June 3 - 5
MONPS 2022
Summer Field Trip
Join us for our next MONPS weekend! We will be visiting several sites near Festus / Pevely, MO beginning the afternoon of Friday, June 3 and wrapping up on Sunday morning, June 5. Field trips will include sandstone glade, woodland, and cliff communities along with box canyon habitats and wide open vistas.
As part of our summer trip, we’ll also hold our 2022 Annual Meeting where members are invited to hear about activities we’ve been working on in the past year and the work we expect to be doing in the future. The meeting will also feature presentations of the 2022 MONPS awards. See details below and be sure to mark your calendars!
Friday Afternoon - June 3rd
1:00PM
Hickory Canyons Natural Area
Hickory Canyons Natural Area is located about 35 miles south of Festus in Ste. Genevieve County. The area is owned by the L-A-D Foundation and managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation. The area features box canyons and sandstone cliffs. Botanical inventories of the area describe unique plant communities, especially bryophyte species found on the cool, moist cliff faces. Mesic sandstone forest is an uncommon natural community that is found in bottomland areas while dry mesic sandstone forest can be found along the upper slopes and around the trailhead.
Photos courtesy of AllTrails
Friday Evening -June 3rd
7:00PM
Friday Night Speaker
Super 8 by Wyndham Pevely
Ron Colatskie (Department of Natural Resources – Division of State Parks) will discuss the areas and natural communities we plan to visit during the upcoming weekend.
Saturday Morning - June 4th
8:30AM
Sandy Creek State Historic Site - Volunteer Trail
We’ll explore some of the sandstone glade and bluff communities featured at the south side of the park. If permission is granted, the group will park at the Knights of Columbus Hall parking lot and walk along Fort Hill Trail Rd. (about 300 ft) to a volunteer trail
Leave Super 8 at 8:00 AM
Saturday, June 4th
12:30 PM - Lunch Break
Sandy Creek State Historic Site
Sandy Creek Covered Bridge was one of six bridges built in 1872 to allow passage from the Jefferson County seat of Hillsboro to St. Louis. We’ll have some time to see the bridge and find a shady spot at the pavilion or under some trees to enjoy lunch.
Saturday Afternoon - June 4th
1:30PM
Valley View Glades Natural Area
The glade complex is a designated Natural Area and features not only impressive floral displays during spring and summer, but also wonderful views of the sprawling vista. The dolomite glades support an impressively diverse plant community of more than 250 native plant species. Valley View Glades extend over 225 acres and is part of a much larger complex of glades that span eastward and beyond Hillsboro and Desoto, to Festus, then south into Ste. Genevieve County.
Click Here for Detailed Directions
Saturday Evening -June 4th
7:00PM
Annual MONPS Meeting and Board Meeting
Super 8 by Wyndham Pevely
The quarterly Board Meeting will immediately follow the Annual Meeting
Sunday Morning - June 5th
8:30AM
Don Robinson State Park
LaBarque Hills Trail
We’ll wrap up the weekend with a visit to Don Robinson State Park. There are two trails at this park, LaBarque Hills Trail and Sandstone Canyon Trail. A recent prescribed fire in the area of the LaBarque Hills Trail is expected to provide a nice floral display in June. Therefore, we plan to see the western half of the park that features sandstone woodlands in the lower elevation with dolomite woodlands above. We’ll also see some neat rock formations where the bedrock underneath the trail can be found on the surface.
Leave Super 8 at 8:00 AM
Click Here for Detailed Directions
Lodging Options
Make your lodging reservations soon as it’s difficult for us to block rooms in advance. Be sure to make reservations and let them know you are with the Missouri Native Plant Society.
Super 8 by Wyndham (Pevely)
1711 Hwy Z, Pevely, MO 63070
636-475-4900
Room block: Missouri Native Plant Society
Make reservations by May 15th to receive the discounted block rate
Indian Foot Lake Campground
8734 Indian Foot Lake Road
Pevely, Missouri, 63070
636-479-6404