Johnson County Natural Resources Plan
Johnson County, Kansas
In 2019, Vireo worked with stakeholders and officials from all over the county to create a Systemwide Natural Resources Plan for Johnson County’s 10,000+ acres of County-owned parkland. The effort documented the area’s natural resources, included significant public engagement, and put plans in place to protect (while increasing access to) the county’s wildest areas. Vireo also led a comprehensive update to the plan, which was adopted in late 2025.
Vireo led the Stakeholder Advisory Committee and the community engagement, including the public opinion surveys and pop-up engagement events, and was actively engaged in all phases of the NRP inventory and plans for conservation.
In 2025, Vireo led a comprehensive update to the 2019 plan, working with more than 40 stakeholders and experts. The update includes:
assessing the progress made following the 2019 plan
revising priorities for the next five years
aligning with newer resource management plans for individual parks
creating a strategy for promoting ecological connectivity across the county
providing a guide for streambank stabilization best practices
developing a conservation easement framework
documenting a framework for evaluating private lands for the purpose of providing management guidance and tools for long-term protection including conservation easements to landowners within the county
Vireo and the consulting team were tasked with generating an inventory of JCPRD’s natural resource assets and developing a clearly-defined vision for the future. The result was a plan created through a careful process that will guide long-range planning and decision making toward a clearly defined conservation vision for the next 20 years.
