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Cicadas Are Coming! Cicadas! Invasion Of Noisy, Crusty, Tree-Hugging Insects Has Begun

by Don Corrigan

The cicada invasion has begun. Those who remember the last onslaught of these creatures in 2011 are telling war stories. Others have been preparing nets to protect plant life, and buying muffs to protect their ears.

Erin Tate of Rock Hill is no greenhorn when it comes to the insects crawling up her trees, laying some eggs, crawling out of their shells, buzzing away in the sky and dive-bombing the neighborhood.

“I remember their emergence in 2011 and it was pretty freaky,” said Tate. “The noise that they made was insane. And they were flying around in your face, and down your neck, and behind your ears.

“But the truth is that I really enjoy them,” added Tate. “It’s nature. It’s the sound of nature. My two kids are kind of sensitive to loud noises, so I do have ear buds and headphones for them so they can deal with it.”

North American cicadas are among the world’s loudest insects. They can produce sound levels ranging from 80 to 120 decibels. The aural intensity varies depending on factors such as environmental conditions and the  individual cicada’s behavior.

At a distance of 20 inches away, a buzzing cicada can be as loud as a chainsaw. A steady audio intake of cicada noise production has been known to cause some temporary hearing loss.

“I’m less concerned about the noise, but actually more focused on what the cicadas might do to my plants and trees,” said Rock Hill’s Tate.

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Posted on May 25, 2024 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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Join MDC Wild Webcast on Cicadapocalypse May 23

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.

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Posted on May 19, 2024 in Home, Local Events

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Calling All Scouts & Outdoors Lovers—Come to MDC’s Scouting Event & Family Fun Day at Powder Valley Nature Center May 18

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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Posted on May 15, 2024 in Home, Local Events

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Meramec River Fun! Favorite Destination For Local Recreation Needs Protection

All photos by Don Corrigan.

by Don Corrigan 

Spring is a great time to bring a few lawn chairs to any one of several riverside parks along the Meramec River. Take time to enjoy the sparkle on the water and longer days of sunshine.

My favorite spot is under a tree at Emmenegger Park, but there are more great river locations to kick back and take in the flowing water at George Winter, Unger, Greentree, Meramec Landing and Castlewood parks.

My idea of river fun on these days is to take a nap somewhere on the shoreline, but the Meramec remains a favorite destination for floating, boating, fishing and swimming.

Beyond its recreation potential, the Meramec supplies drinking water to approximately 70,000 households. It’s a top-ranked watershed in the Midwest,  an irreplaceable freshwater resource, a key tributary to the Mississippi River.

The Meramec supports a variety of creatures, including 31 species of global significance. Several species are found nowhere else on Earth.

Fortunately, many environmental groups support river protection, such as the Sierra Club, Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, Meramec River Recreation Association, Nature Conservancy and more.

The Meramec River Recreation Association is currently slated to have a meeting and presentation about the river at 2:30 p.m., May 16, at the Wildwood City Hall. A zoom connection to the event may be possible.

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Posted on May 12, 2024 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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May Storms and Flash Flooding Close Bike Trails and Roads

by Don Corrigan

Environmental Echo’s Don Corrigan calls a halt to his bike ride on the GRG Trail near the border of Kirkwood and Valley Park as the Meramec River floods over the trail.

Storms on May 8 closed hiking and biking trails and some roads along the Meramec River. Spring flash floods in the St. Louis area have had rivers rising, but not yet to the historic levels of 2008 or 2017.

More rains predicted for the week of May 12, and for later this month, could raise rivers closer to those record levels. The National Weather Service noted flooding at the time of the May 8 storms from Pacific to Valley Park.

Flooding was visible at Yarnell Road at Soccer Park and farther south to Fenton. In Pacific, water rescues have sometimes been necessary at Big Bend and Meramec Farm Valley roads.

Cars stall out in flash floods and drivers must be rescued by first responders. Drivers are constantly warned not to drive on roads that disappear into flood waters.

Mark Sableman (in red) and Don Corrigan (in purple) celebrate their good judgment in not riding into the flooding Meramec River. Storms on May 8 closed trails and roads.

Trails that occasionally disappear into flood waters are those along the Meramec, Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Bikers venture into the waters at their own risk.

The loop trail at Cliff Cave Park near the Mississippi River can close for weeks in spring and summer after periods of intense rain. However, trails higher up in the park will remain open.

