Environmental Echo

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is implementing a new vision for Columbia Bottom Conservation Area in Spanish Lake.  Going forward, MDC’s strategy will focus on managing the area to work with the natural flooding cycles of the river and cultivate the habitat benefits of a healthy floodplain.  This will provide important wetland habitat for wildlife, flood relief for neighboring areas, and unique recreational opportunities for area users.

MDC purchased the 4,318-acre tract in 1997 to create an urban conservation area.  Columbia Bottom is at the Confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, North America’s largest rivers.  Located in the natural floodplain of these two rivers, the area has always been prone to flooding.

The frequency of major flood events has increased over the last decade with high water events occurring in 2008, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019.  Each of those times, Columbia Bottom has been inundated with water to the extent that MDC has been required to close the area until waters have receded.  Water covered the area for almost six months during the 2019 event.

This has created expensive damage and resulted in a repetitive and unsustainable repair cycle. Significant debris and sediment have been deposited on the area, existing wetland pools, and at the confluence, where sediment is two-to-four feet deep.

Efforts to hold back the rivers with levees, repair damage, and manage the area for waterfowl hunting are incurring costs to Missouri taxpayers through expenses, MDC staff time, and resources that are no longer practical.

MDC has identified the need to re-think the management goals of Columbia Bottom in order to create a sustainable balance between natural resources, human recreation, and responsible financial investment in one of St. Louis County’s most important natural assets.

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By Don Corrigan

Missourians are treated daily to dozens of smashed turtles on Hwy 367, dozens of smashed armadillos on Hwy 100, and dozens of bloated raccoon and deer on Hwy 50. And don’t forget a few dead skunks in the middle of the road ­– everywhere!

Those skunks are stinkin’ to high heaven, just like Missouri policy and resolve to do something about all this highway carnage. Of course, even worse is the increasing number of roadway memorials marking the human highway death toll.

Before we go on a nadering nabob of negativity rant, though, let’s highlight a bright spot in the midst of all the darkness. MoDot just began taking advantage of the Biden Administration Infrastructure Bill to add some animal safety measures to new roadway barrier installations.

Jack Suntrup of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently reported that Missouri is using some infrastructure money approved by Congress in 2021 for the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program.

The program is meant to protect the public – and wildlife – from all the death and destruction where the rubber and animals hit the road. Before “fiscal conservatives” grouse about spending federal money on useless animals, let them think again.

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