Friday, April 24, 2009
Regardless of how the federal lawsuit turns out, the future of the Wakarusa (aka Haskell-Baker) Wetlands may ultimately rest in KU’s hands. Most people presume Baker University holds all the cards, or if anyone else has any say it is Haskell Indian Nations University. The ultimate fate of this wetland, however, may rest in our University’s hands.
Back in the 1950s the Eisenhower administration was attempting to shut down all the Indian boarding schools. Haskell, because it had been the largest and most tribally diverse of all these federal institutions, managed to lobby against closure.
Locals, however, were miffed at losing the opportunity to receive free land. The Kansas congressional delegation brought pressure on the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Before it was over, about two-thirds of Haskell’s land was declared “surplus” and given away. The school district got land for Broken Arrow Elementary and South Junior High. The city and county got Broken Arrow Park. The University got 20 acres.
That small parcel of wetland sits strategically in the path of the “32nd Street route” for the South Lawrence Trafficway. Without the University’s collusion KDOT can not complete this trafficway plan, even if the federal courts rule in its favor.
State officials claim the University will be no obstacle, and if they did resist, eminent domain would quickly resolve the issue. But the University has never really used that land. Under the threat of having it buried in concrete, the ethical choice would be to return those 20 acres to Haskell. As federal property it would be near impossible for KDOT to pave the wetland. At minimum, the project would be tied up in court until long after Lawrence has grown halfway to Baldwin. By then even the most myopic SLT promoters will have to acknowledge the wetlands is a dumb place to build a bypass.
— — Mike Caron is an alumnus from Lawrence
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