By Don Corrigan (Webster-Kirkwood Times)
When I was a boy, frogs and toads got a bad rap. I was told they give you warts. Toads would pee on you if you picked them up. Frogs were linked to being French. Moses threatened a plague of frogs on a pharaoh in Egypt.
Sigh showcasing the Grow Native! program at the Kirkwood Earth Day Festival.
Grow Native! – is a one of a kind program that began right here in Missouri. The program is a native plant marketing and education program of the Missouri Prairie Foundation.
Bill Ruppert, a local gardening and conservation expert, shares his insight into the diverse Grow Native! program on the informative podcast found below. Many organizations are mentioned in the podcast with either being associated with the Grow Native! program or that Ruppert is affiliated with like, the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Science Center, Missouri Department of Conservation, Shaw Nature Reserve, the Conservation Federation of Missouri, Missourians for Monarchs, Gateway Greening, Mayor Slay’s milkweed program, and more.
Ruppert also gives a look at the new St. Louis Science Center’s new exhibit opening this summer, “GROW” and how the Annual Kirkwood Earth Day got its start.
Courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
A new super-highway of information has become available for bird watching enthusiast.
The beginner, hobbyist, and serious birders can all find something to interest them on a new website, the Great Missouri Birding Trail.
The founder is Mike Doyen, the president of the Missouri Bird Conservation Foundation. The new website offers birding trail maps for different regions of Missouri, including St. Louis. Also, birding resources including, helpful tips, equipment, identification basics, habitat information, and organizations and opportunities on how to become involved with bird conservation efforts.
Photo by Diana Linsley, Webster-Kirkwood Times.
By Don Corrigan ( Webster-Kirkwood Times)
Experts from more than 20 green organizations will be ready to tell you about the “birds and the bees, and the flowers and the trees,” at Kirkwood’s 7th annual Earth Day on Apri1 16.
Most activities will be focused in the Farmer’s Market Greenway area, although an Arbor Day tree planting ceremony across from the city’s train station will get things started at 9 a.m. Kirkwood in Bloom will contribute a landscape-sized Wildfire black tupelo tree for the occasion.
Read more about the honey bees struggle and Kirkwood’s Earth Day below. Also, hear Bill Ruppert share what you’ll find at the event.
Fenton sewer plant, December 2015. Photos provided by Sean Hadley, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District.
After months of repair work following historic flooding in December 2015, the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) says operations at the Fenton Wastewater Treatment Plant are fully restored.
From the MSD website: MSD crews and contractors have restored the full wastewater treatment process at the Fenton Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) that is required during the recreation season from April 1- October 31. This includes the re-establishment of wastewater disinfection using ultraviolet light. With the restoration of full treatment, the Fenton WWTP again meets regulatory standards. As a result, the recreation advisory for the Meramec River has been lifted. MSD crews are in the process of removing signs. Find more information HERE.
Pictured: David Slane climbing the Redwoods in California. All photos provided by David Slane.
“Redwoods are just amazing,” said Slane. “It was awe-inspiring to be on trees 15 feet in diameter, to be on trees that are 2,500 years old, 500 years before Jesus Christ was on this Earth. I am still mind-boggled by the whole experience.”
By Don Corrigan (column from the Webster-Kirkwood Times)
My friend Bill Allen at Mizzou J-School offers a course in using drones for news coverage, but use of flying drones to gather information is raising questions at every level.
By Holly Shanks (2014)
St. Louis native, Don Dill, 88, started studying mushrooms 60-years ago. It started when he and some friends were at the Lake of the Ozarks. He went outside one morning to check their leaky boat tied in the water and discovered an amazing sight. He said he went out the porch door and encountered what looked like a “flower garden.” As far as he could see down to the water was covered with mushrooms.
“I never saw so many. They were all kinds, different colors and shapes,” Dill said. “Boy, I decided right then I wanted to know more about those things because they were so interesting.”
Pictured: Brian Ettling.
Brian Ettling, a seasonal park ranger at Crater Lake National Park, is the guest on this week’s “Behind the Editor’s Curtain” with Don Corrigan.
The St. Louis native shares his experiences as a park ranger, what to expect as a visitor to a national park, and also his advocacy efforts to educate the public about climate change.
Environmental Echo 