Category Archives: Local Events

by Don Corrigan

You can deepen your understanding of pollinators and their pivotal role in our ecosystem when Nicole Miller-Struttmann showcases community efforts to assist our buzzing bee friends at Webster Groves Public Library.

Her program is scheduled for Tuesday, June 4, at 7 p.m. at the library. Miller-Struttmann is an associate professor of biology at Webster University and has a special interest in pollinators.

She will explain how you can support pollinators in your own back yard. Whether you’re a nature lover or looking to make a positive ecological impact, this talk will offer practical tips on the work of or pollinator friends in Webster Groves and beyond.

Miller-Struttmann grew up in Webster Groves and became interested in nature at an early age. Her parents were gardeners and were also very interested in being “green” and protecting the environment.

She said her parents’ influence led her to becoming an ecologist, and as a graduate student she won a student scholarship from the Webster Groves Nature Study Society. She went on to receive a doctorate at Washington University.

“I am very pleased to report that one of my own students, Esha Vij, has received a scholarship from the Webster Groves Nature Study Society,” said Miller-Struttmann. “It’s wonderful to have that local resource.”

After receiving her advanced degrees, Miller-Struttmann did her post-doctorate work on wild bees. She realized that the flighty critters could become her life’s work.
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Photo: MDC

The invasion is happening! Once in more than a decade, millions of red-eyed, buzzing bugs are or will soon be just about everywhere in much of Missouri! Mass emergences of millions of periodical cicadas, which happen every 13 or 17 years, are happening this spring.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) invites everyone to join its free, online Wild Webcast on the Cicadapocalypse on Thursday, May 23, from noon to 1 p.m. – Registration link below.

The Wild Webcast will feature MDC Urban Wildlife Biologist Erin Shank who will share her expertise and excitement on the happening or pending mass emergences of periodical cicadas. Periodical cicadas are different from the familiar annual cicadas, which emerge from the ground every year and make their droning noise during the heat of late summer.

The Wild Webcast will answer many questions on the mass emergences of periodical cicadas. What are annual and periodical cicadas and how are they different? What will be happening, when, and where? Why is it happening and how do they know? When did this last happen and when will it happen next? Do they bite? What do they eat? What eats them? Do they hurt trees and plants? What is the life cycle? What do you do with the masses of shells and carcasses?

Register in advance at mdc.webex.com/weblink/register/rd6d7e500bd1293a82eebd4db2f9038a5. You will then receive an email confirmation before the event that includes information on how to join the Wild Webcast live on May 23 at noon.

Photo: MDC

Attention scouts of all stripes.  The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) invites you to MDC’s Annual St. Louis Regional Spring Scouting Event and Family Fun Day on Saturday, May 18 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood.  This is an event for all nature lovers too.

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America, and American Heritage Girls are all welcome.  But the event is also open to any families interested in discovering and learning more about nature and the outdoors.  Affiliation with a scouting program is not required to attend.

This Scouting event is free and will offer Scouts and their families the opportunities to test their outdoor skills, work toward several conservation-related merit badges and explore the diversity of career opportunities with MDC. Registration is required for the event – see below.

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Photo: MDC

Experience the sensations of a beautiful spring morning, in sight, sound and taste.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) presents Breakfast with the Birds and Blooms, a free program Saturday, May 18 from 8 – 11 a.m. at Rockwoods Reservation in Wildwood.  The event is open to all ages and will be held at the visitor center.

Visitors will get the chance to explore the newly renovated native wildflower gardens around the visitor center and enjoy a free doughnut and a cup of shade-grown, bird-friendly coffee.  Naturalists will be available to share information about the Missouri native flowers and how visitors can grow them in their own yards or container gardens.

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Shoppers enjoy a past Missouri Prairie Foundation native plant sale at the World Bird Sanctuary. Photo by Felicia Brundick

Native plants beautify landscapes and help support songbirds and other treasured wildlife.

You can shop for native plants at this Missouri Prairie Foundation sale hosted by the World Bird Sanctuary on Saturday, May 11, 2024, located at 125 Bald Eagle Ridge Road, Valley Park, MO.

The World Bird Sanctuary will host the sale rain or shine from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The World Bird Sanctuary has an entry fee of $12 per vehicle that all plant sale customers will have to pay to enter. Enjoy the magnificent live birds while at the World Bird Sanctuary.

River City Natives, Ozark Soul, Papillon Perennials, and Gaylena’s Garden will supply a variety of native plants for your landscaping needs.

“We are pleased to partner with the World Bird Sanctuary, who will host this native plant sale,” said Carol Davit, Executive Director of the Missouri Prairie Foundation. “Native plants—as the basis of food chains here and around the world—are critical to sustaining bird populations as well as monarch butterflies and other wildlife we all enjoy.”

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The Webster Groves “Eco-Ed” Series continues its 2024 program with a discussion of Missouri environmental issues at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, at the Webster Groves Public Library.

Environmental Missouri author Don Corrigan will present issues and discuss how movies like Erin Brockovich, Day After Tomorrow and The China Syndrome have raised public awareness on environmental issues.

The contention that popular culture can play a role in saving the planet from environmental mayhem and degradation was taken up at the annual conference of the national Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association in Chicago in late March.

Movies, novels, youth books promoting sustainable living, environmental streaming services, cable series programming – are all contributing to increased public awareness of environmental issues, according to a PCA session on “Ecology and Culture: Coping with a Changing Planet.”

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MDC’s Camp Hellbender returns in 2024 during June and July to make grownups in the St. Louis region feel like kids again.

Everybody grows up eventually.  But being adult doesn’t mean a person can’t still be a kid . . . at least sometimes.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is inviting adults in the St. Louis region to become kids again and experience a bit of what it felt like to be out of school for the summer, one more time.

MDC is hosting Camp Hellbender 2024, a series of nine events in June and July for those age 18 and over that recreate the fun of a day at summer camp.  Camp Hellbender returns after proving to be an extremely popular series of events in 2023.  Each camp session is free and will be held at a different MDC site in the St. Louis region.  Adult summer campers can register for one session per location, at as many sites as they wish.  Each session will have a different agenda of activities that will highlight the resources its location has to offer.

“This summer camp is designed to let adults feel like a kid again and have fun in the outdoors while exploring some of the best conservation areas in the region and the unique resources each one has,” said MDC Naturalist, Sabrina Hansen.

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The Wild & Scenic Film Festival shares an urgent call to action, encouraging all of us to learn more about what we can do to save our threatened planet. Showcasing films from directors across the country, the Festival inspires environmental activism and a love for nature through film.

Join Great Rivers Environmental Law Center as we premiere a selection of environmental short films designed to inspire and educate. The event is free and open to the public with tickets first available to existing donors. The event will be held at Chase Park Plaza Cinemas, 212 Kingshighway Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63108.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet representatives from Great Rivers to learn more about how we ensure compliance with the environmental laws that protect us.

We support and value the work that the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center does to protect Missouri’s natural resources. We’ve partnered with them to present a series of short films at the Chase Park Plaza Cinema in St. Louis.

Click HERE for all the information you’ll need. The code to register is, of course, Magnificent.

The Grow Native! program of the Missouri Prairie Foundation will host its first Brews and Blooms native plant education event in partnership with Civil Life Brewing Co. at their South City brewery on Saturday, April 6 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Grow Native! will be offering a free native plant giveaway (one per household, while supplies last), a container gardening demonstration, and gardening advice from St. Louis native plant and landscaping experts. Grow Native! merchandise will also be for sale, including native plant garden signs manufactured in Washington, Missouri.

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