Kessler Park Master Plan

Ecological analysis guides conservation action and long-term enhancement, connectivity, and resilience within Kansas City’s oldest park.

Kessler Park spans 300 acres in Kansas City’s historic Northeast neighborhood and includes open and recreational spaces, creeks, lakes, and forests. Developed at the end of the 19th century by pioneering city planner and landscape architect, George Kessler, the park’s design embraced the landscape’s “wild and rugged” cliffs and woods. The park has long been a verdant, recreational haven for those in its developed surroundings, but over time, it suffered from typical issues facing urban parks: maintenance issues, aging infrastructure, and ecological decline caused by erosion and invasive species. As ecological experts on a planning team led by Hoxie Collective, Biohabitats helped the Parks and Recreation Department (PRD) of City of Kansas City craft a stakeholder-driven master plan, as well as a conservation plan and operation and maintenance plan, to enhance the park’s amenities, connectivity, and resilience long into the future.

Biohabitats began by conducting an inventory of the ecological processes and habitat connections existing within the park and analyzed them within the context of the larger landscape, watershed, and city park system. The team studied and mapped the park’s natural topography, hydrology, ecological communities, natural resource assets and vulnerabilities, and met with DPR staff to understand existing maintenance practices and challenges. Biohabitats then helped DPR designate ecologically based zones, each with a specific level of required care, for conservation. Biohabitats also provided recommended best management practices and activities for maintaining each zone, which were incorporated into the operation and maintenance plan.

Throughout the planning process, Biohabitats participated in sustained, carefully designed public outreach efforts related to natural systems within the park, which won a Missouri APA award for its multicultural and sensitive engagement of a diverse population.

TAGS

• Analysis+Planning
• Assessment+Monitoring