The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is beginning construction of a new road on Columbia Bottom Conservation Area in Spanish Lake. When completed, the road will create a more direct connection from the area entrance to the boat ramp on the Missouri River. MDC estimates the construction project will be complete by spring 2025, depending on weather. The contractor will begin staging equipment on the area by the end of July.
The construction project will significantly improve public access to the boat ramp when completed. The current route to the ramp is six miles; more than half of the travel is on gravel roads. The new route will only be two-and-a-half miles long, with just one mile of gravel road.
“The new road will provide quicker access to the river for the public as well as emergency services. The current road will still be accessible for those wishing to access other parts of the area,” said Clinton Owenby, MDC Regional Resource District Manager.
Discover Nature with MDC at the Missouri State Fair Aug. 8 – 18. Visit MDC’s Conservation Building and enjoy special programs such as the Raptors of Missouri presentation with Dickerson Park Zoo on Aug. 8. Photo: MDC
Discover nature with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia Aug. 8 – 18. Visit the MDC Conservation Building from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and the MDC Xplor Zone for kids from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to see live fish and other native animals such as snakes, turtles, and amphibians.
Learn about and see displays of native plants that help butterflies and other important pollinators. Ask MDC staff conservation-related questions, get educational materials, and have fun.
Join MDC on Friday, Aug. 9, for Missouri Department of Conservation Day — a full day of fun and excitement sponsored by MDC!
Corrigan and Boston Globe reporter Brian MacQuarrie climbing to the ruins of Whitby Abbey on the North Sea Coast.
by EE Staffers
EE’s Corrigan served time in a pillory aboard the HMS Endeavor after he confused Captain Cook with Captain Hook of the legendary Peter Pan myth. Endeavor’s crew was miffed, noting Cook is real, Hook is a fake.
Corrigan was in the midst of a whirlwind global reporting tour in June in the United Kingdom with Mizzou J-School Alumni Brian MacQuarrie and Keith Schmidt. The three were on Mizzou’s London Reporting Program last century.
The HMS Endeavor is anchored near the English harbor at Whitby, a favorite haunt of the legendary Captain Cook. The ship’s crew pointed out that Hook was a mythical pirate with a hooked arm. Not so with Cook.
“Cook was a real seaman, a brilliant navigator. He was a favorite of Americans during his time sailing around the world,” said an indignant Endeavor crew member. “Americans need to know that their own Ben Franklin admired Cook.”
EE’s Don Corrigan being punished for his many transgressions aboard Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour in Whitby.
Corrigan was unable to research the authenticity of those remarks while placed in the pillory. The wooden device secures the head and hands of scoundrels and has been used for public humiliation for centuries.
“After finally being released from the pillory, I was able to confirm the information about Ben,” said Corrigan. “Ben Franklin did advise American sailors not to hassle Cook, even when battling the Brits in the 1770s.
“Franklin wrote a directive to colonial ship captains instructing them ‘to treat Cook and his crew as common friends to mankind,’ if ever encountered at sea. Do not attack him,” Corrigan noted.
Some reasons why Ben Franklin regarded Cook as a “friend of mankind” – who deserved special treatment:
Environmental writer Don Corrigan recently appeared on the podcast, “Best Part Of The Book,” hosted by Mark Perzel. Veteran broadcaster Perzel keeps the interview lively and fun, but it occasionally veers into serious environmental territory.
For example, Perzel asks about increasing concerns over the cattle industry’s growth worldwide – and the resulting hikes in methane, a gas that contributes to climate change. The methane comes from cattle flatulence.
As weird as it sounds, “farts” are indeed a source of global warming. When cows fart, they release CH4 into the atmosphere. In America, about 20% of the methane emitted in the country comes directly from cows.
Although methane isn’t the number one cause of global warming, in the aggregate, it’s a serious contributor. It’s also a source of emissions that could be addressed easily with science and technology.
Study environmental disasters in America and inevitably you will find toxic men behind the scenes. They’re the “deciders” who mindlessly release dangerous materials into the air, into our rivers and lakes, into caverns, caves and landfills.
