Greer Spring, between the towns of Winona and Alton, is the 2nd largest in the state, and the one in the most pristine condition. Getting there isn’t easy, (almost a mile hike one way) and there is a reason for that:
it was preserved in 1988 after a failed attempt to turn the property into a [...]

Commentary by Jo Schaper
Recently, the Conservation Federation of Missouri and others have become concerned about House Bill 345 and Senate Bill 241, both of which are called the Uniform Wireless Communications Infrastructure Deployment Act.
These bills, (the House version is buried within many other provisions) are virtually identical, and deal with provisions intended to regulate [...]

River Hills Traveler would like to thank the quick eye of Jim Britton of Festus, for correctly identifying the large fish being held by Mike Jones on page 12 of the April Traveler as a largemouth bass.
Since the article is about Jones’ upcoming Catch-Photo-Release summer long smallmouth tournament, and [...]

A week or two ago, Emery weighed in with his thoughts and response to the Newtown, Connecticut shootings. Over the next few days, the federal government (Congress and the President) will be discussing possible legal actions with the intent to minimize random, mass shootings.
GO TO POLL in the right hand column. Up to 5 [...]

I’m going to stay out of the minefield of endorsing political candidates, but I do want to venture a comment about this election season as it relates to the outdoors we all share.
It concerns me that in a nation that practically invented government by the people, for the people, of the people, so many people [...]

It’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 [...]

By Jo Schaper
I’m a country girl at heart. Though I’ve always lived on that undefinable border between St. Louis Metro and rural Missouri, I really hate to go into the tall-towered heart of the city, neither downtown St. Louis nor, especially, Clayton.
Last night I spent five hours in Clayton, two outside with the [...]

If St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley was trying to get the public’s attention, his 2012 budget plan to close 23 out 50 county parks and cut 175 jobs did the trick. In fact, he may have aroused a sleeping tiger.
Some 60 members of the public attended a County Council meeting in Clayton last night, [...]

Commentary 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. [...]

Of all the stories and pictures in this month’s Traveler, Alex Biehl’s piece on Page 15 rang my bell the loudest.
In one story, there’s despair, hope, nostalgia and common sense that can be applied to our everyday problems.
First, the despair. Vandals with a pipe wrench opened the floodgates at Noblett Lake this summer, draining the [...]