Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 218
Michael Stubbs, president of Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards, shares the inspiring 20-year journey of preserving a historically and ecologically significant 165-acre park. From rescuing the land from potential development to creating accessible trails where visitors can experience wagon ruts from the 1840s and diverse prairie ecosystems, this volunteer-led effort showcases grassroots conservation at its finest.
• Original 30-acre site commemorated the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony and contained historic trail ruts, Underground Railroad connections, and Native American sacred sites
• Prairie Guards formed in 2005 when the state planned to return the undeveloped parkland to private ownership
• Volunteers purchased adjacent properties, eventually expanding to 165 acres when development threatened in 2019
• New improvements include an access road, ADA-compliant trails, water, power, and a specially designed parking area for all visitors
• The site serves as an educational resource for schools, libraries, and athletes while preserving one of Kansas' most diverse tallgrass prairie remnants
• Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards operates entirely with volunteers and no paid staff
• The name "Prairie Guards" connects to the original militia formed by Connecticut abolitionists who settled the area in 1856
• The original Mitchell farmstead, once an Underground Railroad station, will be open for tours during the 20th anniversary celebration
For more information about visiting Mount Mitchell Prairie, located at the junction of K-18 and Highway 99 (approximately 15 miles from Manhattan or 3 miles south of the Wamego bridge), join us for the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday.
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on NewsRadio KMAN.
Speaker 2:As a memorial to the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony and one of its leaders, captain William Mitchell, and the state had it for 50 years. It got never got developed into a park. They did put a monument on top of the hill, which was part of the gifts stipulations, and oh, in about 2002 we learned a bunch of local historians learned that the state was going to give it back to the family and that a park would not be developed. So we formed the prairie guards in 2005, and that's here we are, 2025, and we worked to get it transferred to local control. And then we bought 15 acres off of our neighbor, junior and gene Graymeier, which gave us an access road, and so we had a 30-acre or 45-acre park with walking trails.
Speaker 2:And the significance of the site is not only its association with the Beecher Colony, but it's also there are ruts from the old trail from the 1840s that Fremont used when he was exploring the Oregon Trail and then later it was used by the Underground Railroad. And there's also a Native American sacred site in the park and we have one of the most diverse tall grass prairie remnants in the state. So, plus, it's where the last glacier stopped, so it's quite an educational site because you have the geology, you have the flora and the fauna, you have the history, you have the Underground Railroad and we're now 165 acres. We've grown over the years and that's what we're celebrating on Saturday the 125 acres the rest of the Mitchell Farm that the 30 acres had been cut out of was put on the market in 2019. And some speculators thought they might build some ranchettes.
Speaker 2:So, we took a deep breath and we thought, oh my God, we can't let this happen. So we committed to purchasing it and the sellers, the stofers, were very accommodating and they gave us two years to raise the money. And we did for a down payment for the mortgage and frontier farm service helped us with the mortgage and eventually we paid it off. And so now we have built a new access road into the park, We've got water and power, We've got a new information kiosk, We've got an ADA trail surface, that so anybody can go up to these ruts and swales of that old road and we're now three and a half miles of trails.
Speaker 2:And we've designed our new parking area so that if people because we learned from our old parking lot area a lot of, especially older people they just drive up in their car, they read the sign and then drive off again. Well, this new parking area is designed so that you can actually sit in your car and hear the monarchs. I Hear the monarchs, Hear the dick sissels, see the monarchs and see the prairie grasses waving above your head, because it's a bit you know the areas recessed down into the ground a bit. So you know we're very pleased with it and that's what we're celebrating on Saturday and we'd like everybody.
Speaker 1:If you don't come on Saturday, fine, but just come check the park out one of the things you did not mention in all that, michael, and that's a lot of information, a lot more than I can could recall, but it's a spectacular view yes, yes, you know, and I think that's why the Native Americans it was so special to them.
Speaker 2:When you're on the top, you can see the Kansas River coming at you over, you know, northwest of the park, towards Manhattan and Saint George, and then, when you look to the northeast, you can see it receding and it's, it's a very spiritual place, I think, and, as you say, it's just got that drop-dead gorgeous view, especially now with all the rain we've had. Everything's so green.
Speaker 1:What do you have there on the site that may give some sort of a visual interpretation of the history of the area?
Speaker 2:Well, in our old entrance on the south side we have a kiosk that the Westar or Evergy Green Team built for us and there's interpretive signage there. And then in our new parking area we're going to have six panels. Unfortunately, I haven't finished three of them yet.
Speaker 1:I've been a little busy, you've got some work to do this week, don't you?
Speaker 2:We explain the geology of the site. We explain the flora and fauna of the site you know the tall grass prairie ecosystem and then we explain the human habitation of the site, because just five miles to the southeast of us there is an are you ready for this? A 9 000 year old native american uh habitation site, and so human beings have been in the area since the last glacier left and we are bringing all that history to light. You know we we're not big on holding events ourselves. Our organization is all volunteer. We don't have any paid employees. So we've created this park for everybody else to use. The Wamego Library uses it, homeschoolers use it, the school district uses it. The Wamego football team has a training day where they call it the buddy hike or something, and they have to carry each other up to the top of the hill. That's a workout and at the same time they learn about the struggles of freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad. So it's a community asset, plus a lot of people. We do allow dogs and people come to walk their dogs. As I say, it's accommodating older people or people with mobility issues so they can enjoy the park. We get Fort Riley people training and running and running.
