To the editor:

Thanks for the article in Thursday’s Journal-World extolling the beauty of native prairies. We would like to inform your readers that they don’t have to drive hours to visit the prairie. The Kansas Land Trust has been working for 16 years to preserve native prairies and other lands of ecological significance throughout the state, including right here in the Lawrence area.

Working with landowners who love their land, KLT accepts conservation easements that ensure the land will be preserved in perpetuity. One of the prettiest prairies anywhere is the Akin Prairie in eastern Douglas County, which is preserved with a conservation easement through KLT, and is open to the public for daytime visits. It’s on North 1150 Road, just west of Douglas County Route 1057.

KLT offers a guided prairie wildflower walk on privately owned pristine prairies every spring. Other nearby prairies with public access include the Ivan Boyd Prairie Preserve, near the Black Jack Battlefield east of Baldwin City, and the Prairie Center on 135th Street, west of K-7 near Olathe.

RoxAnne Miller,

KLT executive director,

Lawrence