Big Muddy Speaker Series presents:

This winter, the University of Missouri – St. Louis Grounds Department and Pierre Laclede Honors College CHERP urban ecology program (Stream Team #3999) began to rewild 8 acres along Maline and Engelholm Creeks – tributaries to the Mississippi River.  Native plant ecosystems are returning to these watersheds for the first time in 200 years.  Good news for aquatic macroinvertebrates and terrestrial wildlife – white-tailed deer, foxes, coyotes, and numerous birds.  The project is funded by an $30,000 MDC Community Conservation Grant.  A local restoration ecology firm, Native Landscape Solutions, is completing site preparation. Soon, student service-learning crews and citizen conservationists will be sowing seed and planting trees.

Restoration ecology projects on UMSL’s campus are part of a vision to manage university lands and watersheds for environmental sustainability and beauty.  Rewilding urban lands is an emerging method to support big river conservation and ecosystem services.  Native wild lands in urban settings improve water quality by mitigating storm water runoff.  Patches of native Missouri savanna, woodlands, and prairie on a river’s uplands support biodiversity in feeder streams, riparian areas, and nearby public lands.  Wild lands in urban areas expand the islands of natural habitats and link them together.  Wild areas on campus support learning.  Students get a chance to discover the natural world and discover the joys of outdoor recreation, bird study, and contact with nature.  Wild areas in urban areas provide valuable ecosystem services for thriving human communities and flourishing watersheds.

UMSL is working to green its campus and expand natural areas, create “low mow zones” that minimize mowing and pollution while allowing wildflowers to bloom, plant trees, and establish orchards where students can grab a snack right from a tree. Low mow zones are lawn areas that become prime candidates for urban savanna or prairie restoration.  UMSL recently became a Tree Campus USA as part of their commitment toward becoming a leading environmentally sustainable university for the 21^st century.  This month’s talk will help us understand how greening our urban institutional campuses can help restore valuable ecosystems along our big river watersheds.