Category Archives: Outdoor/Nature

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Preparing Students For Extraordinary Challenges at The College School in Webster Groves

All photos courtesy The College School.

by Don Corrigan

Most people agree we live in critical times and young people must be prepared for extraordinary challenges. Educators at The College School in Webster Groves say they are preparing students for those challenges – and they are putting money where it counts to make that preparation happen.

The school has invested several million dollars in a 28-acre LaBarque Campus in Pacific, Missouri. The project includes the 3,000-square-foot Jan Phillips Learning Center, which contains classroom, workshop, outdoor and community spaces. The project reflects concern for the environment, sustainability and entrepreneurship.

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Posted on October 26, 2020 in Environment, Home, Outdoor/Nature

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Spring 2021 Anticipated Opening of the Anne O’C. Albrecht Nature Playscape In Forest Park

Forest Park Forever recently published an update on the construction of Anne O’C. Albrecht Nature Playscape  in Forest Park. Please continue below for the full announcement.

To the Forest Park community:

Forest Park Forever and our City of St. Louis partners are thrilled to share a special update about the 17-acre Anne O’C. Albrecht Nature Playscape under construction in Forest Park.

Since spring 2019, the site has transformed from just mowed grass into natural landscapes with native and diverse plant species, water-based activity areas and more. The destination features nine distinct activity areas — including Mounds, a Spring, a Meadow, a Wetland and more — and a series of accessible paths and boardwalks between them. Visitors, especially children, will connect with nature and engage their senses as they explore, discover and learn.

Forest Park Forever and our City partners are anticipating a late spring 2021 opening of this remarkable new destination. Our teams will work together to ensure that the site opens to visitors with the proper health and safety protocols and guidelines in place.

Continue reading below for more details included in the project.

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Posted on October 23, 2020 in Home, Local Events, Outdoor/Nature

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Corrigan Comments On Recent Induction Into The St. Louis Media Hall of Fame

The St. Louis Media Hall of Fame Foundation recently posted on YouTube all of this year’s inductees, including Environmental Echo’s Don Corrigan.  A professor of journalism and long-time newspaper editor, Corrigan is introduced here by the Webster University School of Communications Dean Eric Rothenbuhler.

In his acceptance speech, Corrigan recalls his early years of journalism in grade school with his neighborhood newspaper. He ends his remarks with his interest in covering outdoor and environmental issues, from Times Beach to TMI radioactive rail shipments, to the radioactive waste problems such as those at West Lake and Coldwater Creek in the St. Louis region.

Corrigan also thanks the many inspirational women who have helped with his journalism projects over four decades.

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Posted on October 22, 2020 in Environment, Home, Local Events, Outdoor/Nature

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Grand Opening For Bridge at Bayless Avenue Celebrated at “2020 Life Outside Challenge”

Photo courtesy Great Rivers Greenway.

by Don Corrigan

Saturday, Oct. 10, was a big day for  Great Rivers Greenway. In Kirkwood, a “2020  Life Outside Challenge” was underway.  About 10 miles east on the trail network, a grand opening for a bridge at Bayless Avenue was celebrated.
 
“We had 20 challenge activities at the Kirkwood Trailhead in the categories of nature creativity and healthy play,” said Anne Milford, communications coordinator for the GRG. “The parking lot was filled with cars the whole time and there was a lot of buzz about heading east to the new bridge.”
 
Indeed, a sizable number of hikers, bikers and in-line skaters made the trip from Kirkwood to a new connector bridge over the River Des Peres. The new bridge connects the Gravois Greenway and the River Des Peres Greenway.

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Posted on October 17, 2020 in Home, Local Events, Outdoor/Nature

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NOW OPEN: MDC’s Powder Valley Nature Center in Kirkwood!

Photo courtesy MDC.

Building admittance is currently limited to the front desk, but trails and grounds remain fully accessible to the public.

The Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center is now open for limited public access, following a COVID-19-related closure. The building’s operating hours will be Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., until further notice.

Powder Valley’s front desk is available to the public for information or gift shop and permit sales. Due to ongoing public health and safety concerns, the rest of the building, including the exhibit galleries and classrooms, are currently not accessible. To help minimize person-to-person contact, one person or family will be allowed into the building at a time.

The nature center’s outdoor spaces, including all trails, remain open and fully accessible to the public.

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Posted on October 16, 2020 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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PANDEMIC CAN’T STOP HELLBENDER CONSERVATIONISTS FROM SAVING AN ENDANGERED SPECIES

Over 1,000 hellbenders from Saint Louis Zoo released into native Ozark rivers by Missouri Department of Conservation this summer

Hellbender at the Saint Louis Zoo. Photo by Ray Meibaum, Saint Louis Zoo

Over 1,000 Ozark and eastern hellbenders raised from eggs at the Saint Louis Zoo were released into their native Missouri Ozark rivers this summer by Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) State Herpetologist Jeff Briggler, Ph.D., in cooperation with the Zoo and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS). Since 2008, more than 8,600 Saint Louis Zoo-raised endangered hellbenders (664 eastern and 7,977 Ozark) have been reintroduced to the wild in Missouri.

