There’s not much left of the original landscape in Kansas City, before it was bulldozed, plowed or overgrown with invasive plants.
But people can access a good chunk of it up a steep, rocky trail past truck-sized slabs of limestone south of Swope Park.
Conservationist Larry Rizzo describes the Blue River Glades as “very prairie-like” in its vegetation, rife with prairie grasses like big bluestem and sideoats grama.
Rizzo helped identify the land for preservation in the 1980s as a Missouri Department of Conservation biologist. He started a volunteer organization called Kansas City WildLands in part to preserve it.
The soil is thin and stony up on the glade. It’s fairly open to sunlight because sporadic fires kill most of the trees, leaving prairie grass and strange twisty Chinkapin Oaks, some more 200 years old.
The county owns Blue River Glades, and since the days when Harry S. Truman was a judge here, it has considered the land best suited for recreation and conservation. County legislators reaffirmed that commitment in a master plan just four years ago.
Last month, the Jackson County Legislature quietly asked developers what they’d be willing to pay for it.
“They take a bulldozer to it,” said Rizzo. “I don't know how else you would turn it into a golf course.”
The property borders two golf courses: Heart of America and Hillcrest. Hillcrest is undergoing a $30 million renovation, and Rizzo suspects the developer Robb Heineman wants to incorporate part of the Glades into the high-end private country club he’s building. Heineman didn’t respond to KCUR’s efforts to reach him.
The threat to Blue River Glades infuriated local environmentalists, rock climbers and hikers, who have been raising a stink on social media and putting the county on defense.
“There is no sale. There is no bid accepted. There is no decision to do anything with that property at all,” said outgoing Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota.
That’s not to say developers aren’t interested in paying the county millions of dollars for land currently used by a smattering of hikers.
“Hillcrest Golf Course (indicated) they’d be interested in a portion of that land adjacent to them. There’s other people talking about putting a soccer field in over there,” LeVota said. “They’re talking about even putting a private bike trail. So I hear all these things, like, “Well, okay, well let’s see what’s out there.”
The county is currently scheduled to close the bidding window on Tuesday, after a one-day extension earlier this week. LeVota said county staff will evaluate the bids, and only after that will elected officials get a look at their options to liquidate the property.
“If there was a bid, I think that's time to get everybody in the room and find out,” LeVota said. “Well, are they bidding $1? Of course not. Are they bidding $20 million? Well, then do we decide whether it's worth something?”
Many don’t need a bidding process to reveal the worth of Blue River Glades.
“To me and to a lot of the conservation community, it is already at its best use,” said Sarah Beier, who directs the Kansas City WildLands Program for the environmental nonprofit Bridging the Gap. “When these little remnant natural areas are gone, they're gone.”
Beier says the county’s own Blue River Parkway Master Plan marks the land for conservation and recreation.
Its sale would certainly interfere with moments like Felix Ricks’ fourth birthday celebration. After the Kansas City Zoo closed Monday, Felix’s father Austin Ricks took his son for a walk between rain showers on Blue River Glades. It was the fist Ricks, who’s originally from the Denver area, had heard of the nature preserve just off Blue River Road.
“I love that it's out in nature,” Ricks said. “A place where you don't see buildings except for the tower right there, and be close to the city, so that's nice. It's still a little too close. There's plenty of traffic sounds and trash, but it's the best we got.”
