"An Extra Place to Call Home": The Nature Reserve Provides Hope and Happiness in Forest Park
AMY WITT
From Ted Drewes to craft brews, we love our hand-crafted, hometown treasures.
And for nearly 30 years, one of the biggest hand-crafted, hometown treasures has been right under our noses.
Forest Park’s Nature Reserve is 178 acres of forest, savannas, a river system, lakes and a pond.
“The Nature Reserve provides opportunities the public can’t get anyplace else in St. Louis,” says Forest Park Forever Park Ecologist Amy Witt, who oversees Forest Park Forever’s Nature Reserve 8-person department, which was established in 2006 following several years of remarkable volunteer efforts in this important area. “Whether it’s finding shade away from the city or a place to enjoy a rich diversity of plants and wildlife, it offers a unique solitary experience.”
Witt adds that the Nature Reserve also provides access to nature for people of all comfort levels, from those who like to explore to those who prefer to observe.
“The Nature Reserve’s Deer Lake is a great example,” she says. “People can enjoy a quiet picnic by the riffles, or they can walk over the rocks to Deer Lake Savannah. Anyone can make nature a part of their routine in the Nature Reserve. It’s like an extra place you can call home.”
BEN SENTURIA, PICTURED SECOND TO THE RIGHT
Creating the Nature Reserve in Forest Park
This natural home-away-from-home started not with professional ecologists and landscape architects, but a small group of bird watchers.
“We spent a lot of time in the Kennedy Woods in the 1990s, using informal trails to get to where the birds were,” says Ben Senturia, one member of the group.
“Bird watchers focus first on hearing, then seeing,” Senturia recalls. “I would go into the middle of the woods, several hundred yards from the busiest intersection in St. Louis, close my eyes, and feel like I was in the rain forest,”
But there was a problem: The woods were dying.
“They were being strangled by honeysuckle,” explains Senturia. Plus, he and others in the group saw the benefits of having trails for people and wildlife in the woods, which included about 60 acres.
Meanwhile, other group members, including Gary Schimmelpfenig and the late Ken Cohen, were looking beyond the trees. They found eager partners in the City of St. Louis and the Missouri Department of Conservation, who together helped envision what would become the Kennedy Woods Savanna, the Park’s first intentionally created natural area.
“Ken had brought in prairie savanna experts to look at the area at the edge of the forest,” Schimmelpfenig recalls. “We wanted to establish a native oak savannah.”
The idea was bold, because native oak savannahs are rare, especially in cities. To achieve their goal, Schimmelpfenig, Cohen and others would need to gather seed from regional genotypes and nurture them in the heart of the city.
With dual visions of a more accessible, healthier Kennedy Woods and a native oak savanna in place, the bird-watchers-turned-conservationists went to work.
GARY SCHIMMELPFENIG AND STUDENTS
KWAG: A Savanna Is Born
Cohen realized a more coordinated effort was needed for the work ahead. He created a new group, the Kennedy Woods Advisory Group (KWAG), and connected closely with the City. KWAG began raising money for its projects, and by 1999 had raised enough funds to hire Schimmelpfenig.
“We needed a lot of help,” Schimmelpfenig recalls. “By the time I was hired, we had already had hundreds of volunteers clearing honeysuckle and other invasive species out of Kennedy Woods. More than 20 others had been collecting seeds from regional genotypes.”
With the savanna planned, KWAG and its tireless volunteers began seeding it — but it was not easy.
“We gained a deep respect for nature,” says Schimmelpfenig. “We were humbled by the deep, rich soil, which has its own way of negotiating native plants. We would carefully plant seeds, but the soil would say, ‘No, this is what’s happening!’”
Undeterred, KWAG, the City, and the volunteers pressed on. In addition to the Kennedy Woods Savanna, they created another savanna at Deer Lake and the prairie and woodland near Steinberg Skating Rink.
Just a few years after work had started, Schimmelpfenig had an experience at Deer Lake that made all the partners' efforts worthwhile.
