10-18-2011 removal of Invasive Honeysuckle from 3M UERP

As part of the partnership agreement with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation's grant conservation measures, our Forestry crew removed the majority of the Invasive Honeysuckle that has been growing on the northern embankment of the M-K-T trail. The activity is also being done in preparation for the undergrounding of the existing overhead power lines that parallel the trail. This undergrounding work is a partnership between Parks & Recreation and Water & Light.

The two main values to the citizens of Columbia and goals of this particular activity will be;

1. Elimination of the maintenance need to trim trees along alignment, thereby reducing the expenditure of monies for this work and the common problem of tree topping or killing of trees.

and

2. Bringing the view shed of the site back to what the natural area would look like without human influence.

We hope you enjoy this new outdoor recreational area as we finish out our work over the winter months.

Also, keep and eye out for the Get-About project that is slated to begin in the Spring that will connect Katy Parkway to the M-K-T Trail winding through the wooded hillside above the wetlands site.

"Houston we have base rock" 9-27-2011

Forestry has brought in almost all the base rock for the perimeter trail. Tomorrow the rock with be graded in preparation for the surface rock. There is still quite a bit of rock and soil work to do at the far south end of the trail( where it meets the M-K-T). So for the meantime there will be a period where no connectivity between the two remains.

Today the last concrete pour was made at the pump house building, to fill in the window, door and floor openings. Now the count starts for 28 days before back filling operations can commence. Back filling will be the first stage in the preparation for the green of the structure.

Urban Ecology Restoration Project 9-23-2011

Non-woven geo-fabric has been installed in preparation for trail base rock material. The installation of geo-fabric reduces the amount of base rock required to build a trail, thereby reducing the time and cost of trail installation and maintenance. This is a pilot project for a greener way of trail construction.

Forestry's four man permanent crew will continue their efforts to get this trail built and open for users as fast as they possibly can while contending with the many other responsibilities and projects they have to work on concurrently.

3M Urban Ecology Restoration Project gets more visitors...the two legged kind

September 15th, 2011 the Central Missouri Community Forestry Council came to visit the site and see what we are doing with trail building and the plans for reforesting parts of the site. If you click here, you'll be taken to their Facebook page.

3M Urban Ecology Restoration Project gets visitors...the two legged kind

September 9th the wetlands project had a good visit from some of the participants of Job Point. These young men and women were on their way to do a clean sweep of the Hinkson Creek and stopped by to learn a little about the project and it's purpose. To see photos of the visit please click here

Urban Ecology Restoration Project

Progress on the wetlands cells has been good with the dry weather of the last month. But all good things must come to and end.



This image shows the first pool after a 1.5" rainfall, and only catching from a small percentage of the total 140 acre watershed.

The Schematic below shows what the anticipated wetlands will look like from a birds eye perspective. The first pool is the larger of the three to the right of the image.