Speaker 2:We just had the owner of Tossie Landscape Service help us remove elm trees as part of his service. He's going to be running a marathon on Tuesday in Salt Lake City and part of the entrance requirement was that he do public service in a park that has trails park that has trails and we had this terrible elm infestation when the farm ground was converted to CRP or prairie 10 years ago. There was a flush of Siberian elm seed and so we've been fighting Siberian elm seedlings ever since, and it was starting to look like a forest, not a prairie, and so Kansas Wildlife and Parks gave us a grant to get in there and cut all those trees down, and we spent 50 hours. There were like over 500 elms and with the guidance of Derek we had four high school kids and out there cutting them and spraying the stumps, so it really looks nice now. I was so worried that that wouldn't get done before Saturday, but it did.
Speaker 1:How did you come up with the name Prairie Guards?
Speaker 2:Oh, good question, Dave, because you know Facebook doesn't like that. They think we're a militant organization or something, so we had to tweak that a bit. Well, the militia, when this company of pre-state advocates abolitionists came to Kansas in 1856 from Connecticut, their primary motivation was to settle and vote to make Kansas a free state, and a lot of them came from Yale University, new Haven and Hartford and they were connected with all the leadership of the anti-slavery movement in New England. And on their way to settle at Woburn they stopped in Lawrence and made a mutual pledge of assistance with Lawrence, that if Lawrence needed help they would come and help. Well, it wasn't, but two weeks later Lawrence was attacked by pro-slavery forces and it was burned twice. This was the first time, and so they called these folks from Waubonsie to come, and they founded a militia and long story short or short story long called the Waubonsie Prairie Guards, and so when it came time to pick a name for us, we thought Waubonsie was too specific, so we made it Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards.
Speaker 1:Fascinating A little history there.
Speaker 2:That's new for me today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so tell us some of the details about your ribbon cutting event that you have Saturday. So we want to make sure that we have some of your supporters, some of your friends and some that want to just check out, maybe, mount Mitchell for the first time.
Speaker 2:Well, okay, some logistics. Our parking area only accommodates, in a normal day, about 20 cars and we're going to be having a big tent for everybody that takes up a lot of the parking. So we will have a people some of those football players directing traffic, some of those football players directing traffic. We will mow an area across from the Mitchell Farmstead and people can either walk from there We've mowed trails up to where the tent is or we'll have gators, provided by Prairieland there in Wamego, that will take people up to the tent from their cars there in Wamego, that will take people up to the tent from their cars. And I didn't say that Mitchell Farmstead is a private residence owned by Michelle and Morris Chrysler, and it will be open from 9 to noon for tours of the former Underground Railroad Station.
Speaker 2:What had happened is, the living room of the present house was the original log cabin and then, as time went on and the Mitchell family grew, they just kept adding on to that cabin and Morris and Michelle have exposed the southern wall and made a sun porch so you can actually see the original logs of this 1856 log cabin. So that's from 9 to noon. And then also from 9 to noon are wildflower walks. We have docents from Kansa Prairie and from Audubon of Kansas who will lead folks on wildflower walks and then the ribbon cutting is 11. And it'll be short and sweet. Uh, you know it's gonna.
Speaker 2:The forecast is gonna be windy and 90 degrees or 95, I think, actually. So we've been through that before. So I'll mostly I want to thank people. It is is amazing Over these 20 years I'm starting, I'm working on the program now and, my God, the number of companies and organizations and groups and individuals that have helped make this park happen. It's as long as your arm. So I'll be thanking people and we'll tell a little bit about the history and then one of our board members, bruce Wall, will talk about what we think the future holds.
Speaker 1:Sounds like a good time. Congratulations on 20 years and this ribbon cutting thing is going to be a big deal for Mount Mitchell, and looking forward to my next visit and seeing all the new improvements.
Speaker 2:Great. Thank you so much, Dave.
Speaker 1:Michael Stubbs is his name. He's president of the Mount Mitchell Prairie Guards and, by the way, michael, let's just give a quick, quick description of how to get to Mount Mitchell.
Speaker 2:Oh, good, good, good. Well, if you're coming from Manhattan, the scenic and easiest way, the least amount of traffic, is just cross the bridge on 177 and turn on to K-18, east Cousinedale Road and 15 miles from Manhattan you hit the junction of 99, and you just go another half mile east as if you were just. You know, it becomes gravel for that half mile, but that's now our new main entrance. Or we're three miles south of the bridge, at Wamego, the Kansas River Bridge, again at the junction of 1890 and 99, and you would turn east. And thank goodness, kdot is just this week going to switch the signs that we had brown attraction signs that we got from the state and they've been directing people to our old entrance, and so Jeff Romine is going to be moving those signs so that people won't be confused about which exit to take.
Speaker 2:All right Sounds good, Michael.
Speaker 1:Thank you much.
Speaker 2:Nine miles north of I-70.
Speaker 1:And there's. That way they get there too. All right, all right, michael. Thank you much. We'll talk to you again in who knows how many months. Match day.
Speaker 1:There we go. All right, that's like nine months, all right. Oh, that's right. That's right, you're on the Wamego match day. Yeah, okay, sounds good. Take care and good luck with everything. On Saturday Up next, rich Jankovich will be in to talk about AUSA. We've got the Central Kansas chapter here that does a lot of work with our friends at Fort Riley, so we'll get some perspective on the work that's being done there here. On the GMCF Community Hour on NewsRadio KMAN