Examine the various histories of lead contamination, dioxin dispersal, plastics pollution, radioactive waste dumping, and chemical releases and inevitably you will find the male CEOs in the top offices and the men in the board room.
The Mr. Burns character in the animated FOX-TV series, The Simpsons, is a recurring character and not just a cartoon fantasy. He exists. Mr. Burns is the devious, greedy, billionaire owner of a pollution-generating nuclear energy operation.
He is assisted at all times by loyal, sycophantic advisers. Burns is between 80 and 120 years old. He is a stereotype of corporate America with his desire to increase his own wealth and power – and displays an inability to feel sympathy for underlings or victims of his perfidy.
The threat from toxic contamination of our environment will never, ever completely go away until we can reduce the toxicity of men in power – and actually redefine what real men should be.
The Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) George O. White Tree Nursery in Licking is currently purchasing seed from the public for a variety of tree and shrub species within southeast Missouri.
“The nursery conducts seed collections annually, and collected seeds are grown into bare root seedlings,” said MDC Community Forester Jennifer Behnken. “The nursery will stop accepting seed once the quota has been reached for that tree or shrub, so please contact us beforehand if you have questions.”
In southeast Missouri, collected seeds can be brought to MDC’s Southeast Regional Office (Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) and the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center (Tuesday – Saturday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)
Seeds currently being accepted are below (prices are by the pound of fruit):
The Missouri Rural Crisis Center (MRCC) is about fighting for rural people, according to Tim Gibbons. Motivated to fight injustice, Gibbons began working with MRCC in 2005, and now serves as director of communications.
“Our work is focused on farm and food justice,” said Gibbons. “We came out of the 1980s farm crisis as a collection of farmers who were already organizing in Missouri.”
The farm crisis Gibbons mentioned began in the late 1970s with an unprecedented economic and technological boom.
“Farmers were buying land and new technology,” Gibbons said. “But then we entered a rural recession. Farmers had loans they couldn’t pay for and the USDA, the dominant lender at the time, was foreclosing on farms.”
The Rise of Corporate Agriculture
By the 1980s, a new economic reality, in combination with new legal policy and industrialization of agriculture, began to discourage the family-farm model.
The Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park released a new fly-through rendering video and an economic impact report projecting that the project will generate over $660 million in economic activity across the St. Louis region within the next 10 years.
“We are creating a place where endangered and threatened animals can thrive,” said Dwight Scott, Dana Brown President & CEO, Saint Louis Zoo. “But this report makes it clear WildCare Park will help the regional economy thrive too.”
WildCare Park, a safari park and conservation center under development in north St. Louis County, is expected to open to the public in 2027.
The economic impact report totals WildCare Park’s estimated operational expenditures, visitor spending both on and off site and the project’s larger impact on regional employment and wages, business sales and tax revenue through 2034.
The report estimates WildCare Park will generate:
– Average attendance of 421,900 guests each year after opening with approximately 65% of guests originating from outside St. Louis City and St. Louis County.
– WildCare Park guests will spend about $184 million at regional businesses outside of the safari park within the next 10 years.
– An annual average of 384 jobs, which includes positions at WildCare Park and in the region.
– A total of $97.3 million in governmental revenue, including $49.9 million in state and local tax revenues.
Jason Hall, CEO of Greater St. Louis Inc., applauded the combined economic impact of both the Saint Louis Zoo in Forest Park and WildCare Park in north St. Louis County, expected to total over $2.5 billion over the next decade.
“The Saint Louis Zoo alone already averages around $200 million of economic value annually, a number enhanced by its considerable cultural impact,” said Hall. “With the additional value WildCare Park brings to the metro, the Zoo will continue to act as an increasingly significant economic engine for our region.”
The development of WildCare park is estimated to cost $230 million funded through multiple sources, including philanthropy, external financing proceeds, which includes Zoo and Saint Louis Zoo Association cash reserves and tax revenue generated by Prop Z passed by St. Louis County voters in 2018. With the passage of Prop Z, St. Louis County residents will be able to experience WildCare Park admission-free.
