OUTDOOR CORNER: NATURAL COMMUNITIES PROVIDE UNIQUE GLIMPSE

The water laps around the canoe. Huge cypress trees tower overhead. Every tree has the top broken off at the same level. My companion tells me, "New Madrid earthquake. The thought is that all the tops broke off in the quake."

Birds chatter in the trees. We push the canoe through a tangle of buttonbush and glide past huge floating logs, covered with moss and unusual plants, veritable floating gardens. We reemerge into the lake, which is quiet, peaceful, almost prehistoric. Is this place for real?

Yes it is. Allred Lake is a Missouri Natural Area located in Butler County. It is the best remaining example of a cypress swamp in Missouri. Cypress swamps, along with dolomite forests, sandstone savannas and igneous glades, are some of our state's natural communities.

Natural communities are collections of plants and animals growing and living together in a particular place. The Missouri landscape has changed greatly over the last two hundred years.

For some natural communities, only a few acres remain, showing what the landscape might once have looked like. The Natural Areas System, now over 20 years old, protects some of the best examples of natural communities in the state. We have several of these "natural crown jewels" in our region.

A natural area close to Cape Girardeau is found in Trail of Tears State Park (Vancill Hollow Natural Area). This mesic forest has some very large, old oak and beech trees and a very steep "riverbreaks terrain." In the spring many wildflowers grow there and the area is rich in fern species. This forest is unique in Missouri because it represents a forest type found mostly further east in the United States.

A nearby natural area with a unique geologic feature is Castor River Shut-ins Natural Area in Madison County. The Castor River flows through a shut-in (chute) of pink granite at that site.

Igneous glade, savanna, and forest communities of good quality are also found there. This area is being managed to open up rock faces along the river bluffs that were formerly glade. Invading cedars were cut there last summer and several cut sites were controlled burned this spring. The response has been a flush of native grasses. Beautiful wildflowers also thrive in the open, sunny glade environment. Birds and lizards use the newly opened habitat as well.

The city of Dexter, on Crowley's Ridge is on the portion of that line of hills that has sandy and gravelly soils. The sands, gravels and hydrology lend to the year-round emergence of dozens of natural springs running out of the hills. The springs, sands and gravels, and ridge feature set the stage for the unique natural communities found at Holly Ridge Natural Area. This area has a natural stand of American Holly and many other rare and interesting plants. The springs are also home to a beautiful little darter which lives nowhere else in the state. Unfortunately, the same sand and gravel that make the area so unique is also very erodable. They can sustain foot travel (hiking) only to prevent damage to the area.

As you can see, natural areas are valuable for a variety of reasons. They protect and preserve relatively undisturbed native habitats and thus our natural heritage. They represent the environments our ancestors encountered in this land. They provide refuges for rare plants and animals. Perhaps this genetic reservoir can be tapped for future medicines and crops.

Researchers can study these systems and learn about energy-efficient and healthy ecosystems. The areas can then be used as models in restoring damaged ecosystems. Finally, natural areas are valuable simply for their beauty.

The Natural Areas System is overseen by a committee with representatives from the Department of Conservation, the Department of Natural Resources, the US Forest Service, and the National Park Service. A potential natural area is described, mapped, and then nominated. The Natural Areas Committee considers the nomination and decides whether to designate the site as a natural area. Once designated, the site is managed to maintain or enhance its natural community or geologic feature. However, protection and management can be challenging. Natural areas can be impacted by outside influences such as pollution and exotic plants. Generally, the larger the natural area is, the better long-term protection it has. Large natural areas will also better support healthy populations of animals that need large ranges.

Ideally, every natural community in the state would be represented in the Natural Areas system. One of the rarest habitats in the state is bottomland forest in the Lowlands which is still being logged and cleared. This leaves almost no remaining habitat for swamp rabbits, migrating song birds, alligator snapping turtles, and many other plants and animals originally found there.

There are many unprotected features in other parts of the state as well. To protect these valuable areas, we need to continue to search for and designate the best examples of each natural community in the state.

If you would like to visit nearby natural areas, stop at the Department of Conservation office in the North County Park Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to pick up area brochures or a natural areas directory.

Janeen Laatsch is a natural history regional biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation.