by Dan Drees
Thanks in large part to the hard work of glade restoration volunteers from the Sierra Club’s Eastern Missouri Group, Missourians have a new 831-acre natural area at Meramec State Park. The multi-agency Missouri Natural Areas Committee hiked much of the nominated Meramec Mosaic on May 31st and voted it in as the 178th designated Natural Area for the state.
Natural Area designation gives public and private lands in Missouri official recognition for having exceptional natural integrity. Natural Area designation is more than a arbitrary title, as demonstrated recently in the successful effort to save the St. Francois Mountains Natural Area from a proposed hydroelectric plant. Some of the criteria the committee looks for are high biodiversity, endangered species, functional natural communities, superlative geologic features, and scenic integrity.
The Meramec Mosaic Natural Area scored high in all these areas, but its fire dependent natural communities were recognized as significantly noteworthy. A review of the 1822 land survey notes for the area showed a highly varied landscape shaped by the influence of fire.
Less than two miles west of the Meramec Mosaic there was a 400-acre prairie in 1822. Some of the land inside the Meramec Mosaic was described as having thin rocky soil covered with grass and wide-open timber. Today we classify this as a fire dependent open woodland community
The dominant tree of the Meramec Mosaic open woodlands is the Chinkapin Oak, Quercus muhlenbergii. These ancient gnarled and craggy oaks reign in rugged elegance over a large diversity of native grasses and wildflowers.
In the center of these open woodlands are fifteen sun drenched glades. Protruding from the glade’s carpet of grasses and wildflowers are numerous dolomite bedrock outcrops. In spring these outcrops are especially popular with sunbathing reptiles. These glades are also home to the most viable tarantula population in the northeast corner of their natural range.
Typically these open woodlands and glades produce an impressive wildflower display in April, May, and June, but if adequate moisture is available they may bloom throughout the growing season. Many of the glades also offer inspiring vistas of the Meramec valley and forest covered hills devoid of blinking towers.
The glade on top of Butterfly Bluff has a commanding vista of the river. In winter it is especially serene, a place of quiet solitude where the beauty of nature can permeate the soul.
Historically, open woodlands and glades were kept open by lightning fires and fires started by Native Americans. These fires sometimes burned for weeks and burned hundreds of square miles. In modern Missouri, wildfires seldom burn even a single square mile, nor do we desire them to.
Instead, to perpetuate the abundant variety of plants and animals that depend on fires to provide their habitat needs, park personnel periodically use prescribed fires. Unfortunately, fire was completely suppressed in the Meramec Mosaic from the mid-1930s until the late 1980s. That period of fire suppression allowed large numbers of eastern red cedar tree seedlings from surrounding river bluffs to invade the open woodlands and glades.
The cedars were well on their way to shading out the native grasses and wildflowers when glade restoration volunteers, predominantly from the Sierra Club’s Eastern Missouri Group led by Penny Holtzmann, came to the rescue in 1989. As park staff cut down and cut up the cedars, teams of Sierrans fed them into bonfires.
Twelve years of cedar removal, nine years of prescribed burns, and over 16,000 hours of paid and volunteer labor have returned this natural community to its historic place in the sun and flame. This has made the Meramec Mosaic’s restored Chinkapin Oak woodland the largest in the Missouri natural areas system.
Another record holder in the Meramec Mosaic is Beaver Creek. This perennial creek is fed by four springs and flows for 1.5 miles through the Meramec Mosaic before joining the Meramec River. The twenty-two species of native fish that have been documented is a state record for an order one stream.
A .6 mile section of the Meramec River is also included in the Meramec Mosaic. This area is home to rare aquatic species such as the Alabama Shad, Ozark Emerald Dragonfly, Arkansas Snaketail Dragonfly and the Spectaclecase Mussel.
It is probable that this section of the Meramec River is also habitat to additional rare aquatic species such as the Highfin Carpsucker, Mooneye, and the Eastern Hellbender. These aquatic species have been recorded in comparable habitat within half a mile of the Meramec Mosaic. The potential for additional significant aquatic species in the river portion of the Meramec Mosaic is enormous. Of the 573 described native fish species in North America, 120 (21%) inhabit the Meramec River.
The mature bottomland forest that borders this section of the river is breeding habitat for the rare Cerulean Warbler. However, the rarest animals documented from the Meramec Mosaic are some of its bats. Indiana Bats and Gray Bats, both federally listed endangered species, seasonally inhabit two of the six caves in the Meramec Mosaic. Both of these species are fond of feeding on aquatic insects above and along rivers such as the Meramec.
Currently, the only maintained access into the Meramec Mosaic is the 1.3-mile Natural Wonders Loop Trail. A glade, two caves, beaver meadows and mature north-facing forest are among the natural area gems accessed. The elusive Ovenbird and Woodthrush are common along much of this trail during their breeding season. In mid-May this trail is also an excellent place to see the showy blooms of the large Yellow Lady-slipper Orchid.
To see the largest and best open woodlands and glades in the Meramec Mosaic get directions to Chinkapin Ridge. Call 573-468-8155 and ask for Meramec State Park naturalists Brian or Jody. Even better, attend one of the upcoming glade restoration outings on Feb. 2 and 3 or March 16 and 17. Contact Sierra Club member Susan Farrington at 636-583-0948 or susanfmo@aol.com to get information on these service outings.
Dan Drees is Natural Resource Steward at Missouri Department of Natural Resources Division of State Parks