“WildCare Park will bring with it a major tourism boost for our region and an economic boost for north St. Louis County,” said St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page. “The Zoo is a favorite of locals as well as a national tourist destination and WildCare Park will join the list of must-sees when in the St. Louis region.”
The report estimates that guests to WildCare Park will generate significant spending in a wide range of local industries.
“This project is an amazing opportunity for businesses in north St. Louis County,” said Rebecca Zoll, President/CEO North County Inc. “With around $184 million in off-site guest spending over the next decade, hospitality, retail, transportation and entertainment sectors will all get a significant boost.”
Even before WildCare Park opens to the public, the organization is staffing up with quality full-time positions and will post the job openings on its website here: stlzoo.org/employment.
“We want WildCare Park to be a job creator within and beyond its gates for the region,” said Sabarras George, Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park Director. “As we grow, I look forward to seeing our region’s businesses do the same.”
Tourism Economics and Canopy Strategic Partners prepared the WildCare Park economic impact report based on analysis from the economic impact model IMPLAN. The operational spending accounts for expenditures from 2021 through 2034, which includes planning and development (2021 through 2026) and the first eight years of operations (2027 through 2034). The guest spending impacts are for the eight-year period from 2027 through 2034. Impact modeling is based on an IMPLAN input-output (I-O) model for two regions: City of St. Louis/St. Louis County and St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan statistical area (MSA).
The economic impact report and more updates on WildCare Park are available at stlzoo.org/wildcarepark.
About Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park
Located in north St. Louis County with a target public opening of 2027, the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park features two completely different, but complimentary components. The first is what the public will experience: An outdoor adventure that sends guests on a safari through herds of animals roaming wild over gently rolling, grassy meadows and through native forests. The second component is the Kent Family Conservation and Animal Science Center, a dedicated conservation facility within WildCare Park designed to sustain endangered and threatened species, made possible by the generosity of the Jerry and Judy Kent Family. The 17 animals on site now live in the pastures and barns in this area, while the remainder of the barns and pastures are constructed.
Over the last two years, activity at WildCare Park has included demolition of a few older buildings, fence installation and grading around the perimeter of the property, restoration of 260 acres from golf course turf to native grasses, removal of honeysuckle and other invasive plant species, construction of barns and a utility building, and renovation of the headquarters building with a new observation deck.
The Zoo expects more than 250 animals will live on site by the public opening in 2027. For the public opening, the focus is on endangered ungulates — hoofed mammals such as Grevy’s zebra, addax, Somali wild ass, giraffe and white rhino — as well as kangaroos, birds and other threatened species.
Nestled away in an eastern tendril of St. Charles County is avian education center that isn’t just for the birds. The Audubon Center at the Riverlands’ floor-to-ceiling windows display the tall, grassy banks of the Mississippi—a large variety of birds fluttering and gliding throughout the expansive green space.
Visitors can meander the 8.5 miles of hiking trails and learn about the importance of a premier migratory bird sanctuary. Throughout the seasons, more than 300 bird species can be found where this crucial piece of land meets river. The center even provides guests with seasonal checklists, so they know which flying friends to look for.
Natural beauty aside, The Audubon Center, directed by Ken Buchholz for the last eight years, is doing wonders for surrounding communities, Florissant and Ferguson, in particular.
The Center’s mission is “to connect people to the beauty and significance of the Mississippi River and the Great Rivers confluence, to inspire conservation of the river’s rich diversity in birds, wildlife, and other natural resources, and to support healthy, vibrant communities.” They’re doing just that.
Most Missouri outdoor enthusiasts know the joy of a canoe, kayak or tubing trip down the clear, flowing, pristine rivers of the Ozarks. Did I mention that these Ozark waters are cold!
On a sweltering day, a short swim in the icy waters can shock a hot, sweaty body back to a much cooler reality. And, a river-cooled view of the world can last several hours – before another dunking is required.
Emery Styron, who once published The River Hills Traveler, sold the paper and now lives in Iowa City. Nevertheless, he comes back down to the heart of Missouri for a plunge in the Ozark rivers several times a year.
Environmental Echo 