June 25 - June 27

MONPS

Summer Field Trip

Join us for our first post-pandemic field trip! We will be visiting prairies within the vicinity of Kansas City including areas at Jerry Smith Park, Swope Park, and Snowball Hill Prairie (owned by the Missouri Prairie Foundation). Arrangements are being made to hold the board meeting and presentation by a guest speaker outside. Local ordinances for masks and social distancing will be followed.

Friday, June 25

1:30pm

Privately Owned Prairie


We will visit a privately owned prairie remnant a few miles NE of Warrensburg. Our meeting location will be at the commuter parking lot just north of the Hwy 50 and Hwy 13 interchange (38°46'43.4"N 93°41'08.7"W).


Directions to the prairie will be given at the meeting location and is only a few miles away. The owners have cooperated with the Missouri Department of Conservation over many years and the area is known to display an impressive diversity of native prairie plants.

Saturday, June 26

9:00am

Snowball Hill Prairie


We will begin our day at Snowball Hill Prairie, owned by the Missouri Prairie Foundation. It was named for the isolated hill on which the prairie is located and is known as one of the last remaining original prairies in the Greater Kansas City Region. The prairie features dry-mesic limestone/dolomite prairie on the hilltop down to mesic and wet-mesic prairie in low lying areas. We’ll plan to meet at the prairie at 9:00. ( 38°37'05.8"N 94°21'59.0"W )

Saturday, June 26

12:30pm

Lunch and Speaker (bring your own lunch)


Linda Lehrbaum will be our guest speaker after lunch. She is the Program Manager for Kansas City Wildlands, which is a coalition of resource professionals, private conservation organizations and conservation-minded citizens. The program organizes volunteer work to restore and conserve the remnants natural communities of Kansas City’s original landscape. Linda will talk about the remnant wild places and the restoration processes they’ve employed, including the area at Jerry Smith Park that we will be visiting on Sunday.

Lake Lodge (Swope Park)

38°59'29.7"N 94°31'07.8"W

Directions: Make your way to Lakeside Nature Center (4701 E. Gregory Blvd.), head east on E. Gregory Blvd and hang a right onto Oldham Rd., you will pass the exit to Oakwood Rd. on your left (this road is a one way loop), continue on Oldham until you can turn left onto Oakwood Rd., continue past the Go Ape Zipline and Adventure Park and Camp Lake of the Woods, the Lake Lodge will then be on your left.

Saturday, June 26

2:00pm

Rocky Point Glade (Swope Park)


Linda will lead a group hike of the glade. People are also free to explore the glade on their own, if they like.

We will gather at Lake Lodge and begin the tour from there.

Dinner on your own.

We do have the Lake Lodge and picnic tables available if people would like to bring their own food.

Saturday, June 26

7:00pm

MONPS Board Meeting

Lake Lodge (Swope Park)


There is enough space and picnic tables to have our board meeting outside. However, if weather is not conducive to meeting outdoors, we will be able to socially distance and wear masks to hold our meeting inside the lodge.

Lake Lodge (Swope Park)

38°59'29.7"N 94°31'07.8"W

Directions: Make your way to Lakeside Nature Center (4701 E. Gregory Blvd.), head east on E. Gregory Blvd and hang a right onto Oldham Rd., you will pass the exit to Oakwood Rd. on your left (this road is a one way loop), continue on Oldham until you can turn left onto Oakwood Rd., continue past the Go Ape Zipline and Adventure Park and Camp Lake of the Woods, the Lake Lodge will then be on your left.

Sunday, June 27

9:00am

Restored Prairie at Jerry Smith Park


We will meet at the Elks Lodge Parking Lot (13600 Arrington Rd. Grandview, MO 64030) and access the east side of Jerry Smith Park where KC Wildlands has accomplished some impressive restorations. There will be a representative from the KC Wildlands Program to discuss the ongoing management and survey work on the area.

Area Hotels

Be sure to make reservations and let them know you are with the Missouri Native Plant Society by June 11th to insure you get a group rate!

Days Inn & Suites by Wyndam

8601 Hillcrest Rd.

Kansas City, MO 64138

816-822-7000

Double Queen - $89.99/night

Holiday Inn Express & Suites

8551 E. Blue Pkwy Dr.

Kansas City, MO 64133

816-997-9444

Double Queen – $119/night

Sonesta Select Kansas City South

500 E. 105 St.

Kansas City MO 64131

Double Queen – $69.00/night includes breakfast

Camping is also available!

If you’d like to camp, please contact Malissa Briggler (Malissa.briggler@mdc.mo.gov) . Location of camping site will depend on how many campers are coming.