Roaring River Continues Glade Restoration
February 1, 2023
Ezra DeVore
An initiative is underway at Roaring River State Park to restore the vital yet fragile glade areas in the park, providing security for habitats that take years to form and have been hindered by invasive species. With the help of AmeriCorps teams, the park continues its initiative to clear its glades of factors that inhibit the return of wildlife to these ecosystems.
AmeriCorps is a network of programs designed to meet community needs in a variety of aspects of life, ranging from education to homeland security, though the individuals sent to Roaring River are skilled specifically in hands-on forest management. Missouri’s primary AmeriCorps members are based in St. Louis, though will be sent for weeks or months across the nation to tend needs of natural ecosystems - working in dense, remote back-country for extended periods of time. With three visits to Roaring River planned for this spring, totaling nearly 25 days, the park is preparing for a great deal of progress to be made - both before and after opening day.
Of the 22 glade areas overseen in the Roaring River and Big Sugar State Parks, the primary focus areas of the park are Glade 3, near Highway F, and Glade 7, on Fire Tower Trail. Glades in our area can range from one acre to 45 or more, and each acre can take 100 work hours or more to clear of invasive species. With short staffing issues, Roaring River has enlisted AmeriCorps teams from St. Louis and Colorado to assist with the work.
“AmeriCorps is helping us achieve the dream of getting those glades restored,” Roaring River Superintendent Joel Topham stated. He says the groups come down to Barry County and assist in a variety of projects, however, including general trail maintenance and rebuilding after floods.
“It takes a lot of effort,” Topham continued. “They backpack into remote areas and cut down trees by hand. We’re trying to minimize the impact that big machines can have on an ecosystem, so we do it all by hand.”
Chainsaws, axes, and similar handheld equipment are utilized instead of larger, more devastative machinery, as delicate and accurate removal is the goal. Topham equates the practice to “the way they did it back in the day.”
Though the great logging era of American expansion was limited to the latter half of the 1800s, this method of forest management has not altered greatly, he says.
The prevailing issue tackled in these efforts is the excessive growth of the Eastern Red Cedar. Natural Ecologist at Roaring River, Taylor Steinfeldt, states that cedar is a naturally occurring tree in this region. However, its susceptibility to forest fires is what kept the species from becoming a problem for ecosystems in existence prior to the encroachment of civilization in the 1920s.
In the past, lightning would cause forest fires at certain intervals, healthily clearing the land for new life to form. However, with roads and fencing constructed as civilization drew its borders, forest fires were not able to spread as vastly as historically, leading to a great abundance of hindering flora growing.
What were once young trees, able to be extracted easily, slowly became mature trees, cemented and virtually fireproof. With their canopies not allowing the sun to dry their surrounding earth, the soil and vegetation surrounding them are nearly always wet, moist, and rarely fully dry. This wet earth then acts as an additional wall for any forest fire to pierce.
If allowed to flourish completely, the cedar will conquer vast swaths of land, usurping land that could support the broader health of the glade. With its canopy shadowing the forest floor, wildflowers and grasses are not allowed to grow as they would in the sun, and therefore, mammals who live off vegetation lack food sources. Comfortable in inhospitable locations and requiring little soil, this cedar thrives nearly anywhere in southwest Missouri’s climate.
These trees are also notoriously rot-resistant. The first teams sent out to remove the species cut down a vast amount of them, leaving the remnants in piles, believing that the stumps would rot over time. These piles remain to this day, however, and though unintended by its fellers, fostered the birth of many new Red Cedars in the area.
Glades are typically found on drier slopes, facing south or west toward the sun. Sun exposure is crucial for the glade to thrive, providing it with the abundance it requires to become a sanctuary for birds, butterflies, reptiles of all kinds, and herbivore mammals like deer and rabbits.
The goal at present is to clear the woodlands of debris and tame the cedars. Glades reach self-sufficiency easily, requiring only the right conditions to manifest itself. Upon reaching full manifestation of function, the glades can self-regulate if tended to every few years with prescribed burnings. The park plans to further open and connect the glades to one another, providing a network of open and connected space for the woodland creatures inhabiting them.
Many animals who rely on these glades as their home, like the Collared Lizard, have been pushed out nearly completely. When the glades are damaged or separated by human development or intervention, more mobile animals such as deer and rabbits can move to another. However, snakes, scorpions, lizards, and other smaller creatures tend to isolate and get entrenched, leading to possible harm if their threatened environment worsens.
On May 13, Big Sugar Creek will host a wildflower hike. Please call the Nature Center at 417-847-3742 for information. Roaring River State Park proudly continues their weekly Bluegrass nights from the weekend of May 26 and 27, every Friday until early September.
