A few wild days
This summer our Forest Park Living Lab (FPLL) (https://www.forestparklivinglab.org/) team joined the Return of the Wild: A Lewis and Clark Resurvey (https://rolandkays.com/lewisclark/) adventure. It was wonderful to share the wildlife of Forest Park, as well as along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, with our travelling visitors.
The idea behind the Resurvey, led by the Smithsonian Institution and the North Carolina Museum of Natural History, is to help all of us better understand how wildlife populations in 2026 compare to those that Lewis and Clark encountered during their famous 1804 – 1806 expedition. Through this Resurvey, conservationists hope to untangle how the ups and downs of the country’s conservation efforts and ethos, over the centuries, have resulted in the state of wildlife and wildlands in our Nation today. They/we also hope to simply remind all of us of how incredible North America still is for wild creatures.
William Clark’s Journal
During their St. Louis stopover, we started with a visit to the library at the Missouri Museum of History. We were fortunate to be able to look over journals, maps, and other Lewis and Clark artifacts housed there, including William Clark’s actual journal. Seeing the words and drawings made by Clark himself not only made for an awesome morning, but it also was a window into the landscapes and wildlife populations the explorers saw some 220 years ago (https://rolandkays.com/forest-park/).
Paddling up the Missouri River
In addition to our trips to the Museum and paddling upstream on both the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers (https://rolandkays.com/paddling-upstream/), the main focus of this part of the Resurvey was to celebrate the wildlife species that call Forest Park home (https://www.forestparklivinglab.org/news/lewis-and-clark-resurvey).
A few wild nights
We set 18 camera traps in the Park. Once we have 500 trap nights, photos from these traps will be collated with the 1000s of other camera trap photos from locations by conservationists working along the Lewis and Clark Trail. Team work like this will help us get a full picture of the State of Wildlife today. These few photos here are a snapshot of the diversity of animals that live in Forest Park.
A few camera trap photos from the first days of trapping!
Urban wildlife matters
Those of us that have been studying the wildlife of Forest Park for years know of the wilderness right here in St. Louis, and in Forest Park. However, I think it fair to say that the Resurvey travelers were more impressed with the wildlife in our urban park than may have been anticipated. Between spending time watching the red-tailed hawks and “chasing” the three-toed box turtles (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CSs1Y5NEzs), the Resurvey team left St. Louis energized and ready to move on to their next stop along the trail. I am hopeful that this part of the Resurvey journey brought to life how important urban green spaces are for wildlife living along the Lewis and Clark Trail and beyond.