Season After Season*, Forest Park Forever

It’s hard to believe today, but Forest Park was once in decline, with crumbling infrastructure, safety concerns and deferred maintenance keeping people from visiting St. Louis’ largest park in the 1980s. Today, it is a treasured destination where joyful moments make lasting memories. 

Dozens of purple coneflowers bloom in the summer time.

Restoring, maintaining and sustaining Forest Park goes beyond paving summer trails and clearing winter tracks. Our teams work in partnership with the City of St. Louis to keep the urban green space bright and bursting with blooms that delight the Park’s 15.5 million annual visitors season after season.

Forest Park’s turnaround is a success story powered by generous donors and members who support our nonprofit conservancy’s work. From the tallest trees to the tiniest turtles, our conservancy creates a habitat for plants, animals and humans to thrive.

An Outdoor Learning Destination

A turtle sunbaths on the exposed tip of a submersed log in the middle of a waterway.

Located near the World's Fair Pavilion, the Anne O'C. Albrecht Nature Playscape has quickly become a main attraction for outside play on any day! 

Thanks to generous donors, the Playscape opened in the summer of 2021. It was developed, designed and created by a dynamic team of local and national experts, including kids. There are nine areas to discover and this 17-acre play space continues to evolve!

Partnerships are the base of our ability to cultivate a park where joyful moments and lasting memories inspire the next generation to hold a sense of responsibility for its care.

Our Education Team shares resources with young people and organizations that work with youth – like the St. Louis Public School district and St. Louis City Rec Centers – and they have led a record 108 programs engaging over 8,000 participants in Forest Park, with 60% of visitors from low income and under-resourced communities.

Children play on a repurposed tree trunk in the Playscape.

Collaboration is powerful when maintaining a one-of-a-kind space for kids and adults to explore. In just two years, our Land Management teams have planted over 300 trees, 700 shrubs, and 40,000 perennials, and our Department of Parks and Projects has enlarged the "water play" area to 400 linear feet while reducing water usage by nearly 50% in the Playscape!

Season after season of restoring and maintaining Forest Park grows our excitement to meet the next generation who will keep our work going and take care of areas like the Nature Playscape in the future.

If you come to the Park for summer sunsets or winter wonder, please consider supporting our work today through monthly, annual or one-time donation.

*For the love of birds that sing and memories you bring, note the words in bold because you might see them during your next visit to the Park and on our social media channels this season.