The Wakarusa River Valley: Community Shapes a Vision for Conservation and Connection

By Jaden Huehl

The Wakarusa River Valley is far more than a scenic edge to Douglas County. It’s a working floodplain, a wildlife corridor, a place of deep cultural meaning and a landscape that still shapes daily life for people who may never see the river up close.

This week, that complexity came into focus at an open house for the Wakarusa River Valley Vision & Area Plan, a long-range effort to guide how the valley is protected, honored and integrated into future growth.

The event capped a three-day planning workshop where a consultant team worked closely with institutional partners, river valley landowners, the Haskell campus community, agencies and local experts to study the corridor in depth. The open house was the public’s chance to step into that process, not at the end, but right at the start.

“We’re midstream in the visioning process,” said Jessica Hardesty Norris, an ecologist and project manager with Biohabitats. “We have some ideas and strategies and concepts starting to come together, but we really want to hear which ones seem like they might be feasible and interesting, and build excitement in the community.”

Instead of a formal presentation, the open house was organized as a series of interactive stations. Each one focused on a different piece of the emerging plan and was staffed by planners who took notes, answered questions and encouraged comments on sticky notes and maps.

 Station 1 – Welcome & Project Introduction

Visitors were introduced to the Wakarusa River Valley Vision & Area Plan, what had been learned so far, and how feedback from the night would shape the draft plan in the months ahead.

 Station 2 – Ecology

Here, residents talked with landscape ecologists about flooding, habitat and water quality.

Many questions centered on the physical banks of the Wakarusa and the riparian corridor, the strip of land along the river where trees and vegetation slow floodwaters, filter runoff, and create vital wildlife habitat. People were asked to point out where they felt ecological protections and water strategies were most needed.

 Station 3 – Access & Recreation

This station asked visitors to weigh three possible futures for public access to the valley. The conversation quickly came up against a key reality: much of the corridor is privately owned. While access on private land will always depend on landowners’ wishes, the group looked at ways to better recognize and enhance existing public spaces, such as land near the dam, the dog park, and a riverfront park in Eudora with a public boat ramp.

 Station 4 – Culture & Living Heritage

Here, the focus shifted from land use to meaning. Attendees were invited to think of the valley as a cultural landscape, layered with stories, memories, and continuing connections. They were asked how the river’s cultural importance should be protected and honored in the future.

 Station 5 – Map Your River

A large map of the corridor gave community members space to mark places of concern, opportunity, or personal significance, details that may not show up in data but matter deeply to the people who live and work nearby.

For people who don’t live near the river, the open house offered a reminder that the valley affects the whole county.

“The ecology of the Wakarusa River Valley does provide a lot of resilience for our community,” said Kim Criner Ritchie, sustainability manager for Douglas County. The floodplain and wetlands help manage the river’s flow, reduce flooding and create pathways for wildlife.

Criner Ritchie also pointed to several existing public access points: near the dam, in the wetlands and at a public park in Eudora with a boat ramp directly on the river. The planning team is exploring how to enhance those places, bring more awareness to the valley’s role in the community and consider future connections only where they’re appropriate, safe and mutually beneficial.

She emphasized that most of the corridor is private land. Any future access, trails or conservation efforts will rely on voluntary partnerships rather than mandates. For now, ideas remain conceptual, helping the team understand what residents value before any specific project is proposed.

One part of the open house focused on flooding and water quality and how local governments currently manage development near water. The federal National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) sets basic standards: limiting building in floodways and requiring structures in floodplains to be elevated. Local jurisdictions follow those rules to remain in the program, but they can also choose to go further.

The planning team outlined possible tools for stronger, more coordinated protections along the river, such as:

 A River Corridor Overlay that maps the Wakarusa corridor, including floodplain and a buffer, and sets clear requirements for future subdivisions, septic systems, and large paved areas.

 A River Corridor Agreement in which multiple jurisdictions agree to align standards for buffer widths, development setbacks, and maintenance responsibilities, treating the river as a single connected system instead of a patchwork.

These tools wouldn’t change anything overnight, but they could help communities make consistent, long-term decisions that protect water quality, habitat, and flood resilience as development continues.

The planning effort also recognizes that the Wakarusa is a place of living heritage, especially for Native communities and the Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU).

The open house materials described the history of the United States Indian Industrial Training School, which opened in 1884 with the goal of assimilating Native students. Wetlands near the river were drained and used for agricultural labor, and the 1928 Merriam Report later documented abusive conditions at the school, including poor diet, overcrowding, and an emphasis on physical labor over education.

Students fleeing those conditions sometimes escaped into the wetlands, and there are ongoing concerns that some may have died there. Certain parts of the Wakarusa corridor also served as storage and disposal areas for Haskell’s materials over many decades. While archaeological records are not public, state historic preservation officials have identified the corridor as an area that merits investigation before any development.

Because of this, the planning process includes targeted engagement with the Haskell community, including private workshops to review and refine cultural and historical recommendations and ideas such as:

 A shared education and awareness center that connects cultural heritage organizations, environmental research, and community storytelling.

 Community events like a “Bioblitz,” river cleanup, and celebrations on public land in Lawrence and Eudora.

 Student-led research and learning, from college capstone projects to K–12 STEAM curriculum centered on the river valley.

About two years ago, Douglas County adopted its Open Space Plan, which identified the Wakarusa River Valley as a priority area for deeper planning. The Vision & Area Plan is the first major step in turning that identification into action.

This open house is a checkpoint: a chance to share what’s been learned from research and earlier listening sessions, and to find out whether the team is “headed in the right direction” or missing something important.

Next, the feedback will be woven into a draft Vision & Area Plan, scheduled for a public hearing in the spring before going to the county commission for consideration as a guiding vision. Adoption would not immediately build trails or change zoning. Instead, it would set shared priorities and principles, with each future project or policy coming back to the community for its own round of input.

For Criner Ritchie, the message is simple: this is just one step. The Wakarusa River Valley Vision & Area Plan is a long-term conversation about how Douglas County can protect its river, honor its histories, and grow in a way that keeps those values at the center.