Prairie Acre
Prairie Acre is an unplowed, native prairie remnant established in 1932 on KU’s Lawrence campus. It is the last remaining patch of native tallgrass prairie on the KU Lawrence Campus. The site is located south of Blake and Twente Halls, sitting on a hillside that is roughly one-third of an acre in size. "Prairie Tales" by Mark D. Hersey and Robb Campbell provides a brief history of Prairie Acre.
The site represents the local ecological heritage and is an important connection to the regions historic tall-grass prairie landscape. While it has been protected by KU since 1932, upkeep of Prairie Acre was not maintained and the site degraded in quality over several decades. In 2014, a senior undergraduate capstone group from the Environmental Studies Program produced a plan to restore the historic piece of land.
The KU Center for Sustainability, the KU Environmental Studies Program, and the Kansas Biological Survey partnered and worked with the KU community to restore the site based on the 2014 restoration plan. Since the conception of the restoration project, the KU Environmental Studies Field Ecology and Capstone courses have allowed students the opportunity to continue researching and outlining the restoration process and potential future plans for the site.
Location
Prairie Acre is located at 726 Sunnyside Ave on the KU Lawrence campus. The site can be accessed from stairs at the corner of Sunnyside Avenue and Sunflower Road, or from the walkway off Lilac Lane. An accessible route is available from Parking Lot 10, south of Watson Library.
