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Night Visions: The Natural World Under Twilight, Moonlight and Starlight

Pictured: Dan Zarlenga.

The Fantastic Photography of Dan Zarlinga

A lot of people may not think of night as the best time to take pictures. But while many photographers are putting their cameras away, Dan is usually getting his out. Zarlinga explains, “I’ve been in love with the night sky and the stars all my life.  After becoming interested in photography, it seemed only natural to bring the two together. The world looks different after the sun goes down . . . unique, mysterious, and intriguing.”

These photographs are a collection of twilight scenes, starscapes, long exposure star trails, and moonlit landscapes, all revealed by the photographic magic of long exposures.

See this amazing photo and more at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center through the month of September.

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Posted on September 16, 2023 in Home, Local Events, Outdoor/Nature

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Get Outside This Fall With Help From Agents of Discovery Mobile App

MDC is again partnering with the Agents of Discovery mobile gaming app for its Missouri Explorer Campaign. Through Oct. 31, users can complete challenges at five MDC nature centers to connect with nature and earn special prizes.

The fall season is a great time to explore and learn about Missouri’s outdoors. To help kids and adults discover nature this season, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is again partnering with the Agents of Discovery mobile gaming app for its Missouri Explorer 3.0 Campaign.

Agents of Discovery is an educational gaming app that allows users to engage with nature while completing “Missions”, or games – proving that screen time can be green time.

The Missouri Explorer Campaign will run through Oct. 31. Anyone can join in by downloading the free app and completing the Missions at participating locations. Each Mission is made up of educational challenges that teach players about local history, culture, ecosystems, and safety.

The Campaign includes prizes to reward “Agents”, or players who participate. Once an Agent completes a Mission, they’ll earn a lanyard and a player card. If Agents complete three Missions, they’ll be entered to win raffle tickets to the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium, Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, the Discovery Center of Springfield, Arabia Steamboat Museum, and St. Louis Botanical Gardens. If they complete six Missions, they’ll fill out their player card and get upgraded to a new lanyard.

Agents can again complete Missions at five MDC nature centers: the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center in Kansas City, Runge Nature Center in Jefferson City, Powder Valley Nature Center in Kirkwood, the Springfield Nature Center, and Cape Girardeau Nature Center.

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Posted on September 4, 2023 in Home, Local Events, Outdoor/Nature

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Missouri Prairie Foundation to Offer Three, Free Guided Hikes in September

Deer Lake Savanna courtesy Forest Park.

Make plans to see the fall splendor of blooming native plants around the state while learning from an expert with a guided hike in September, organized by MPF in partnership with colleagues from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and Forest Park.

The hikes are free, but registration is required. See details on each event and registration links below.

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Posted on September 2, 2023 in Home, Local Events

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Fall Colors Are Coming! – Hit the Water and Kick Back for Fun at Creve Coeur Lake

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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Posted on September 1, 2023 in Environment, Home, Outdoor/Nature

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Roadside Memorials: Grim Reminders Don’t Slow Down Traffic Or Highway Deaths

The road memorial for Marissa can be found on I-270 South between
the I-44 interchange and Gravois.

By Don Corrigan

Roadside memorials are becoming part of the highway landscape along with Culver‘s, Waffle House, and Circle K fuel stops. The grim reminders are not so hard to find in St. Louis – just hit the on-ramp of your nearest interstate – and drive.

James Hill of northern Indiana has made it his business to archive as many of these roadway memorials as he can with his Roadside Tribute. His web master handiwork can be found at roadsidetribute.com.

“Roadside Tribute is a place where families and friends can memorialize their loved ones lost in traffic accidents,” said Hill. “It does this by providing a place to share a picture and story of their roadside tribute site they built along the roadway.”

Hill is a mechanical engineer who began working in automotive design in 1985 at the Ford Motor Company. After witnessing many test crashes, he began to develop a passion for reducing automobile accidents.

According to Hill, there are a number of benefits in registering, free-of-charge, a roadside tribute to a crash site on Roadside Tribute:

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Posted on August 18, 2023 in Environment, Home, Opinion

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Native Gardens of Excellence Program inducts Peers Store Pollinator Garden Near Marthasville, MO

The Grow Native! Native Gardens of Excellence program has inducted the Peers Store Pollinator Garden, located at 16011 Concord Hill Road near Marthasville, on the Katy Trail at Mile Marker 81.2.

Along with four more newly inducted sites, this garden joins 20 other locations in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Illinois recognized by the program since it launched in 2021.

With its location on the Katy Trail, this pollinator garden, a partnership between Missouri State Parks and Magnificent Missouri, provides tens of thousands of yearly visitors a look at native plants and how powerful they can be in transforming a landscape. Visitors can see a prairie reconstruction with a variety of native plants, like rattlesnake master, sideoats grama, and slender mountain mint, that support wildlife and beautify the surroundings.

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Posted on August 12, 2023 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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Washington State Park Hosts Sips, Stars and Meteors program, Aug. 11-13

Washington State Park invites guests to a special overnight camping opportunity to view the Perseids meteor shower under a dark sky Friday, Aug. 11, and Saturday, Aug. 12. For this overnight meteor shower viewing, guests will camp out in the park’s Big River Day-Use Area near Shelter No. 2.

Beginning at 7 p.m. Aug. 11, special guest storyteller Flavia Everman will entertain guests around the campfire. This portion of the event is open both to registered overnight guests and the general public. Flavia’s program is brought to Missouri State Parks courtesy of the Missouri Arts Council.

On Aug. 12, multiple activities will be offered throughout the day leading up to the meteor shower viewing that night. Join Washington State Park staff at 4 p.m. for a tour of the petroglyphs, the park’s history carved in stone. Learn about the Mississippian-era carvings, the culture and community who created them, and possible interpretations of what they mean. Enjoy a short stroll on a covered walkway with interpretive panels highlighting the cultural features.

