The Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation recognized Scott and Carol Ritchie, of Wichita, Kan., with the “2018 Friends of the Flint Hills,” in a presentation made on April 14. The award honors significant time, effort and resources devoted to the cause of conserving the Flint Hills of Kansas and northern Oklahoma, and to the Flint Hills Discovery Center. 

“The award is given to an individual(s), nongovernmental organization or public institution each spring since 2012,” says Bruce Snead, president of the Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation.

Scott and Carol Ritchie were chosen as the 2018 recipients due to Scott’s many cooperative efforts to minimize the development of the Flint Hills native prairie and maintain the integrity of the ecosystem for future generations. Carol has worked to educate youth about the tallgrass prairie through her devotion to Camp Wood and the entire Flint Hills region.

The tallgrass prairie that covers the Flint Hills in Kansas and northern Oklahoma are the last remaining remnants of the prairies that once covered much of the Midwest. Most of the prairie was plowed for planting farm crops, but the Flint Hills proved too rocky for cultivation and were used as grazing lands for cattle instead.

The prairie ecosystem is threated with encroaching woody tree species, especially the eastern red cedar. In recent years, the native grasses have also been threatened by invasive species such as sericea lespedeza, which was once planted for erosion control but was soon seen as a problem because cattle will not graze it and it quickly crowded out native grasses.    

Scott and Carol Ritchie accepted the award at the annual “Friend of the Flint Hills” recognition event held April 14 at the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan, Kan.

The Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation functions to advance the mission and work of the Flint Hills Discovery Center through dynamic and vibrant development programs that identify, cultivate, solicit and express appreciation to donors of the foundation. The foundation seeks capital and programming, along with deferred and endowed gifts in support of the Flint Hills Discovery Center.

To learn more about the Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation, contact V. Marie Martin, Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation director, at [email protected].