To the editor:

As a homeowner in Old West Lawrence, very near Burcham Park, I am opposed to the “Kansas River Expression of Soul Project.”

My kids and I walk the river trail many times a week to enjoy nature in its “wild” state. We watch birds and animals thriving in this habitat. We see beautiful bucks and foxes, great blue herons, bald eagles, snakes, frogs, beavers, bats. These animals are making great use of the last little bit of undisturbed wilderness in town, without the help of “environmentally interactive” sculptures. If you would like to interact with the environment, why not get a little mud on your shoes and walk down this beautiful path as it is? To pave this trail would be a shame.

This beautiful part of untouched wilderness is what helped us choose this neighborhood after losing our home in New Orleans. Attracting lots of traffic would not benefit the neighborhood or the habitat in any way. I hope the folks in charge of this project will consider those who already use this beautiful space. It does not need to be developed. This will drive away so many of the animals there.

With constantly changing art pieces and a paved trail, there will hardly be any nature left. There are so many other established parks that could benefit from environmentally interactive art to invite some of the nature back in to them.

Katie Euliss,

Lawrence