“It was the first week of October 2005,” he recalls. “I stepped into Deer Lake and had never seen anything like it. The monarch butterfly migration had started, and they were stacking up at the lake, hundreds of them. I got one photo of a Drummond’s aster with 14 or 15 monarch butterflies on it. I thought, ‘Deer Lake is really coming back!’ Hopefully some day we can see that again.”
Improving Access to Kennedy Forest
With the honeysuckle disappearing from Kennedy Woods, Ben Senturia began pursuing his dream of making Kennedy Forest more accessible.
Senturia began working with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Forest Park Forever and the City’s Parks Department to install trails in the woods. He also worked with local environmental groups to explain the project and make sure enough areas would be left for animals, plants and insects.
One significant achievement clfrom this time was replacing Valley Drive, which ran through a section of the woods, with a bike trail.
“Removing Valley Drive unified the woods and made it a better reserve,” Senturia says. The Nature Reserve now features about 9.5 miles of pathways and trails.
In addition, KWAG’s work with the City, Forest Park Forever and the Missouri Department of Conservation resulted in a significant growth in tree planting nearby, including hundreds of trees between Wells and Government Drives and along Highway 40.
“In cooperation with Forest Park Forever, the City and the Missouri Department of Conservation, we have taken a forest that was dying and helped preserve it, expand it and make it accessible to the public.”
THE LATE KEN COHEN
The Impact of Ken Cohen
Both Schimmelpfenig and Senturia remember their friend Ken Cohen as an inspiration for entire ecosystem reconstruction, including the 54 acres of waterways. One living tribute to Cohen’s commitment is the recreated Ozark stream that feeds a vernal pond in Kennedy Forest.
Vernal ponds are temporary pools of water that provide habitat for particular plants and animals. Kennedy Forest had been home to a vernal pond in 2005, which Cohen played a role in creating. But after several years it no longer functioned as a healthy habitat. There was a low point where water accumulated, and erosion issues in the area were already becoming problematic.
Senturia recalls that Cohen, who had been diagnosed with leukemia, had shared for many years his interest in seeing this pond renovated for the benefit of the Park. In the summer of 2017, the Forest Park Forever Nature Reserve team and City partners, with generous support from KWAG, renovated this vernal pond. The completed vernal pond now provides a new, healthy habitat for wildlife and another place of quiet contemplation in Kennedy Forest. The water cascades over a limestone bluff and falls into the pond below.
“When he knew he was terminally ill, Ken said, ‘I have a few things I want to get done, and one is to make sure the vernal pond works,” Senturia recalls. “Thanks to our wonderful partners, we were able to do that.”
SUCCESIONAL FOREST TRAIL IMPROVEMENT COMPLETED IN 2020
Maintaining the Dream
Starting the Nature Reserve was only the first step. Maintaining it is an ongoing challenge that requires a lot of human and financial resources.
“If you let a place go, invasive plants take it over,” Schimmelpfenig says. But thanks to Forest Park Forever’s ecology staff and many volunteers, the Nature Reserve is thriving today as part of the Park’s Master Plan.
A good example is the Successional Forest, between Carr Lane and McKinley Drives.
“ In the 1970s, mowing was halted in that area and allowed to just ‘go wild’,” Forest Park Forever Park Ecologist Amy Witt says. “I talked with a photographer recently who has been taking pictures around the forest for the past decade, but now she can actually enter the forest because we have restored it and added a trail.”
Controlled burns are another important part of restoration and maintenance. Each year, Forest Park Forever conducts burns on about 26 acres of land.
“Burns are a tool to keep habitats healthy,” Witt says. “They remove thatch so that seeds can touch the ground, which allows species to regenerate and keep going strong.”
For the past three years, public plantings have also been part of the plan. Families can come to the Park to plant plugs grown by volunteers. Schimmelpfenig opens plantings with ecological readings, music and an Earth chant.
“Everyone participates with rhythmic instruments in a spontaneous, authentic ritual,” he says. “It reflects the group and its intention to do good by nature as we are going out to plant and really support biodiversity.”
Of course, the intentions are followed up by hard work.
