Category Archives: Outdoor/Nature

Photo courtesy Bruce Sassmann.

by Don Corrigan 

The Rock Island Trail proposal took a hit this month when Republican gubernatorial candidates Mike Kehoe and Jay Ashcroft announced they have serious doubts about the cross-state project.

This comes less than three weeks after Environmental Echo (EE) noted Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s support of the project as a significant tourism magnet for the state. EE cited the trail as a bright spot in 2024 for state nature lovers.

Kehoe and Ashcroft are running to replace Parson in 2024 as he is retiring. Leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate Crystal Quaid had indicated that she supports the trail as an economic boon to the state.

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Sericea lespedeza, a highly invasive plant that can infest grasslands, pastures, rights-of-way, and other areas, is one of five species whose sale would be halted with the passage of Representative Sassmann’s legislation filed on December 1, 2023.

Locally and globally, invasive plants and animals are the second leading cause of native biodiversity decline and also threaten the economic stability of the forest product, livestock, and outdoor industries. In addition, Bradford pear, sericea lespedeza, and other non-native, invasive plants are costly and time-consuming for Missouri landowners and suburban and urban homeowners to control.

Of the state’s 142 invasive plants, as assessed by the Missouri Invasive Plant Council (MoIP), many continue to be sold in Missouri, contributing to their future, unintended spread across the landscape.

On December 1, 2023, Representative Bruce Sassmann (District 061), took action to help protect the state from invasive plants by filing HB 1555 to halt the sale and intentional distribution of five invasive plant species: burning bush (Euonymus alatus), Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana and its cultivars, including Bradford and Chanticleer), climbing euonymus (Euonymus fortunei; also commonly known as wintercreeper); Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), and sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata).

Once passed, the Missouri Department of Agriculture is expected to be the agency tasked with enforcement of the legislation, issuing violations if any of the five plants listed above are found to be sold or intentionally distributed. Because of the investment that nursery owners and other plant sellers must make before many shrubs and trees are large enough to sell, two species on the list of five—burning bush and Callery pear plants—acquired by a licensed Missouri wholesale or retail plant nursery before January 1, 2025, shall be exempt from enforcement until January 1, 2028.

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Above: Alan Hopefl clears the invasive honeysuckle bush. Photo courtesy Ursula Ruhl/Webster-Kirkwood Times.

by Don Corrigan

Some people see a bit of Christmas this time of year in the red berries and
fading green leaves of honeysuckle. Alan Hopefl only sees an enemy. He
sees it as an invasive that deserves no quarter.

“I’ve probably done 3,000 hours of honeysuckle cutting just in Emmenegger
Park in the past decade,” said Kirkwood resident Hopefl. “Emmenegger is
close for me. I can get to it walking from my backyard.

“Sometimes when I cut plants down close to a neighborhood, residents will
come out and ask if they can hire me to cut them down in their yard,”
laughed Hopefl. “I am not for hire. I have enough to cut in the park areas.”

Hopefl has been a Kirkwood Park Volunteer since 2010. At that time, he
was involved in all kinds of park work, not just removing honeysuckle. But
since the pandemic, he’s been a one-man team focused on honeysuckle.

“I don’t mind being called ‘the honeysuckle slayer.’ I’m sure I’ve been called
worse things,” said Hopefl. “I have a master naturalist ticket and I’ve
studied the plant enough to know all its bad effects.”

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Plenty of canoes and kayaks are available for use at the Creve Coeur Lake Rentals.

By Don Corrigan

Popular venues for major outdoor activities in the St. Louis area include Forest Park, the Gateway Arch grounds and Jefferson Barracks. But Cheryl Beckmann wants you to know you’re missing out if you don’t include Creve Coeur Lake.

Beckmann touts the miles of hiking and biking trails, plus a recreational lake for kayaking, canoeing and boating. There’s also a sandy beach for sunning, sand castle building or casting to catch the big one.

Of course, Beckmann readily admits  she has a vested interest in promoting fun times at the 2,125-acre park that includes a 320-acre lake. She and her husband, Rick, have operated Creve Coeur Lake Rentals for the past 13 years.

A staff member at Creve Coeur Lake Rentals prepares a kayaker for a trip on the lake located east of the Missouri River.

If you need a mobile surrey for the loop trail, or a single or tandem kayak, canoe or paddle board for the lake, the Beckmanns have you covered with rentals on the shoreline  just northwest of the park’s famous waterfall.

“We were out on the lake 15 years ago in our canoes, and some people on the shore asked if they could rent them from us,” said Cheryl Beckmann. “So I said to myself, that sounds like a great idea. We should start a rental business.

That’s exactly what they did.

“We started with five canoes and two quad bikes, and it just took off from there,” she explained.

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