photo by: Courtney Masterson contributed

The remnant prairie at the Prairie Park Nature Center, with compass plant in the foreground, is pictured on April 30, 2023, a few days after an application of herbicide.

A healing circle led by Haskell Indian Nations University professor Dan Wildcat will take place Monday at a native prairie recently damaged by herbicides.

The Community Healing Ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday at the prairie, which is located directly behind the Prairie Park Nature Center, 2730 Harper St.

In addition to Wildcat, the short ceremony will include Steve Cadue, Kickapoo elder and past tribal chair; Ron Brave; Courtney Masterson, botanist; Ken Lassman, ecological writer; the Rev. Shelley Page, Unitarian Universalist minister; and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, poet, according to information provided by Lassman. There will also be time to sit, stand and walk in silence, individually speaking to and connecting with the prairie itself. While the event will be focused on healing, a petition calling for safeguards for the prairie and a sign-up for long-term restoration efforts will also be available.

Last Thursday, the city applied an herbicide that is designed to treat hay fields and kill all broadleaf plants to the entirety of the 5-acre remnant prairie. Within a few days, the myriad species of wildflowers and other leafy plants that together with native grasses make up the prairie ecosystem were beginning to wilt and brown. Two local ecologists who specialize in native plants told the Journal-World on Monday that herbicide should never be broadly applied to native prairie, and that treatment of invasive species should only ever be spot-sprayed in order to protect native species. The wildflowers and plants sprayed will die or be damaged, and the seeds that remain in the soil, which are not affected by the spray, will need to be supplemented in an attempt to try to restore the prairie after the damage.

The city’s initial press release did not indicate that the herbicide application was done in error. In response to whether staff who sprayed the prairie checked with Nature Center staff or another supervisor to determine whether the herbicide/application type was recommended for a prairie ecosystem, Parks and Recreation Director Derek Rogers said they had not for that particular application, but had done so in the past and planned to do so in the future. On Tuesday, Rogers told the Lawrence City Commission that the application was done in error and apologized for the department’s actions. He said the city would determine why the herbicide was applied in the manner it was and would hold staff accountable if there was any sort of intentional violation of policy.

Prior to the ceremony on Monday, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is scheduled to discuss the issue as part of its regular meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Parks and Rec offices located in South Park, 1141 Massachusetts St. The agenda states that the board will receive an update about Prairie Park. The update is the first thing on the board’s agenda.