KU Students Beautify Potter Lake Amid Ongoing Restoration Efforts

Emma Coffey | @em_coffey

For more than a century, Potter Lake has been known as a symbol of tradition at the University of Kansas. It is a place to gather, reflect and even celebrate football wins. Now, an ongoing restoration project is giving this landmark a new life, with students pitching in to beautify their campus.

Over the past two weeks, KU students have rolled up their sleeves to plant native species around Potter Lake. For many of these students, not only is it an educational opportunity, it’s also a way for them to leave their mark on campus.

“I’m really happy to be part of this project and just to contribute to planting native plants around Potter Lake,” Angelina Kirton, a KU student, said.

One of the leads on the project, ecologist and Executive Director for the Native Lands Restoration Collaborative Courtney Masterson, explained that these native plants are crucial to help rebuild a healthy ecosystem.

“Restoration work is important in all areas,” Masterson said. “Native plants provide all of the resources that we need to survive, but also the native animals and other native species in our region need to survive.”

Students say that their work is not just improving the look of Potter Lake, but it’s also connecting them to the environment in meaningful ways.

“I think this project is super important in bringing native plants back into the area, educating our community and just contributing back to beautifying this area,” Gwen Nelson, a KU student, said.

Masterson also said that areas like Potter Lake help to set an example of how other campuses can work to make their own landscapes more sustainable.

“Demonstrating healthy native landscapes, especially in highly visible spaces like Potter Lake, we have the opportunity to be role models,” she said. “We can be really proud of where we come from and what came before us.”

KU Landscape Architect Jeff Preuss agrees that the project will leave a lasting impact on the students.

“Over time they’ll remember those little moments,” Preuss said. “When they revisit the campus in five or ten years, they’ll remember the hard work they put into it.”

Organizers are hoping that the restoration of Potter Lake will serve as a model for similar projects across campus, helping KU to blend tradition with sustainability.