SharePowder Valley Conservation Nature Center (building and grounds) in St. Louis metro will be CLOSED January 7-8-9 for an archery managed hunt. The facility will open as usual on January 10.
When it reopens, bring your binoculars and cameras and take advantage of a new birding blind in the bird feeding area off Tanglevine Trail [...]

ShareSullivan News story link.

Share(The following is not an official editorial view of the River Hills Traveler but that of Jo only.)
By Jo Schaper
This week, according to a short, unattributed story on STL Today, the city of Valley Park has expressed interest in taking over ownership of Simpson Park, which is within the city limits.
Few details have been [...]

ShareBecause our focus is usually elsewhere, Traveler isn’t often concerned with the ins and outs of St. Louis County politics. Since the St. Louis County parks issue is at its heart a budget issue, we focused some effort to understand it.
Jo found this explanatory story by Paul Hampel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch/STL [...]

ShareBy Jo Schaper
The St. Louis County Council submitted legislation to approve a compromise budget December 6, which would allow the parks threatened with closure in 2012 to remain open, and reduce the number of employee layoffs from 173 to 40. Other service cutbacks, such as closing a satellite government center, and cutting back [...]

ShareIt’s a fact that Don Corrigan of the Webster-Kirkwood Times, the South County Times, and probably more publications, is known to Traveler staff. After all, we carry his nature books: Show Me Natural Wonders and Show Me Nature’s Wrath. We’re entirely separate publications, but in these days, newsprint people need to stick together.
In [...]

ShareNew Links Page: Funding St. Louis County Parks
Archived: St. Louis County Links Page updated to Nov. 22
By Jo Schaper
The people have spoken. The St. Louis County Council is well aware they are tasked with finding funding to keep St. Louis County Parks open and park staff in place. The question now is: how? [...]

ShareBy Jo Schaper
If St. Louis County successfully shuts down county parks from Meramec River mile marker 162 to 180 (West Tyson Park, Sherman Beach, Lone Elk, Simpson, Unger and George Winter parks) one of the shining success stories of riparian management will have gone for naught.
Ask Brittany Barton, project manager of the Open [...]

ShareSeen at Onondaga Cave State Park on Nov. 11:

Yes, it really does say “4 a.m.”

ShareCommentary by Jo Schaper
Much of the last week’s protest and calls to action in regards to the proposal to close St. Louis County parks is being coordinated through Facebook. This is not news. But, despite their claims, Facebook is not ubiquitous. There are the other 7/8ths of the planet who are not into social media. [...]