The Rachel Snyder Memorial Scholarship
Rachel Snyder Memorial Scholarships of up to $1,000 are awarded in early 2021 to students for research on prairie ecology, conservation, and/or Monarch butterflies and other pollinators native to Kansas. Preference will be given to graduate students at Kansas universities.
About the Scholarship
The Rachel Snyder Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to graduate and undergraduate students attending a Kansas college or university by Grassland Heritage Foundation. The scholarship began in 2000 with funds donated in memory of Rachel Snyder. It was originally given to high school students planning to study biology or journalism at a state college. It evolved into a scholarship awarded to graduate students studying prairie-related topics. Beginning in 2011, GHF partnered with the Kansas Native Plant Society and began matching funds awarded through their Mary A. Bancroft Memorial Scholarship. Thanks to a donation by Susan Lordi Marker, a portion of the scholarship funding is available for research involving Monarch butterflies or other pollinators native to Kansas. The scholarship fund has been sustained through donations from Marker and other dedicated member donations. GHF requests that recipients of the scholarship share the results of their research through GHF newsletter articles and/or public presentations.
About Rachel Snyder
Rachel was dedicated to prairie land preservation. In 1974 she purchased a farm near Mayetta, Kansas that contained a native prairie. She wished for her farm to be forever conserved, and she deeded it to GHF in 1984. When GHF took ownership, her farm became known as Snyder Prairie. Rachel was a journalist and she was, for many years, the editor of Flower and Garden Magazine in Kansas City. She authored two books on gardening, The Complete Book for Gardeners in 1964 and Gardening in the Heartland in 1992.
Scholarship Application
GHF is currently accepting proposals through February 28, 2021. GHF will award scholarship funds in March 2021. Download the scholarship application below. Submit questions or completed applications to info@grasslandheritage.org.
Support the Scholarship
To continue to award the scholarship, financial support is necessary. You can support the scholarship by designating your GHF membership dues or making a separate donation to the scholarship fund.

Past Recipients
2020: Bethany Roberton
Effects of seasonal burn treatments on native perennial plants and pollinator recruitment
2020: Haley Burrill
Using native pathogen buildup to inhibit invasive Lespedeza cuneate: a novel biocontrol approach
2020: Jacqueline Baum
Effects of white-tailed deer browsing in grasslands near agricultural and wooded edges within the Great Plains
2020: Jessica Butters
The effects of fire and grazing on ground nesting bees
2019: Naomi Betson
Effects of sampling date on observed biodiversity in an experimental tallgrass prairie restoration
2019: Kent Connell
Maximizing the impact of prairie restoration on carbon sequestration within soil organic matter
2019: Jaide Allenbrand
Investigating the effect of bison grazing on grassland soil fertility and microbial communities across the central Great Plains
2018: Theo Michaels
Prairie Monoliths as Catalysts for Restoration
2018: Emily Kaemmar
Restoring Prairie Soil Microbes with Tailored Compost
2018: Pam Blackmore
Butterflies, Tallgrass Prairie, and Green Roofs
2014: Daphne Mayes
Solitary bees, wasps, and parasites in tallgrass prairies
2013:Kathy Roccaforte
Investigating the role of prairie restoration and land-use intensification on native pollinators in tallgrass prairies
2013: Shelly Wiggam
The effects of patch-burn grazing on plant and pollinator diversity, demographic responses and resource use in the Flint Hills of Kansas
2013: Anna Zahner
Forb life-history responses to grazer-mediated habitat alterations
2012: Alex Bittel
Influences on Community Assembly in a Long-Term Grassland Experiment
2012: Miranda Gray
Bringing Genomics Outdoors: Drought Implications for Big Bluestem Grassland Conservation and Restoration
2011: Jacob Olsen
Research: Effects of precipitation and ecotype on the physiology and anatomy of big bluestem and sand bluestem