Walk Bike or Roll? Accessibility at the Arboretum

Providing accessibility to the simple beauty of the Kansas landscape was central to our founders’ vision for the Dyck Arboretum of the Plains. Harold and Evie Dyck intended for the Arboretum to be a garden for the community of Hesston and the region. They understood that being in nature heals us. Even as they struggled with health concerns in their own lives, they prioritized walking or rolling around the Arboretum pond on a regular basis.

Former Arboretum Director Jim Locklear (left) shows former board member Nelson Kilmer (center) and founders Harold (hidden) and Elva Mae Dyck (right) one of the lower water accessible crossings in 1989.

I recently attended an event hosted by the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Active Transportation Office. The Walk Bike Roll Kansas Active Transportation Summit, held in McPherson in September 2023, was designed to “provide opportunities for attendees to learn from experts in the field, connect with Kansans from across the state, and leave with practical actions for improving walking, biking, and rolling.”

At that event, I learned about the progress being made in communities across the state of Kansas to improve accessibility for those who walk, bike or roll, called “Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs)” in the transportation industry.

At the event, I ran into the folks from the Healthy Harvey Coalition. We chatted about some of the successes and challenges regarding accessible paths throughout the county and agreed that there is much work yet to be done in our region. (Check them out if you live in Harvey County and would like to support progress in the direction of better paths for those who walk, bike or roll!)

The new path network in the Prairie Window Project connects to existing paths on Schowalter Villa property, as well as to the main Arboretum path.

The Arboretum is making a contribution to those efforts for increased accessibility this year as well. Our Prairie Window Project is becoming more accessible to a wider audience this fall. Thanks to a generous donation, we are paving the existing network of gravel paths that weave through our prairie reconstruction. We look forward to welcoming visitors to utilize this path, whether it’s to reach their daily step goal, to get from point A to point B, or to take time for relaxation and reconnection with nature.

Our Hesston neighbors seem to be embracing this new pathway almost faster than the project can be completed. In particular, our friends at Schowalter Villa, who frequently visit both our pond as well as the “Prairie Lakes” pond, will have a direct connection between these two destinations.

Another new accessible spot to enjoy: the Karen Hahn memorial bench has room for those who roll to park next to it. Those who sit here can enjoy a view of the Arboretum pond in one direction and the Prairie Window Project in the other.

Although it does not replicate the experience of standing in the middle of a remnant prairie, the Prairie Window Project does, as the name suggests, act as a window to an endangered ecosystem. Be it through intentional or passive engagement, the increased accessibility of these paths will help facilitate the deepening of our community’s relationship with the plants, animals and insects that reside in this developing prairie.

WARNING: The Monarch Butterfly is Threatened

Monarchs ingest toxic cardiac glycosides when their larvae eat milkweed leaves and advertise through their adult warning coloration: “look out for me…I’m poisonous!” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may very soon be issuing its own warning on behalf of declining populations for this bright butterfly under the banner of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A petition was submitted in August 2014 by The Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, The Xerces Society, and Dr. Lincoln Brower to encourage listing of this species on the ‘threatened’ list. A ‘threatened species’ is one that is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

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Dramatic Population Decline

The following graph (Graph courtesy of the Monarch Joint Venture) shows over the last 20 years the area of monarch overwintering colonies in the forests of Central Mexico, which is their only overwintering location.

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Figure from Monarch Watch

Their population trend of precipitous decline is discouraging. The part that is encouraging, however, is that we know exactly what the problem is – prairie habitat loss; specifically, the loss of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), the monarch host plant. Americans do not like to be restricted or forced to spend money on anything and a threatened listing under the ESA will do just that. It is my hope that we can avoid listing of the monarch butterfly and restore its population, but this will require both education and action. The action part is what I will address here. If you live in the following monarch corridor, you must take action now.

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Figure from Monarch Watch

What Can We Do?

It can be fun, easy, and rewarding to establish milkweeds and I challenge everyone reading this post to take personal action in increasing milkweed populations in the coming growing season. There are two easy ways to do this: 1) establish milkweed plants in the areas you landscape, and 2) distribute milkweed seed in a nearby unmowed area.

  • Plant Milkweed Plants – Landscaping with native plants is rewarding and South Central Kansans have eight commercially-available native milkweed species they can plant, including Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed), syriaca (common milkweed), A. tuberosa (butterfly milkweed), A. viridis (green antelopehorn), A. speciosa (showy milkweed), A. sullivantii (smooth milkweed), A. hirtella (prairie milkweed), and A. verticillata (whorled milkweed). These species can be purchased at the Dyck Arboretum of the Plains spring plant sale, Monarch Watch, and Prairie Moon Nursery. Plants establish and flower in the first year with proper care and provide beauty and insect nectar sources in addition to host plant larval food for the monarch.

Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)

  • Distribute Milkweed Seed – Surely you know a grassland area along a nearby creek or waterway, in a park, or along a roadside that gets mowed or burned only periodically to keep it free of trees. Collect some seed from a nearby prairie or even buy some seed of the species above from a native seed nursery (good sources include Prairie Moon Nursery and Missouri Wildflowers Nursery), get permission to plant, and distribute your milkweed seeds in the fall or early winter so that germination will happen and establishment will begin the following spring. Common milkweed ( A. syriaca) is the species most preferred by the monarch and is easiest to acquire and establish. Distributing seed is a very cost effective and easy way to establish milkweed were it doesn’t currently exist.

Common milkweed (Aslepias syriaca) with monarch eggs

Do you remember the massive flocks of the passenger pigeon? Of course you don’t – Martha, the last known individual died in 1914. Your grandparents or great grandparents, however,  may have been able to tell you first hand stories. First hand experiences with monarchs may be something we currently take for granted. If we don’t act now, these encounters with monarchs may be something our grandkids or great grandkids never experience. Don’t let this happen.