The Wakarusa Wetlands Immersion Trips in fall and spring provide an opportunity to reflect on our actions and to "connect our hearts with our heads" as participants learn through experience.

It is said that several hundred American Indian children, the victims of sexual and physical abuse are buried at the site of the Wakarusa wetlands. These children were mostly escapees from when Haskell was a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school and ran a child-labor farm program at the site of the wetlands in the 1920's. Some of the children died of exposure while running away, some committed suicide as a last resort to escape the humiliating abuse, and others died of unknown reasons. The vast wetlands was once a sacred gathering place where the Kaw, Pawnee, and Osage collected white egret feathers and white milkweed tassels among other important plants and animal items which they traded. Today the wetlands houses sweat lodges and the great Medicine Wheel, a monument to the spiritual link between the wetlands and the people. Also, school children come from all over Lawrence every fall to tag the migrating Monarch butterflies which flock to the wetlands because of its abundance of milkweed. For many native cultures butterflies represent the souls of the dead, especially children. Considering the terrible history of the boarding school this event is both very meaningful and joyful.

In terms of biodiversity, the wetlands is home to bobcats, migrating Texas salamanders, numerous rare bird species, and a plethora of plants unique to the wetlands.

The trip will give us a chance to enjoy and learn more about the Wakarusa wetlands which are being threatened by the South Lawrence Trafficway proposal; a plan crafted by the Kansas Department of Transportation that would put a traffic-way through the wetlands to ease traffic on 23rd Street. The proposal raises several questions: Is it worth a few minutes of reduced commuting time to bury the history of Haskell and the biodiversity of the wetlands under a highway? Are there underlying motives to minimize or ignore the history of human rights offenses against American Indians in our area? Are we prepared to let developers take something from us that is this special and unique?