“I have been working with Forest Park Forever’s Nature Reserve Stewards Catherine Hu and Theo Smith on wintercreeper” he says. “Another Nature Reserve Steward, Josh Wibbenmeyer, has done great work in Deer Lake. The entire ecology team under Amy’s leadership has taken the Park’s natural areas to a new level. It’s been an uphill climb, but it’s starting to literally bloom and blossom.”
Each year, Forest Park Forever’s Nature Reserve team completes a strategic series of work across the Nature Reserve, in partnership with the City and devoted volunteers. In 2020 alone, the team planted more than 1,000 trees and shrubs, nearly 16,000 plugs of wildflowers, sedges and grasses, and more than 100 pounds of seed. The organization also made important advancements this on a multi-year restoration effort within Kennedy Forest.
The Nature Reserve in the Time of COVID: Now More than Ever
The Nature Reserve’s biodiversity and solitude have been even more critical during the pandemic, as people seek safe ways to reconnect with nature and each other.
“People are using our sites more intentionally,” Witt says. “It’s been fun to talk to visitors who have learned more about different areas. They are seeking ways to make the Park a bigger part of their lives.”
Witt describes one Central West End couple who had previously only visited the Park’s northeast corner. Now, the deeper parts of Kennedy Forest have become their favorite places.
“It’s exciting to see people going outside of their comfort zones,” she says.
At the same time, the Nature Reserve serves as an educational role as well, which is near and dear to Schimmelpfenig’s heart.
“Awareness about the natural world and biodiversity is more important in this time of global warming,” says Schimmelpfenig, who used to take his Forsyth School students across Skinker to the Kennedy Woods Savanna.
“Biologists now think that assembling native plants is as important as reducing your carbon footprint, because you can see the impact right away. And it may be better to include genotypes from other areas, as well, so habitats can adapt to change more quickly,” he continues. One part of the Nature Reserve system — the Taylor Kindle River and waterways on the east side of the Park — will be a special area of focus in the coming years.
“The river is the backbone of the Park,” Witt explains of this Park feature that has been strategically connected and improved in recent decades. “Together, it creates 36 acres of connected habitat for deer, muskrats, woodland frogs, fish and migratory and predatory birds. To survive, most creatures need food, water, and shelter, and the waterway graciously provides all those things.”
The City and Forest Park Forever also rely on the water system for storm water management and pollution runoff control, Witt says, and pollution buffers along the waterway provide scenic vistas for visitors.
In 2021, Forest Park Forever and the City of St. Louis will break ground on a major project to continue connecting the river system on the east side of the Park and improve three lakes in the area. The project includes adding underground recirculation and stormwater collection systems to fully connect the Park’s river system and reduce water use.
Forest Park Forever and the City are looking far out into the future with the recent development of the Forest Park Natural Resources Management Plan. The goal of the plan is to ensure the ongoing health, diversity and sustainability of the Park’s forests, waterway and more, allowing more strategic ongoing preventative maintenance and care.
“This Natural Resources Management Plan establishes a long-range strategy for the restoration and ongoing stewardship for Forest Park’s natural resources,” says Forest Park Forever’s Director of Land Management Shawnell Faber. “We wanted to make sure that our natural areas were authentic, natural landscapes that were integrated within every aspect of the Park. I am excited that we now have a comprehensive and adaptable approach to caring for these spaces that promotes ecological health and the relationship between people and the natural landscape.
“Forest Park Forever is doing everything it can to raise the quality of the ecosystems in Forest Park’s urban environment,” says Schimmelpfenig. “The hope is we are creating places people will walk into and think, ‘Wow, look at this!’”
For Faber, the Nature Reserve and its supporters play an even bigger role.
"Land Management and the City of St. Louis partner on day-to-day maintenance so the Nature Reserve can thrive," Faber says. "Just like any healthy ecosystem, all of its members must do what they do best every day for the whole to succeed. We are grateful for the visionaries in the City and KWAG who helped make this homegrown treasure a reality for St. Louis. Our team is honored and privileged to carry on this important work with our partners, continuing to bring ‘hope and happiness’ to the Park for many years ahead."
