Construction Begins on East’s Prairie

Construction on a native prairie and stream outside the north ramp at East began Nov. 3 led by Indian Hills eighth-grader Alex Meiners and environmental education teacher Russell Debey, who hope to have the project completed by May 2019.

Meiners plans to add a stream, gravel pathway, bench and various native plants to the pond and outdoor classroom that is currently located in the space. He will also plant milkweed to attract monarch butterflies and give the insects a place to reproduce, lay eggs and feed.

Creating this ecosystem is part of Meiners’ Eagle Scout project and he hopes it earns him a Hornaday Award — an award for scouts who create and maintain a sustainable environmental system over the course of two years.

So far, Meiners, alongside his father, Richard Meiners, contractor Chris Carney, Debey and boys from his Boy Scout troop, have spent two Saturdays at East digging out the trench for the stream. They have put in eight hours of labor, but foresee spending hundreds more.

“Just the initial phase of building the stream and pathway you’re talking 100 hours of labor or more,” Richard Meiners said. “If you look at that whole area that’s going to be quite a few hundred hours over a couple years as the plants grow and animals start to inhabit the area.”

Debey expressed his excitement about using the prairie to show his students what Kansas land looked like hundreds of years ago.

“Since we are down to between 1 to 2 percent of natural prairies left in North America this [project] is one of the steps I can do to recreate what the land used to look like,” Debey said. “It serves as a great opportunity to teach my students about the importance of conservation.”

The stream will also fulfill curriculum in Debey’s environmental education classes. He is looking forward to using the stream to test the water’s pH level, oxygenation and the flow of the water.

Aside from his students, Debey believes the prairie will benefit the entire East community and the district maintenance workers.

“It will be an aesthetically pleasing area for all students and a prairie is low maintenance,” Debey said. “Since the plants are native to this area I won’t have to water them all the time and the district won’t have to worry about coming in to mow that area anymore.”

The prairie will take more than two years of supervision and careful tending before it will be sustainable. Meiners will plant the seeds for the prairie later in the winter so the seeds have time to frost over and grow stronger.

The equipment and materials needed for the work days are funded by the Meiners family and Debey. Members in the Water Garden Society of Greater Kansas City — a nonprofit organization that builds and preserves water gardens in Kansas City — are helping Meiners and his team develop plans for the stream.

As a local contractor and family friend of the Meiners, Carney was a vital addition to the team by contributing tools and ideas of how to construct efficiently.

“The first day we went in and carved out the stream bed and I will tell you right now Chris Carney probably did 90 percent of the work,” Richard Meiners said. “With his experience as a contractor he knew exactly how to go about digging out the stream bed and how to be organized and productive in terms of labor.”

Debey will soon open up the project to his environmental ed students and allow them to exchange labor for hours they need to receive credit in the class. The hours are time spent helping the environment, whether the students are sorting trash in the cafeteria or collecting recycling during seminar. Students must work 16 hours per semester, and labor on the prairie would contribute to that.

“I hope [Debey’s students] can help with the labor when we are planting the seeds or laying the gravel path,” Meiners said. “Since they’re in the class I hope they’ll be interested in how the area develops.”