Forest Park Forever Receives Award for Ongoing Environmental Stewardship

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The Forest Park Forever team was honored to be awarded second place in the Leader Owner category and given a Circle of Excellence Designation at the 2019 St. Louis Green Business Challenge celebration in December of 2019. The St. Louis Green Business Challenge is a program of the Missouri Botanical Garden, helping businesses of all types and sizes across the St. Louis region with sustainable practices.  Sixty-one companies, non-profits, institutions, and governmental bodies participated in the Challenge in 2019.

Forest Park Forever was recognized for ongoing environmental stewardship, from improvements to the Park's waterway and new Nature Playscape to educational programming promoting sustainable practices to students and teachers in the region.

Forest Park Forever received an additional 490 points compared to 2018, the highest ever point total for our conservancy. The accomplishments Forest Park Forever obtained to receive the awards include:

  • Forest Park Forever’s (19-year Voyage of Learning (VOL) program has expanded its outdoor learning curriculum for educators. VOL 2 guides teachers in creating immersive, project-based learning experiences. In VOL 3, educators teach 3rd–5th graders about the Park’s natural areas. This year, students created strategies to encourage people to visit the Park’s natural areas.

  • Started construction on the Forest Park East Waterways project, designed to enhance water quality, biodiversity, fishing habitat and access. Working with MSD, the project will remove thousands of gallons of water from the stormwater system. SITE certification is underway.  

  • In late 2019, we installed a 11,500-watt solar array to power Forest Park Forever’s shop building. The new unit is expected to supply 40% of the building’s energy and yield about $1,200 in annual electrical savings.

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Forest Park Forever’s innovations recognized are described below:

  • Natural Resources Management Plan, a science-based stewardship plan designed to enhance and manage the Park’s natural areas over the next decade. The plan assessed current conditions in the 194-acre Nature Reserve, created improvement recommendations and quantified resources needed. Park visitors will see the benefits: enhanced biodiversity, ecological health and function, and educational opportunities. 

  • Construction of Forest Park’s new Nature Playscape is transforming 17 acres of turf grass into family activity areas inspired by our region’s natural landscapes. Children will be able to explore eight natural activity areas including a meadow, spring, bottomlands and more. Adding hundreds of majority native trees and plants will reconnect families with nature and continue Forest Park Forever’s work to restore sustainable landscapes. The Nature Playscape is slated for completion in 2020.

Forest Park Forever is committed to sustainability measures to improve the environmental impacts in the St. Louis region.

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