Summer 2007: Volume 28, Number 3 - Missouri Prairie Foundation

St. Louis Area Urban PrairiesCarol DavitVisitors to the KennedyWoods Savanna,above, can enjoy thestately oaks, grassesand wildflowers fromwalking and bikingpaths through the area.Another grassland atForest Park, at right,is the Deer Lake WetSavanna Complex,pictured here withseveral aster species inbloom.Forest Park GrasslandsTwo areas in the City of St. Louis’s Forest Parkhave been transformed in the last ten years withprairie and savanna vegetation. Established firstwas the Kennedy Woods Savanna, near the ArtMuseum and between Kennedy Woods andSkinker Boulevard. Inspired to create a grasslandarea at the park after a visit to Prairie State Parkin 1996, Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF) andKennedy Woods Advisory Group member KenCohen pitched the idea at an MPF board meeting.The board responded with $1,500 to begin asavanna project among the stately oaks growingalong the edge of Kennedy Woods.Gary Schimmelpfenig, project manager withDJM Ecoscapes, Restoration and Management,produced a plan for the site and organized volunteerprairie seed collecting for the project in1998 at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit,Missouri, and Gordon Moore Prairie in EastAlton, Illinois. The area was treated with glyphosate(generic Round-Up) that fall. In May 1999,22 volunteers hand-scattered the seed (about 15pounds of shade mix and 75 pounds of sun mix).In what previously was just another area ofmowed lawn is today a constructed savanna withGary Schimmelpfeniglush wildflowers and grasses growing beneathmammoth oaks. It is alive with insects and birds,and people experiencing a landscape original tothe Midwest.The second area in Forest Park now distinguishedby prairie vegetation is the DeerLake Wet Savanna Complex. Located at theeastern end of Forest Park in the Deer Lake andSteinberg areas, the complex covers approximately15 acres and features plants native to prairie,savanna, and bottomland forest. Included in thecomplex is a flowing stream lined with limestoneand simulated limestone bluffs.20