April 17th - April 19th
MONPS 2026
Spring Field Trip
Join us for our next MONPS weekend! We will be visiting several sites near Farmington MO beginning the afternoon of Friday, April 17th and wrapping up on Sunday morning, April 19th.
Hickory Canyons Natural Area is in Ste. Genevieve County, northeast of Farmington. Owned by the L-A-D Foundation, this 1094-acre area is managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation. Defined by its box canyons and sandstone cliffs, Hickory Canyons NA harbors a number of unique plant communities, especially on the cool, moist cliff faces. These features support concentrations of partridge berry, various fern species and club mosses. In the bottoms grow spicebush, pawpaw, deciduous holly and numerous sedges. The bottoms are defined by mesic sandstone forest, an uncommon natural community in Missouri. This forest is dominated by northern red oak, white oak, and sugar maple. There is also dry mesic sandstone forest along the upper slopes and around the trailhead. There, and also on the dry sandstone cliffs, are shortleaf pine, white oak, black oak, blackjack oak, scarlet oak, post oak, and mockernut hickory. Understory trees and shrubs on the dry sites include azalea, flowering dogwood, farkleberry, and ironwood.
Field Trip Leader: Hilary Haley - (816) 255-4805
Friday Evening - April 17th
7:00PM
Friday Night Speaker
Farmington Public Library
Sarah Barton Murphy Community Room
101 North A St.
Farmington, Missouri 63640
Please use the Liberty St. entrance on the south side of the building
A lost landscape - Ecology of the Farmington Region
Ron Colatskie, Natural Resource Ecologist (Missouri Department of Natural Resources) will be our speaker
Click Here for Detailed Directions
Mooner’s Hollow Trail traverses Coonville Creek Natural Area. Along the upper reaches of Coonville Creek are unique and fragile wetlands known as fens. Ozark fens such as these are typically dominated by herbaceous plants and are kept open by both saturated soils and historically, occasional wildfires. The fens along Coonville Creek are created by groundwater moving down through dolomite formations and hitting a resistant layer, likely sandstone, along which the water then runs horizontally and seeps out onto the lower slopes along the valley.
Coonville Creek’s fens include plant species considered “glacial relicts.” That is, they are species that were common in Missouri 10,000 years ago when glaciers covered the upper midwest. In the intervening thousands of years Missouri’s climate has gotten warmer and drier. The glacial relict species were able to persist in fens and along spring branches where cool groundwater provides appropriate habitat conditions. At Coonville Creek’s fens, glacial relicts include interior sedge, marsh fern, and swamp thistle. Visitors to the area may spot the swamp metalmark, a butterfly species that is highly associated with fens and whose larvae feed primarily on swamp thistle. Although small, fens are hot spots of botanical and insect diversity.
Field Trip Leader: Hilary Haley - (816) 255-4805
Leave Crown Pointe Lodge – Farmington, MO at 8:00 AM
Saturday, April 18th
12:00 PM - Lunch Break
St. Francois State Park, Shelter #1
St. Joe State Park is located in the old "Lead Belt" region of southeast Missouri. The area's first successful mining venture began in the early 1700s when miners extracted lead by hand from shallow pits. Thanks to the introduction of the diamond-tipped drill by the St. Joe Lead Co. in 1869, the lead mining industry took off and the recovery of the world's richest known deposit of lead began in earnest. For more than 100 years, this area produced nearly 80% of the nation's mined lead. The discovery of rich new deposits in other areas led to the demise of mining at the site. In 1972, St. Joe Minerals Corp. ceased operations in the area and subsequently donated the land to the state in 1976. Maturing second-growth forests of oak and hickory that are natural to the area cover most of the park. The forests are interspersed with native grasslands and a number of intermittent streams and wetlands. Along the Lakeview Trail, we are likely to see yellow lady slipper orchids in bud and prairie iris.
Field Trip Leader: Hilary Haley - (816) 255-4805
Saturday, April 18th
5:30 PM - Dinner (Optional)
102 West Columbia St
Farmington, MO 63640
Saturday Evening - April 18th
7:30PM
Board Meeting
Crown Pointe Lodge – Farmington, MO
4245 Hunt Rd.
Farmington, MO 63640
Here on these north and east facing slopes above the Big River are stands of tall northern red oak, white oak, and Kentucky coffee tree. Below them a mid-story of Ohio buckeye, sugar maple, pawpaw, spicebush and bladdernut thrives. In the spring, ephemeral spring wildflowers capitalize on the sunlight hitting the ground before the canopy trees fully leaf out. Toothwort, celandine poppy, bloodroot, bellwort, and wake robin grace the forest floor at this time. Many of these spring forest wildflowers such as wild ginger and Dutchman’s breeches depend on ant species for their seed dispersal. The hiking trail known as the 1,000 Steps Trail passes through the natural area. This trail was constructed by Company 1743 of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1936. An even older history is recorded at this state park in the form of petroglyphs dating back to 1000 to 1600 A.D. It is likely that Native Americans traversed these hills during that time period.
Field Trip Leader: Hilary Haley - (816) 255-4805
Leave Crown Pointe Lodge – Farmington, MO at 8:00 AM
Click Here for Detailed Directions
Lodging Options
Camping at St. Joe State Park
Reservation Desk or 877-422-6766
Crown Pointe Lodge
4245 Hunt Rd.
Farmington, MO 63640
Reservations for Booked Rooms │ Phone: 573-701-9747
A block of rooms has been reserved. Please let them know that you are with the Missouri Native Plant Society.
