The Wakarusa River Valley has been under threat of road construction and development since 1987, when Congress approved $7.2 million for the construction of the South Lawrence Trafficway (SLT) in Lawrence, Kansas.

The approval of the SLT project sparked immediate outrage among several community organizations, which incited decades of litigation.

In 1993, Indigenous and Haskell advocates came together to form the Wetlands Preservation Organization (WPO), a 501(c)3, to stall and halt the construction of the SLT. The WPO successfully stalled the SLT for 25 years. WPO members held several events including marches, community discussions, and more. They lead the way in protecting and advocating for the Wakarusa Wetlands. We honor them and their fight for the Wakarusa River Valley.

In 2012, the SLT was greenlighted for construction, devastating Haskell/Indigenous community advocates and WPO members. Several people involved in the litigations were so distraught, they moved away from Lawrence and the WPO went dormant soon after. The Haskell Wetlands were left in complete disarray and received no funding from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) to mitigate the damaged wetland ecosystems. Comparatively, Baker University received 400 acres of land and $12,037,750.00 for a Discovery Center, parking lot, trail system, storage facility, wetland restoration, and more. To this day, Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) has received no funding for the Haskell Wetlands from local, state, or federal institutions--a major act of environmental injustice. Time and time again, HINU was emptily promised that the SLT was only meant to bypass the south of Lawrence and that no developments would come with the construction of the highway. KDOT gave HINU and the WPO nothing but empty promises and damaged ecosystems.

After nearly 8 years of relative silence since the construction of the SLT, developers came forward to the Lawrence City Commission on March 5th, 2024, proposing a new development by the name of the "New Boston Crossing," or NBCO. After 4 previously failed attempts at getting the NBCO approved by City Commissioners, the 5th attempt at rezoning 177 acres of land for mixed-use development was approved by the commissioners on a 4-1 vote. This was approved even with the City Planning Commission recommending a denial. Over two dozen community members showed up to speak out at the commission meeting on March 5th, but public comments fell on deaf ears, as the City Commissioners had already made up their minds.

Approximately 12.6 acres of the proposed NBCO site is comprised of wetlands. Many of them will be destroyed to make way for an ecologically disastrous mixed-use development in the Wakarusa River floodplain. Developers also have not released information on archaeological groups or findings, nor have contacted Indigenous consultant(s) to oversee archaeological surveys. This is of high concern due to the proximity of the NBCO to HINU. Indigenous children from Haskell Institute used the Wakarusa River corridor to escape, meet their families, play with their friends, speak their Native languages, pray, and (re)connect with Mother Earth. It is estimated that ~500-1000 Indigenous children disappeared from the Haskell Institute rolls, some of them laid to rest in the Wakarusa River floodplain waiting to reunite with their families and Tribes.

On April 25th, 2024, the Save the Wakarusa River Valley (SWRV) community was informed that Baker University was considering selling ~17 acres of upland prairie to private developers for "affordable housing." Baker would be in direct violation of their agreements with the KDOT and the City of Lawrence in stewarding their wetlands in perpetuity. Baker received the parcel of land for free through SLT mitigations with KDOT.  In the supplemental agreement, KDOT defines the Baker Wetlands as "collectively, the existing Baker wetlands, restored wetlands, and future habitat."  Future habitat is further defined as wetland, prairie, and riparian forests. Additionally, there is a provision that requires Baker to "take all necessary actions to protect the Future Habitat and all other Restored Wetlands created by Baker from man-induced disturbances that would affect the property's ability to function as a Habitat." This and the amount Baker has received from KDOT can be found in the Supplemental Agreement (attached).

Selling the land for "affordable housing" is a gross violation of this agreement and a laughable attempt by Baker to prey on the public's lack of oversight and information regarding the history of the Haskell-Baker wetlands. In all PR responses, Baker's main defense has been defining this parcel of land as "not part of the wetlands".  However, ecologically, and per the KDOT agreement, this is not true. Baker also claims the wetlands are 927 acres, a number that can only be calculated if you combine the historical Haskell-Baker wetlands (~522 acres) and the mitigated lands: the prairie (75 acres) , the riparian (27 acres) forest, and the wetlands (310 acres).

Baker sacrificed 56  of the stolen 572.68 acres of historical HINU lands to gain an extra 412 acres from KDOT. If Baker sells the 17-acre prairie parcel, they will make a 100% profit off of the mitigation land they swore to protect, further exacerbating environmental racism on the Indigenous community of Lawrence.  This ploy to sell the land is just a re-imagining of the SLT, during which Baker baited HINU by promising to give back a portion of the wetlands (that were already taken from HINU) if they agreed to the 31st Street mitigation which would have cut into HINU's campus. Not once did Baker support HINU's legitimate concerns for the environment, for the children, or for the spiritual and cultural connection the lands and Peoples share. Today they are continuing the tradition of ignoring HINU and perpetuating direct harm to the Indigenous community by severing the connection to the land. 

The decision to sell this parcel of land came after the City Commission approved the re-zoning of the New Boston Crossing (NBCO) parcel directly west. There is no doubt Baker was emboldened by the City's lack of concern about environmentally sensitive lands. They maintained silence and actively silenced their wetland staff from attending meetings regarding NBCO. This silencing of wetland staff was orchestrated with the full knowledge that the institution had been in talks for months to sell this prairie. 

Unfortunately, this validates what environmental advocates have been saying for years, if NBCO or any other potential development proceeds in this area, the whole Wakarusa watershed will eventually be developed.