Category Archives: Outdoor/Nature

Photo by MDC Staff, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation.

By: Zoe DeYoung

A billion dollar project to prevent invasive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes is set to begin construction this year, but don’t feel too bad for the nuisance fish.

The species has been wreaking havoc throughout the Mississippi River Basin, out-competing native fish for living space and resources since the 1980s.

Pictured: Jill Moon

Longtime Alton Telegraph reporter Jill Moon first heard of the invasive carp issue at a 2009 city council meeting in Grafton, a river town where the Illinois River acts as a perfect feeder for breeding carp.

Three entrepreneurs presented a plan at the meeting to capitalize on the carp. “They thought they had a good money making venture,” Moon said.

The plan involved an Asian carp processing plant. It got the green light. Moon was on the story from there: if you have lemons, make lemonade; if you have carp, put them on the menu.

“When I went to these city council meetings, they would have the boring stuff like, ‘The Street Department fixed Oak Avenue.’ A factory to make Asian carp byproducts stood out to me. And I already knew that the Asian carp was a problem,” Moon said.

A problem not only for native aquatic life, but for boaters. Asian carp tend to feed at the water’s surface and are very easily disturbed. When agitated by a boat propeller or even a sculler’s oar, they can jump up to 10 feet in the air. Think popcorn, but instead it is hundreds of soaring fish.

“Certain times of year when they are spawning, the Asian carp will jump out of the Illinois River. They’ve jumped in boats before, and they’ve accidentally given bloody noses,” Moon explained. “They’re a nuisance species,” Moon added. “So that just struck a nerve in me to find out more.”

The Grafton-based American Heartland Fish Products plant was the brainchild of those entrepreneurs at the meeting Their plan came to fruition, soon processing as much as 60,000 pounds of carp a day, as well as fish oil, fish meal and a funky smell.

The odor began to bother residents, so much so that the plant was given 30 days to address the stink. Ultimately, the plant went kaput.

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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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