Posts in Land Management
Restoring a Natural Icon With the Help of Americorps' St. Louis Emergency Response Team

Forest Park's John F. Kennedy Memorial Forest is a unique example of forest habitat that sits in the center of a city environment. Sections of Kennedy Forest are old-growth, dating back to well before the outer limits of the city of St. Louis even made it to the land on which Forest Park now sits. The Kennedy Forest Restoration Project, made possible by a lead gift from the Mysun Charitable Foundation, is an ambitious one-year restoration plan focused on revitalizing a 10-acre portion of the forest. The project is led by Forest Park Forever, in partnership with the City of St. Louis and with considerable help from Americorps' St. Louis Emergency Response Team. 

Read More
Beauty at the Boathouse: The Art and Science of Annual Plantings in Forest Park

Forest Park Forever Horticulturist Patrick Greenwald shares a glimpse into the art and science behind the annual displays he creates for the Boathouse. The tropical floral display that wowed visitors over the summer has been removed to make way for a new annual display to emerge in the spring of 2016. Click through to learn more about Patrick's process and the hard work it takes to make the floral displays in Forest Park possible. 

Read More
Maintaining a Masterpiece: How Forest Park Forever Is Tackling Urgent Repairs & Establishing a Long-Term Maintenance Plan

It isn’t every day you can paddle-boat across a basin built over 100 years ago, watch a musical in the country’s oldest outdoor musical theatre or run through a grove containing dozens of plant species. But in Forest Park, not a day goes by without someone taking advantage of what this destination has to offer....

Read More
Finding Ourselves at Home: My Journey Back to Forest Park — and What You Will See This Spring

I remember as a child looking forward to going to the Muny each summer in Forest Park. Children like routine, and each seven-show season with Grandma Dorothy, my mother and my sister was just that: dependable. Whether we were strolling through the gardens of the newly renovated Pagoda Circle, eating dinner beside the Cascades, driving past the lit-up Emerson Grand Basin fountains or walking beneath towering cottonwood trees, Forest Park was always a place where I felt at home; a place where people and nature met together in harmony. But as time goes by, we become adults — we experience the death of loved ones, birth and new life, and we travel away from where we grew up. We begin to realize how unpredictable life truly is, and how special ....

Read More