Environmental Echo

The 2026 Scenic America Symposium is at Missouri Botanical Garden, where guest speaker Don Corrigan will present on his new book, “Scenic Missouri.”

Sister Jan Hayes, RSM, longtime media instructor at Webster University, will lead a nature walk to view a labyrinth, wisdom garden, and cosmic trail at the Mercy Conference Retreat Center on North Geyer Road in Frontenac.

The Retreat Center Labyrinth is an expansive, outdoor 11-circuit walking meditation path located on the grounds. At 88 feet in diameter, it is twice as wide as a standard French Labyrinth and is considered one of the largest permanent outdoor labyrinths in Missouri.

Sister Hayes will be accompanied by Don Corrigan, professor and author, who will give a book talk on “Scenic Natural Wonders of Missouri.” More details are available for the 2-4 p.m., Sunday Sept. 20 event at the Retreat Center: 314-909-4646, or email: jhayes@mercycenterstl.org.

“Scenic Natural Wonders of Missouri: Lakes, Trails, Caverns and Vistas,” includes landscape portraits by photographer Diana Lindsley and prose by Corrigan. He is  a longtime journalism professor at Webster University Journalism Professor Don Corrigan.

Dawn Stringfield, executive director at the Retreat Center, has arranged for the event to be livestreamed at the retirement center for Mercy sisters, which  is also on the Mercy Center Campus.

Hikers and bikers, poets and philosophers, tree huggers and flower children, all will take delight in the book on the outdoors by Corrigan.

“Scenic Natural Wonders of Missouri” is an illustrated collection of 80 state nature sites. It’s the perfect guide for shutter bugs to locate memorable images, and to capture memories on their cell phones or digital cameras.

“My first outdoor guide in 2007 featured pencil drawings,” said Corrigan. “This new guide boasts colorful photos. Diana’s shots of cypress trees in Allred Lake, antlered beasts in Lone Elk Park, or 100,000 snow geese in Big State Park are awesome.

Continue reading →

MDC and the Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center, Missouri Pollinator Network, St. Charles County Parks, Missouri State Parks, and other partners will host the Pollinator Palooza Festival on Saturday, Sept. 19, from 10 a.m.—3 p.m. at the Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center in St. Charles.

As insect pollinators like monarch butterflies flit from plant to plant in search of food, they spread pollen crucial to the reproduction of their host plants.  More than 75 percent of the Earth’s flowering plants depend on pollinators. One out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of pollinating insects.  That’s worth celebrating.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will join the Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center, Missouri Pollinator Network, St. Charles County Parks, Missouri State Parks, and a host of other partners at the Pollinator Palooza Festival on Saturday, Sept. 19, from 10 a.m.—3 p.m.  This fun and free community festival takes place at the Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center in St. Charles and has something special for all ages.

Pollinator Palooza will celebrate all pollinating creatures that help our plants thrive.  The event will offer interactive ways to learn about pollinator declines and what people can do to help.

The event will feature many hands-on activities such as kids’ crafts, games, exhibits, native garden demonstrations, food trucks, and more.  Missouri-made vendors with native plants, bird feeders and nesting boxes, local crafts, and produce will also be on hand.  Three different speakers from Missouri Botanical Gardens, MU Extension, and the St. Louis Zoo will be giving talks throughout the event. Visitors can purchase native plants and get helpful advice on how to grow pollinator-sustaining plants at home.  Guests can also enjoy viewing and hiking the site’s 150-acre restored Howell Prairie.  There will be learning activities both indoors and outdoors.

The Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center is located at 7295 Highway 94, approximately two miles south of I-64/40. Parking will be available on-site. For more information, call 636-300-2600.

Pollinator Palooza 2026 sponsors include Planthaven Farms, Missouri Wildflower Nursery, Wild Ones St. Charles, Great Rivers Greenway and Ameren.

Pollinator Palooza contributors also include the Missouri Master Naturalists tri-chapters, Missouri Master Gardeners, MU Extension Office, and other affiliate organizations that advocate for the protection and conservation of all pollinators.