Then, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., park interpretive staff will present meteor-themed activities. Meanwhile, Edg-Clif Vineyard of Potosi and Fyre Lake Winery of Cadet will provide limited free sampling to adults 21 and older.

Advance registration is required to attend this event and there is a nonrefundable $10 registration fee. Each registration secures a spot for up to six people. To register, CLICK HERE. Or visit icampmo.usedirect.com/MSPWeb/Activities/Search.aspx and search for events at Washington State Park or call the park office at 636-586-5768.

No individual campfires, RVs or generators will be allowed at this tent camping event. The event area’s amenities include pit latrine restrooms, potable water and a group fire pit. There are no flush toilets or electrical services. Check-out is 10 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 13.

Washington State Park is located at 13041 State Highway 104 in De Soto. For more information, contact the park at 636-586-5768.

For more information on state parks and historic sites, visit mostateparks.com. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

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Posted on August 7, 2023 in Home, Local Events

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St. Louis: Atomic City: Radioactive Legacy Continues To Haunt North County Moms Group

Pictured above: Dawn Chapman (Left) and Karen Nickel, co-founders of Just Moms STL.

By Don Corrigan

St. Louis residents have joined the rest of the nation in flocking to see the blockbuster, “Oppenheimer,” a movie about the making of the atomic bomb. Radioactive fallout from the new bomb descended over an area 250 miles by 200 miles in New Mexico.

The movie about the first atomic bomb brought renewed attention to Southwest U.S. residents downwind from the blast. Many are members of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, a group that feels they were poisoned by the explosion.

You don’t have to have seen the bright light, and felt the incredible rumble, however, to feel you have been affected by the bomb and the program for America’s nuclear arsenal. Just ask members of St. Louis County’s “Just Moms St. Louis.”

The Moms group has been fighting for the cleanup of radioactive waste in streams, creek beds, dumps and landfills near their homes. The huge amounts of waste are from the uranium processing that was necessary for making the bomb – and which was processed in St. Louis.

Instead of disposing of the waste in a responsible manner, chemical companies used careless contractors that dumped tons of radioactive waste throughout St. Louis County. Two radioactive dumping areas, which St. Louisans are familiar with from news coverage, are West Lake landfill and Coldwater Creek.

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Posted on July 31, 2023 in Environment, Home

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Missouri Wine Country: Beauty Worth Protecting

Pictured: Dan Burkhardt

by Dan Burkhardt

Missouri Wine Country is getting noticed. Its grapes and wineries have made more news in the past two years than when a state wine was named “best red wine of all nations” in Vienna in the late1800s. With growing prestige, it may be time for Missouri Wine Country to learn a thing or two from Napa Valley.

America’s, and probably the world’s, best known wine destination is Napa Valley. Napa’s Mediterranean climate, scattered small towns, and location just a short drive from San Francisco make for a grape-growing mecca.

However as they looked at their future way back in the 1960s, Napa County leaders saw this list of remarkable advantages as something that also held the potential to destroy the natural beauty and rural ambience that was the area’s greatest asset. They realized the need to develop a plan to protect what people came to Napa for — the rustic and open feel of the valley itself. They established the Napa Valley Agricultural Preserve.

A recent article about Napa asked, “What really draws people to the Napa Valley?”

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Posted on July 30, 2023 in Environment, Home, Opinion, Outdoor/Nature

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Rock Island Trail State Park: Missourians Get Their 93rd State Park That’s 47.5 Miles Long

All photos courtesy Bruce Sassmann.

By Don Corrigan

Missourians got their 93rd State Park, which is a total of 47.5 miles long, when mayors, state officials and citizen supporters had an unveiling and a little speech-making on June 30 in Windsor, Mo.

Among those in attendance was Rep. Bruce Sassmann, R-Belle, who has been
advocating for the park to extend 144 miles across the state. It would rival the Katy Trail State Park as a wonderful route for hikers, bikers, sight-seers and outdoor enthusiasts.

Sassmann advocates for the completion of the Rock Island Trail State Park and will frequently show photos of the corridor and the amazing sights and scenes that will be available when funding becomes available to complete the corridor’s entire length. Some of those visuals are posted with this article.

With completion of the Rock Island Trail State Park, the corridor will likely have
trailheads at Windsor, Ionia, Cole Camp, Stover, Versailles, Barnett, Eldon, Eugene Meta Argyle Freeburg Belle Bland Owensville Rosebud Gerald Beaufort and Union.

The open section now runs 47.5 miles from Pleasant Hill to Windsor. There are five trailheads, including the trailhead at Windsor that the park shares with Katy Trail State Park.

This developed section was originally considered the Rock Island Spur of Katy Trail State Park. With the acquisition of the Rock Island Railroad corridor, the developed spur became part of Rock Island Trail State Park.

Rock Island Trail State Park is part of a larger rail-to-trail system within Missouri State Parks. At Windsor, Rock Island Trail State Park connects to Katy Trail State Park, the nation’s longest developed rail-trail stretching 240 miles between Clinton and Machens in St. Charles County.

Katy is built on the former corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT or Katy) and features 26 trailheads and four fully restored depots along the way. The trail is open to walkers, hikers and bicyclists with sections also open for equestrian use. Katy Trail State Park annually attracts more than 400,000 visitors.

Rock Island Trail State Park will connect to Jackson County’s Rock Island Trail and will become part of a trail network spanning the entire state of Missouri, linking Kansas City to St. Louis.

At the recent unveiling of Missouri’s 93rd State Park, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources released some fascinating factoids about the corridor:

Did you know…

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Posted on July 15, 2023 in Environment, Home, Outdoor/Nature