u2019s rarest and most endangered ecosystems. Masterson would learn that preserving these landscapes not only protects plant and animal species, but improves soil health, water quality and the land\u2019s natural ability to capture carbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly, the bleak images in her photographs had a counterweight. She became a regular volunteer with Kansas City WildLands, which works to protect and restore native ecosystems. She went on to earn undergraduate degrees in biological sciences and chemistry from the University of Missouri-Kansas City before making her way to KU for graduate studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The power of many hands in the soil\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Masterson moved to Lawrence in 2012 to study ecology and evolutionary biology at KU. Once settled, she and her husband, Ryan Riedel, looked for something like Kansas City WildLands to \u201cscratch the itch\u201d of getting out on the land, but found there wasn\u2019t a Lawrence organization with a similar mission. Masterson decided to meet the need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She started Native Lands Restoration Collaborative<\/a> in 2015 and graduated with her master\u2019s degree the following year. Projects led by Native Lands have included riverbank, prairie and wetland restoration in Kansas and Missouri, all buoyed by community partners and volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs an ecologist and a botanist, I was out in the field all the time by myself,\u201d Masterson says. \u201cIt can feel immense and heartbreaking to see how much work needs to be done, and we can\u2019t do it alone. So we started to build community around this work and felt the power of many hands in the soil beside us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Masterson and her husband, Ryan Riedel, Native Lands operations manager, at the Winter School Prairie in Lecompton.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One project in the works, along Burroughs Creek Trail in East Lawrence, will remove invasive plants and replace them with native species. Masterson says the project, which is partially funded by the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council<\/a>, will improve stormwater infiltration, slow and trap trash and pollutants prior to entering the Kansas River, and provide invaluable habitat to native animals and an educational landscape for visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis restoration project provides care to a vital wildlife corridor through busy East Lawrence, a landscape that has changed dramatically over the last 200 years,\u201d Masterson says. \u201cWhile little of the historic landscape remains along Burroughs Creek, we know what is left is vital to the health of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masterson says the restoration, which begins this fall, will continue at least through spring 2028, though she hopes Native Lands can continue caring for the area indefinitely with community support. Like other Native Lands initiatives, the project <\/strong>calls on the help of volunteers and local partners. Surrounding residents wrote letters of support for the grant application, and Masterson says volunteers are already showing up regularly in large numbers to pick up trash and remove invasive species. Partners include Sparks on the Creek, the organization that hosts the Firefly Festival at Burroughs Creek; Friends of Lawrence Area Trails; Haskell Greenhouse; and the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Masterson with purple milkweed, whose nectar attracts long-tongued bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The exact collaborative formula took time to establish. Masterson originally organized Native Lands as an LLC and wrote grants in collaboration with nonprofit partners, but she eventually realized Native Lands could be more effective as a nonprofit and reorganized as Native Lands Restoration Collaborative in November 2022. She says the change has allowed Native Lands to take on a bigger leadership role, organizing its own volunteers and directly applying for grants. While her years in the field readied her to manage those responsibilities, her time at KU\u2014which included mentoring from Helen Alexander, professor emerita of ecology and evolutionary biology\u2014sharpened essential statistical skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing able to back what we do with science, interpret new research and be involved in new research, which we still strive to do every day, is key to being respected as a conservationist,\u201d Masterson says. \u201cBecause there\u2019s a fine line between being a \u2018tree hugger\u2019 and being an effective land steward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A place to gather and learn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another focus of Native Lands is community education. The organization offers internships and skills training to the community, and Masterson and Riedel, Native Lands operations manager, use restoration sites as well as their own property to host dozens of annual educational events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, they purchased land near the KU Field Station that includes 15 acres of remnant prairie. Named Blazing Star Prairie for the hot pink blooms that dominate the landscape in summer, the land, which also includes woodlands and wetlands, serves as the nonprofit\u2019s headquarters. Since grant-funded work can mean gaps between projects, Masterson says the land provides an outdoor classroom that\u2019s always accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlazing Star represents a space that will always be there for us to gather community,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople can come and immerse themselves every day of the year in everything from sustainably gathering white sage with Haskell students to going out foraging on the land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Blazing Star Prairie in July 2026.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One such event is Native Land\u2019s annual Blazing Star Celebration in July. The hot pink flowers live up to their name, drawing attention to a cause that Masterson says demands greater awareness: that these native landscapes still exist, and that it will take the concerted efforts of many to ensure they endure and grow. But first, they must be truly seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masterson hopes to bring others the awareness she first felt nearly 20 years ago that cool spring day on the remnant grassland, when a knowing guide opened her eyes to the beauty and purpose of the native plants at her feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t see them until she showed me,\u201d Masterson says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what our work is. That\u2019s what I wake up every day to do: shepherd people into these relationships again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Rochelle Valverde, c\u201908, j\u201915, is staff writer for Crimson & Blue.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top photo courtesy of Megan McAtee
Blue grama, Winter School Prairie and Blazing Star Prairie photos courtesy of Courtney Masterson\/Native Lands Restoration Collaborative
Purple milkweed photo courtesy of Wendy Holman<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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