The successful 2020 reintroductions almost didn’t happen, though, due to COVID-19. The team of scientists from MDC and the Zoo collaborated on a detailed plan that focused on personal safety of team members, while also providing the best care for the hellbenders and conservation of this species.

“The process was quite a bit different this year, with a lot of careful coordination on everyone’s part,” said Briggler. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the restoration team’s priority was to reduce contact and maintain social distancing among individuals. To achieve this, animal transfers from the Zoo staff to the state herpetologist occurred in open air parking lots. Crews releasing hellbenders also were reduced and limited to two individuals per boat. “Even with these safety precautions, release quotas of hellbenders were achieved and successfully conducted,” said Briggler.

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Posted on October 4, 2020 in Environment, Outdoor/Nature

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Enjoy a Missouri Autumn With MDC’s Fall Color Forecast

Missouri will continue to offer beautiful views for outdoor social distancing as the fall season gets underway. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) offers weekly online fall color updates from agency foresters all over the state at mdc.mo.gov/fallcolor.

“The fall color report is a great resource for those wanting to enjoy the changing foliage,” said MDC Community Forester Ann Koenig. “It shows users where trees are beginning to turn and also suggests the best places to view the changing leaves.”

Generally, the changing of the leaves is predictable, but it can vary from year to year depending on the weather. Koenig explained that a windy fall or early hard freeze can dampen the fall color in trees due to the fact the leaves blow off the trees or freeze.

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Posted on September 14, 2020 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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Have A Large Evergreen That Needs To Be Removed?

Photo courtesy MDC.

Donate the tree to The Missouri Department of Conservation to be used as the governor’s mansion Christmas tree.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is conducting its annual search for a large Christmas tree for use on the governor’s mansion lawn in Jefferson City. MDC is asking landowners, homeowners, businesses, and communities that may have possible candidate trees to contact the Department.

To qualify, the donated tree must be about 40-feet tall and be an eastern red cedar, Norway spruce, or white pine that is fully branched on all sides and accessible by large equipment.

The right tree may either be near the end of its life or may need to be removed for other reasons. Once a tree is selected, MDC staff will coordinate the cutting and delivery of the tree to the governor’s mansion at no cost to the owner. The donor will receive a thank-you from the governor and an invitation to the lighting ceremony, which usually occurs the first week of December.

“Sometimes there are beautiful evergreens that need to be removed for home expansion, utility work, or they’ve grown too large for the space,” says MDC Community Forestry Coordinator Russell Hinnah. “Having your tree displayed at the governor’s mansion is a great way to share its beauty with thousands of Missourians who visit the mansion during the holidays.”

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Posted on September 8, 2020 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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Citizen Science Opportunity, MDC

Photo: MDC

Get outside and enjoy nature! Check out this information from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Do you enjoy learning to identify new animals and plants? Do you enjoy contributing to citizen science? Help us document plant and animal life at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center by contributing to our iNaturalist Biodiversity Project!

 

 

1. iNaturalist is FREE

2. Go to iNaturalist.org to download the free smartphone app and create an account

3. On the app, click the camera button to take a photo of a plant or animal

4. Click on “What did you see?” and try to enter the best guess using the drop-down box with suggestions. Don’t worry, others will review your identifications

5. If your photos are taken at Powder Valley, the location and project will automatically choose Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center Biodiversity Project

6. Click on the Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center Biodiversity Project to see what has been observed, who has observed, and how many species we have documented

7. For fun for the entire family and some practice before you sign up for iNaturalist, download  Seek, by iNaturalist, a smartphone app. This app works to identify your picture immediately providing you animal or plant identification and information.

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Posted on August 25, 2020 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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St. Louis Photojournalist Documents Environmental Battles

Canoeists paddle in the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo courtesy Randall Hyman.

 

Pictured: Randall Hyman

By Don Corrigan

Fresh off a story about flooding and pollution on the Upper Mississippi River, photojournalist Randall Hyman of St. Louis is using a journalism award to fund an investigation into travails of the Navajo fighting oil companies wanting a piece of their native lands.

Hyman won a coveted Society of Environmental Journalism Award to cover expenses on a project entitled, “Betrayal in the Fog of Viral War,” a story on oil and gas companies exploiting native lands in New Mexico with the help of the  White House and the Interior Department.

“This Administration’s Bureau of Land Management has been trying to give away drilling rights and fracking permits on the native lands of the Navajo Nation,” Hyman explained. “It’s a little crazy now because the fracking industry is dead in the water in this economic downturn.

“The oil and gas industry has bankruptcies right and left,” said Hyman. “The fracking industry has never been profitable and it’s collapsing now with the lack of demand for oil in this pandemic economy.”

Read more of the article below.  

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Posted on August 12, 2020 in Environment, Outdoor/Nature