Stueck Conservation Easement Provides Idyllic Forever Home For Thornfield Disc Golf Course 

A disc golfer from the most recent KLT Conservation Classic disc golf fundraiser at Thornfield Disc Golf Course makes a promising toss.

Tossing discs into metal baskets with precision and consistency is a skill that can take many years to perfect. Luckily, the land where the Thornfield Disc Golf Course sits is forever protected.

Thornfield Disc Golf Course in Stilwell, is the setting for the Kansas Land Trust’s annual Conservation Classic Disc Golf Tournament fundraiser – a lively event that many return to year after year.

But this story is bigger than our annual fundraiser.

You see, the Thornfield Disc Golf Course is not your average course. For starters, it is located on the Kansas Land Trust’s Stueck Conservation Easement, an extraordinary 114 acres of protected land in a developing area of the Blue River watershed in Johnson County. The Stueck Easement contains an oak-hickory forest with red, black, chinquapin, bur, and single oak trees, and columbine flowers on the forest floor.  The riparian woodlands that protect the Blue River include maples and black willows with understory asters and goldenrods. They are also home to a heron rookery.

Aside from its special location, Thornfield Disc Golf Course is remarkable in that it is a private course used exclusively to host fundraising tournaments for local non-profit organizations. Landowners Bill and Bo Stueck said they built the course as a way to pay back the community for all the wonderful things that have happened to their family over the years.

“It is a beautiful property, and we’re glad that people can see it, have a good time and raise money for their causes,” Bill Stueck said.  “We’re so happy that the Kansas Land Trust is here, because it means the disc golf course is here for perpetuity, and that means that everybody can enjoy Thornfield from now on, which is wonderful.”

Matt Jamison, a local disc golfer who participated in the recent KLT tournament, said he enjoys playing the Thornfield course regularly through charity events, and appreciates the significance of protecting the land where it sits.

“It’s really good to see a great piece of land that is so close to Kansas City that’s preserved, and not just going to be turned into houses,” Jamison said. “Some of these trees look like they’re 100 years old. It’s really good to see that.”

 Zach Firl, another disc golfer at the KLT tournament, was also enthusiastic about the value that both Thornfield and the Stueck easement provide to the community.

“As a disc golfer, a nice walk in the woods is something I want to preserve forever, and ever,” Firl said.  “It’s a great place.”

Landowner Bill Stueck with his trusty poodle.