Author

Shawna Bethell

Shawna Bethell

Shawna Bethell is a freelance essayist/journalist covering the people and places of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. Before returning home, she wrote for several publications in the southwestern United States.

OPINION
Silver carp jumping in Fox River

Nebraska plan to divert water could put destructive carp in Kansas lakes

By: - November 15, 2023

Back in the 1970s, in an attempt to control algal blooms in wastewater treatment plants and aquafarming ponds, managers imported four species of Asian carp. Unfortunately — as with many well-intentioned plans that tamper with ecosystems — the carp were inadvertently released or escaped through flood events, and quickly spread to wreak havoc in nearby […]

OPINION
A whooping crane family in Sauk County, Wisconsin

A refuge for wildlife in Kansas is no place for a large-scale solar project

By: - July 5, 2023

Earlier this summer, I took a road trip up to Baraboo, Wisconsin, where the owner of my bed and breakfast mentioned that wild whooping cranes had nested a couple fields up. They sent me off with directions, and a few minutes later I sat watching a pair of tall, white, red-masked birds elegantly stride across […]

OPINION
two fawns converge in a creek

How do Kansans experience their state’s wildlife? This state agency decided to find out.

By: - June 1, 2023

My earliest forays into nature were made in my father’s wake, as he hunted the timber and fields of my grandparents’ farm. Clambering along behind my dad was my favorite way to spend a Saturday, until the day he took aim at two doves — hitting the first and missing the second. Knowing these birds […]

OPINION
An injured belted kingfisher

As birds migrate across Kansas skies, we have the tools to keep them safe

By: - March 16, 2023

It mystifies me that while I sleep, millions of birds are passing silently overhead on a migration flight that can — for some of them — amount to tens of thousands of miles. I’m fascinated by the instinct that drives them and the adaptation processes that prepare their seemingly fragile bodies to survive their arduous […]

OPINION
The Kansas Flint Hills stretch out near Matfield Green. For the purposes of the proposed North American Grasslands Conservation Act, “grasslands” includes tallgrass, mixed grass, and shortgrass, native prairie, sagebrush shrub-steppe, savanna grasslands, glades, and other related grassland ecosystems. (Shawna Bethell/Kansas Reflector)

Proposed grasslands act would protect Kansas’ precious prairies

By: - December 29, 2021

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Shawna Bethell is a freelance essayist/journalist covering the people and places of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. Amid the chaos of 2020, I reached a point when […]

OPINION

Despite addictive news of gloom and doom, hope flourishes around us

By: - November 24, 2021

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Shawna Bethell is a freelance essayist/journalist covering the people and places of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. I talked to a friend of mine recently. She has […]

OPINION

Nebraska’s proposed river basin transfer could reshape Kansas resources

By: - October 25, 2021

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Shawna Bethell is a freelance essayist/journalist covering the people and places of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. I’m not a fish person. They aren’t even on my […]

OPINION

Work to repurpose wind turbine blades spotlights Kansas as green economy leader

By: - August 24, 2021

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Shawna Bethell is a freelance essayist/journalist covering the people and places of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. I remember the first time I saw a wind turbine. […]

OPINION

Designation of lesser prairie chicken must consider landowner needs

By: - July 22, 2021

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Shawna Bethell is a freelance essayist/journalist covering the people and places of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. I never thought much about the lesser prairie chicken, or […]

OPINION

Kansas heritage sites can help save rural communities

By: - July 13, 2021

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Shawna Bethell is a freelance essayist/journalist covering the people and places of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. On a recent trip to Nebraska I decided to find […]