Exploring Life & Business with Courtney Masterson of Native Lands

Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Masterson.

Hi Courtney, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
For nearly 15 years, my partner and I have helped landowners and non-profits protect and improve the natural landscapes of Kansas and Missouri – prairies, woodlands, wetlands, and waterways. Our passion for this important work grew up from volunteering with local environmental conservation groups like Kansas City Wild Lands (KCWL).

Led by Linda Lehrbaum, KCWL has protected hundreds of acres in the Kansas City Metro, providing important habitat to wildlife in a harsh, developed landscape. The partnerships developed between KCWL, state agencies, local municipalities, schools, and volunteers demonstrated to us how a community could encompass the strength and knowledge to create valuable change. Eight years ago we moved to Lawrence so that I could attend graduate school.

We immediately sensed a great need for this type of work and, maybe, more importantly, a strong community gathered to tackle a common problem. We felt compelled to bring people together to protect the beautiful natural areas here, in the valley of the Kansas River. We’ve been strengthened by many partners, each bringing their own skillsets and network to the table. Together, we are committed to protecting the prairies, woodlands, wetlands, and waters of Lawrence and northeastern Kansas.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not been smooth but we sense growing support for conservation work in our community. Our struggles are similar to many environmental non-profits, though we are a for-profit business. We do this work because we feel it is vital for the protection of wildlife, our community, and future generations.

For Native Lands LLC, that means we keep our staff small, our pay low, and our product affordable. We do hope to become more efficient and more economically sound in the future, to better ensure our continued work.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Our business, Native Lands LLC, was developed out of a growing need to help land managers understand the plant communities and broader ecosystems found on their property. We help them to recognize ecological concerns, develop a plan for stewardship, and reach their conservation goals. Our core mission is to protect natural areas and wildlife through community education and engagement.

To that end, we focus heavily on restoration projects that allow for public access and community volunteer work. We help our community members reconnect with nature through education in ecology, botany, water quality, soil health, and much more.

And we learn along the way from people representing many other fields of science, art, politics, and service industries, people who live and work in our communities. Native Lands LLC strives to connect people to nature, in nature.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck has had very little to do with our work, thus far. A great deal of networking and elbow grease has built the foundation we stand on today. We are absolutely benefitted by our good health, access to education, the color of our skin, and the kindness of our community.

As a woman-owned and operated business, Native Lands LLC is grateful for the amazing women who came before us in the fields of ecology, conservation, and education, as they have helped to break the barriers we have to cross to do this important work.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram.com/for.the.prairie/
• Facebook: Facebook.com/ForThePrairie

Image Credits
Photographs provided by Andy White, Morgan Barrett, and Courtney Masterson