An initiative is underway at Roaring River State Park to restore the vital yet fragile glade areas in the park, providing security for habitats that take years to form and have been hindered by invasive species. With the help of AmeriCorps teams, the park continues its initiative to clear its glades of factors that inhibit the return of wildlife to these ecosystems.
AmeriCorps is a network of programs designed to meet community needs in a variety of aspects of life, ranging from education to homeland security, though the individuals sent to Roaring River are skilled specifically in hands-on forest management. Missouri’s primary AmeriCorps members are based in St. Louis, though will be sent for weeks or months across the nation to tend needs of natural ecosystems - working in dense, remote back-country for extended periods of time. With three visits to Roaring River planned for this spring, totaling nearly 25 days, the park is preparing for a great deal of progress to be made - both before and after opening day.
Of the 22 glade areas overseen in the Roaring River and Big Sugar State Parks, the primary focus areas of the park are Glade 3, near Highway F, and Glade 7, on Fire Tower Trail. Glades in our area can range from one acre to 45 or more, and each acre can take 100 work hours or more to clear of invasive species. With short staffing issues, Roaring River has enlisted AmeriCorps teams from St. Louis and Colorado to assist with the work.
“AmeriCorps is helping us achieve the dream of getting those glades restored,” Roaring River Superintendent Joel Topham stated. He says the groups come down to Barry County and assist in a variety of projects, however, including general trail maintenance and rebuilding after floods.
“It takes a lot of effort,” Topham continued. “They backpack into remote areas and cut down trees by hand. We’re trying to minimize the impact that big machines can have on an ecosystem, so we do it all by hand.”
Chainsaws, axes, and similar handheld equipment are utilized instead of larger, more devastative machinery, as delicate and accurate removal is the goal. Topham equates the practice to “the way they did it back in the day.”
Though the great logging era of American expansion was limited to the latter half of the 1800s, this method of forest management has not altered greatly, he says.
The prevailing issue tackled in these efforts is the excessive growth of the Eastern Red Cedar. Natural Ecologist at Roaring River, Taylor Steinfeldt, states that cedar is a naturally occurring tree in this region. However, its susceptibility to forest fires is what kept the species from becoming a problem for ecosystems in existence prior to the encroachment of civilization in the 1920s.
In the past, lightning would cause forest fires at certain intervals, healthily clearing the land for new life to form. However, with roads and fencing constructed as civilization drew its borders, forest fires were not able to spread as vastly as historically, leading to a great abundance of hindering flora growing.
What were once young trees, able to be extracted easily, slowly became mature trees, cemented and virtually fireproof. With their canopies not allowing the sun to dry their surrounding earth, the soil and vegetation surrounding them are nearly always wet, moist, and rarely fully dry. This wet earth then acts as an additional wall for any forest fire to pierce.
If allowed to flourish completely, the cedar will conquer vast swaths of land, usurping land that could support the broader health of the glade. With its canopy shadowing the forest floor, wildflowers and grasses are not allowed to grow as they would in the sun, and therefore, mammals who live off vegetation lack food sources. Comfortable in inhospitable locations and requiring little soil, this cedar thrives nearly anywhere in southwest Missouri’s climate.
These trees are also notoriously rot-resistant. The first teams sent out to remove the species cut down a vast amount of them, leaving the remnants in piles, believing that the stumps would rot over time. These piles remain to this day, however, and though unintended by its fellers, fostered the birth of many new Red Cedars in the area.
Glades are typically found on drier slopes, facing south or west toward the sun. Sun exposure is crucial for the glade to thrive, providing it with the abundance it requires to become a sanctuary for birds, butterflies, reptiles of all kinds, and herbivore mammals like deer and rabbits.
The goal at present is to clear the woodlands of debris and tame the cedars. Glades reach self-sufficiency easily, requiring only the right conditions to manifest itself. Upon reaching full manifestation of function, the glades can self-regulate if tended to every few years with prescribed burnings. The park plans to further open and connect the glades to one another, providing a network of open and connected space for the woodland creatures inhabiting them.
Many animals who rely on these glades as their home, like the Collared Lizard, have been pushed out nearly completely. When the glades are damaged or separated by human development or intervention, more mobile animals such as deer and rabbits can move to another. However, snakes, scorpions, lizards, and other smaller creatures tend to isolate and get entrenched, leading to possible harm if their threatened environment worsens.
On May 13, Big Sugar Creek will host a wildflower hike. Please call the Nature Center at 417-847-3742 for information. Roaring River State Park proudly continues their weekly Bluegrass nights from the weekend of May 26 and 27, every Friday until early September.