The trails in Valley Park, Kirkwood and Fenton also can close for weeks in spring and summer after flooding rains. However, one half-loop trail that never closes when the Meramec River floods is the one atop the elevated Valley Park Levee.

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Posted on May 11, 2024 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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Birds and Blooms May 18 at MDC’s Rockwoods Reservation

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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Posted on May 11, 2024 in Home, Local Events

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Native Plant Sale at the World Bird Sanctuary, May 11, 2024

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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Posted on May 5, 2024 in Home, Local Events

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Webster Discussion On May 7: Can Popular Culture Bolster U.S. Environmental Awareness?

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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Posted on May 1, 2024 in Home, Local Events

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Saint Louis Zoo’s Mike Dawson: Local Frogs’ Best Friend

Photo by Ursula Ruhl

By Jess Holmes

It’s thanks to the Saint Louis Zoo’s Michael Dawson that spring peepers, chorus frogs, and cricket frogs are still on the map ­— literally. Dawson’s creation and maintenance of the FrogWatch chapter known as the Spring Peeper Program in St. Louis has put these small, but noisy creatures back on conservation radar.

Statewide, these critters are not near extinction, but Dawson explores the effects urbanization has had on their significant population loss in the St. Louis area, while also encouraging the community to get involved in reversing their decline.

“I started looking at data collected by citizen scientists, species by species. One of the patterns I recognized is that certain species were almost completely absent inside of I-270. Whereas you go three minutes outside of I-270, they show back up on the observation maps,” Dawson said. “Some frog species are unaffected by urbanization, but the spring peepers, chorus frogs, and cricket frogs all seemed to be.

“I wanted to see if the citizen-collected data was true, and the Zoo encouraged me to put a project together. So, I did. After getting it approved and funded, I started setting up acoustic surveying devices around the St. Louis area,” Dawson explained. “Over the last three years, I found that the citizen scientists were right.”

The Saint Louis Zoo FrogWatch program stems from an even larger effort, FrogWatch USA. The Akron Zoo manages the national program. The mission is to build a community to help the frog and toad populations across the United States. Thanks to smartphones, this has become even easier.

“If you’re out in the field and have a phone, you can record a frog’s call,” Dawson said. “Recording calls is even better than using photos because I can download it, put it through my software, and can determine what species it’s from. Plus, it’s timestamped and GPS coded. It’s no different than the recording devices I leave out on trees.”

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Posted on May 1, 2024 in Environment, Home, Outdoor/Nature

Webster Takes A Hike STL Suburb Celebrates Its Trees Before April 29 Arbor Day

Posted on April 27, 2024 | Leave a comment

Pictured: David Gunn. All photos by Ursula Ruhl, WKT.

by Don Corrigan

In anticipation of the nationally-designated tree holiday of April 26, the city of Webster Groves set aside Wednesday, April 17, for its formal Arbor Day Ceremony and Awards Celebration.

Prior to its official celebration on the evening of April 17, citizen volunteers and city team members planted 200 trees to honor Arbor Day. At 5 p.m., that day an awards ceremony commenced at Southwest Park Pavilion.

Tree Steward Lynnda Greene was posthumously granted a Tree of Distinction Award. Greene was a Master Gardener, and a member of the International Dark-Sky Association. She was praised for her love of nature, animals and the environment.

Greene was a member of the Webster Groves Garden Club and founding member of Webster Groves Greenkeepers. She assisted the city’s Greenspace Commission and one of her passions before her death in May 2023 was promoting the NO-MOW green movement to benefit pollinators.

The honor for Greene was followed with a tree tour given by David Gunn. An arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture, Gunn’s talents were enlisted by the city’s “Eco-Ed” program series.

Arborist’s Tree Walk

On the tree walk, Gunn pointed out some of the city’s most interesting trees in Southwest Park. He also spoke to the hikers on the basics of tree anatomy, soil structure, tree identification and his favorite park trees .

“I like the black locusts that reach down and touch the ground with their trunks,” said Gunn. “I love when we can see trees that are allowed to do their own thing, instead of always being managed to be neat and tiny.

“There’s also a great hackberry that I love,” noted Gunn. “What parks can do – that residences can’t do – is let trees age and fall apart a little bit. Let the woodpeckers and the raccoons add some character as well.”

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Posted in Home, Local Events, Outdoor/Nature