Learn about the St. Louis Urban Wildlife Project at Powder Valley Nature Center presentation June 27

KIRKWOOD, Mo.—How does wildlife cope with the presence of development?  How do animals adapt to the urban environment?  What does biodiversity look like in the St. Louis metro area?  For the past five years, the St. Louis Wildlife Project has been collecting data to help answer these questions. 

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) invites the public to learn more about this unique initiative.  Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center will host The St. Louis Wildlife Project- Five Year Findings, a free presentation Saturday, June 27 from 7 – 8 p.m.  Powder Valley’s doors will open at 6:30 p.m. so visitors can enjoy its exhibits before the program begins at 7 p.m. in the nature center’s auditorium.

The purpose of the St. Louis Wildlife Project, a partnership among local scientists, is to understand how urbanization affects the diversity and distribution of wildlife in the metro region.  The effort employs trail cameras and acoustic recorders to document the presence of mammal species along a 25-mile urban to rural corridor.  It runs from the Gateway Arch National Park in downtown St. Louis to Route 66 State Park in Eureka. Powder Valley Nature Center has been one of the project’s data collection sites for the past five years.

During this program, project members will share findings from the first five years of the study.  The goal of the project is to promote human-wildlife coexistence.  It also seeks to demonstrate how understanding wildlife behavior and ecology can help sustainable urban planning.

St. Louis Wildlife Project- Five Year Findings is a free program open to ages six and up.  Advanced registration is required at http://short.mdc.mo.gov/4Fk.  Participants 15 and under should attend with adult.

Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center is located at 11715 Cragwold Road in Kirkwood, near the intersection of I-270 and I-44. 

The St. Louis Wildlife Project, formed in 2018, is a collaboration between biologists at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis and Tyson Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis. Through this project, St. Louis serves as a partner city in the Urban Wildlife Information Network, an initiative based at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.  Its purpose is to document and study urban wildlife around the world. 

More information on this project can be found at StLWildlifeProject.org/.

Stay informed of MDC latest programs by going to the MDC St. Louis regional events page at http://short.mdc.mo.gov/4yq.