To learn more about native plants beneficial to insect pollinators, go to https://short.mdc.mo.gov/4sL.

by Don Corrigan

Ever since the introduction of gasoline engine, cars and roadways, our highly-mobile highway culture has exacted a tremendous toll on our companions – earth’s creatures.

Scientists estimate the animal fatalities in the U.S. number one million per day. Many early “roadkill scholars” hail from the Midwest, perhaps because of the first casualties on the “Mother Road” known as Route 66.

Creature killings by cars have littered Route 66 from Chicago, to St. Louis, and onto L.A. for 100 Years.  It should be no surprise that so-called “Roadkill Cafés” sprouted up along U.S. Highway 66 and featured menus with items like “Rack of Raccoon,” “Bambi Burgers,” and “Long-Gone Fawn.”

Route 66 was established on Nov. 11, 1926. Two years before that, scientists Dayton Stoner and his wife, ornithologist Lillian Stoner, began the first creature casualty counts on Iowa highways.

Their research has been followed by roadkill studies of zoologist Joseph Grinnell, James R. Simmons, and Roger Knutson who was mortified by the flattened fauna in his native Michigan. He wrote a book, “Flattened Fauna” which invites readers to count and monitor motorway mayhem in their own locales.

Roadway deaths have been chronicled in popular culture in paintings, sculpture, film, and music from Loudon Wainwright III’s “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road, to the more recent work of Phish with “Possum, Possum.” Animal roadway deaths are not all the same, as journalists and artists have discovered. Different creatures are hit at different times of the year, and they react to oncoming vehicles in different ways.

Here’s some insight on just a few of the losers in the mortal combat on our highways and byways:

• Take the SKUNK, for example. Roadkill skunks are memorialized in a very famous song by Loudon Wainwright III. The most famous cartoon skunk is Pepé Le Pew, who fell in love with the Loony Tunes character, Penelope Pussycat. Skunks are our friends because they eat enormous numbers of grubs, yellow jackets, mice, rats, and voles.

• POSSUMS as roadkill are memorialized in a very famous song by Phish. The most famous cartoon possum is Pogo Possum, the gentle, philosophical star of Walt Kelly’s iconic newspaper comic strip Pogo. Possums are our friends because they eat millions of ticks. And Climate Change has some very disease-prone ticks migrating northward in the USA. For example, the Lone Star Tick is transmitting Alpha Gal disease.

(This article is excerpted from a full presentation to be given by writer Don Corrigan at the Midwest Popular Culture Association (MPCA) conference in Muncie, Indiana, from Oct. 9-11. Corrigan is the author of American Roadkill by McFarland Publishing.)

A special event on state nature sites, sponsored by MoNep (Missouri Nature & Environmental Photographers), is slated for the theatre at Powder Valley Nature Center at 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18.

The event is free and open to the public, but MDC registration is necessary. Register: https://mdc-event-web.s3licensing.com/Event/EventDetails/219665.

This presentation is by author Don Corrigan and photographer Diana Linsley, who recently published Scenic Natural Wonders of Missouri. They will share stories and images of some of the places of great beauty in Missouri.

Their book is an outdoor nature guide featuring more than 80 sites of natural wonder in the Show-Me State and offers valuable insights on how to visit and enjoy each of them.

For those interested the book will be available for purchase and signing at the event. Don Corrigan has served for more than 40 years as a professor of journalism at Webster University. He was also the editor and co-publisher of  Webster-Kirkwood Times, South County Times, and West End Word.

Diana Linsley is a MONEP member and has been a professional photographer for more than 40 years. She served as photographer for the Webster-Kirkwood Times, South County Times, and West End Word.

She has exhibited her nature photography at galleries throughout Missouri. Her work is on the website https://www.scenicnaturalwonders.com/.

Corrigan’s reporting on outdoor/environmental issues can be found at environmentalecho.com. He has published numerous books on the outdoors and popular culture, including Nuts About Squirrels and American Roadkill.

Corrigan and Linsley also will talk about their book and sign copies at the Conservation Expo at Cooper’s Landing on Sept. 12-13 in mid-Missouri. More information coming in early September on Diane Linsley’s nature website and at environmentalecho.com.

Friday, Aug. 14, from 8 p.m. to midnight – Perseid Meteor Shower Viewing Event at Elephant Rocks State Park.

To mark this summer’s biggest meteor shower, the Perseids, Elephant Rocks State Park will be open to the public for a rare after-dark event. You’re invited to view this spectacular phenomenon from 8 p.m. to midnight on Friday, Aug. 14. If you like stargazing or light shows and can brave the August bugs and heat, come join us at the park to create a lifelong memory.

Elephant Rocks State Park is located at 7406 Highway 21, Belleview.

Event guidelines and reminders: This viewing event is free and open to the public; there is no need to register.
Park staff will be available to direct you to the best and safest areas to view the shower.

Elephant Rocks is a carry-in, carry-out park; please bring in only what you will be able to carry out when you leave. Trash receptacles will be provided in the parking lot.

You do not need to use any viewing devices to see the shower, but you are welcome to bring your own devices if you want.

Attendees are expected to be respectful of others and should avoid excessive noise and use of artificial light.

No tents or other invasive camping equipment such as lanterns or propane heaters will be allowed, but you can bring portable chairs for seating and blankets to keep warm.

Absolutely no campfires will be allowed.

Please remember to dress for the weather. During the summer, the rocks are often hot early in the evening and then become cooler as the night progresses. Be prepared to add layers as needed.

Mosquitoes and ticks are common during this time of year. Come prepared with insect repellent.

If there is bad weather, the event will be moved to Saturday, Aug. 15, 8 p.m. to midnight.

Saturday, Aug. 15, at 9 p.m. – Starry Sky Night at Onondaga Cave State Park.
Onondaga Cave State Park is hosting a series of night sky viewing events in 2026. Join astronomy enthusiast Joe Parish in the visitor center parking lot to view the cosmos with a high-powered telescope. These events are free and open to the public, and there is no need to register. Although a telescope will be provided, visitors are welcome to bring viewing devices of their own. Onondaga Cave State Park is located at 7556 Highway H, in Leasburg, Missouri.

Saturday, Aug. 29, at 8 p.m. – Cathedral Cave Night Tour at Onondaga Cave State Park.
This tour consists of a guided walk to and through the cave. As you hike the trail under the stars and step into the cool, silent depths of Cathedral Cave, you’ll see incredible rock formations in a completely different light. Once you’re in the cave, you might even catch a glimpse of a rare cave-adapted grotto salamander!

Participants will depart from the campground woodlot at 8 p.m., with the tour lasting approximately two hours, including the hikes to and from the cave. The walk to the cave covers about a quarter mile on Deer Run Trail, and the round-trip cave tour is about two-thirds of a mile.

The trails are occasionally hilly and slippery, and the cave has a year-round temperature of 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Participants are encouraged to wear sturdy shoes with good traction and bring a jacket. Flashlights will be provided, but you are welcome to bring your own.

Tickets are $15 for ages 13 and up and $10 for ages 6-12. Children 6 and under are free. Guests can purchase tickets online or pay with cash upon arrival. If you plan to pay upon arrival, please call the park at 573-245-6575 to preregister. The park is located at 7556 Highway H in Leasburg.
The primary source of funding for the state park system is half of the dedicated constitutional tax of one-tenth-of-one-percent Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax. The tax provides about three-fourths of the division’s budget for operation and development of state parks. All additional funding for Missouri’s Division of State Parks comes from revenues generated in the state park system and some federal funds. For detailed information on any of these activities, please visit the Missouri State Parks Events page.

For detailed information on any of these activities, please visit Missouri State Parks Events For more information on state parks and historic sites, visit Missouri State Parks. The Division of State Parks is part of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.