Your Environment, Your Future
Featured Project
In our 2nd Annual Race for the Rivers, we had 55 boats and 79 contestants. This number was more than 3 times what we had in our first year. This year we expect even more kayakers and canoeists.
3rd Annual Race For the Rivers:
Greenway Network, a non-profit citizens action group, is hosting two canoe and kayak races on the Missouri River. Race One is a staged-event covering 65 miles of the scenic Missouri River from Washington, Missouri all the way to the Confluence. It is a race for the serious paddler with strong endurance and a desire to compete. Race Two is a non-stop Adventure Race from Weldon Spring to Frontier Park in Saint Charles.
Make plans for August 29 and 30, 2009. See www.racefortherivers.org for more information on the 2009 event.
Listen to an announcement about the race!
Get your friends and join us on the river!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunpainting with Greenway Network
For those of you who have sunpainted with Greenway Network and want to know more about it...
You can download a resource page here.
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PORTAGE DES SIOUX — A bicycle and walking trail linking the eastern end of the Katy Trail to the Portage des Sioux Nature Area is under study by local officials.
In addition to offering a new trail in northeast St. Charles County, the plan could bring new visitors to shop and eat in the community of about 350 people.
"The city thinks it would be good for business since it would attract recreational cyclists into town," said Ralph Rollins, a Greenway Network official who is working with city leaders on the study.
A public meeting to gauge community reaction will be at 7 p.m. Monday at the Portage des Sioux City Hall.
A route has yet to be selected, but Mayor Mark Warner says one logical choice would be a shoulder of a mile-long stretch of Payne Road between the town and the eastern tip of the Katy Trail in the Machens area.
The state has wanted to complete the Katy between St. Charles and Machens for years but the floods of 1993 and 1995 caused major gaps in that 11-mile segment. State officials hope that a long-delayed plan to solve the problem will be completed by late this fall. That effort involves putting part of the trail atop an existing levee.
The Portage des Sioux Nature Area is on 25 acres formerly occupied by homes damaged in the 1993 flood. Rollins designed the facility and the Great Rivers Greenway district, a regional parks agency, provided most of the $250,000 needed for it.
Warner said the idea of connecting the nature area to the Katy isn't new but that people in the area began considering it more seriously after the state provided money to build restrooms at the nature area. They are expected to be ready by the end of the year, he said.
"There's very little parking at Machens," Warner said. "This would give people a safe place to park, and restrooms."
Rollins said no funding source or timetable has been determined yet for the connector trail.
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Brommelsiek Park is one of the newest county parks in St. Charles County see www.http://parks.sccmo.org/parks/
On April 25, Nearly 1000 trees and bushes were planted in the riparian zone of Kraut Run Creek. We began at 8:00am and worked till noon.
111 volunteers of all ages helped with the planting.
Food and drink were provided. Stream Team T-shirts were given to all of the volunteers who registered.
Please help Greenway Network hold more events restoring stream banks in the St. Louis region.
To volunteer contact greenwaynetwork@gmail.com Or call 636-498-0772--please supply your name, address, phone number and email address.
To see what we have done follow these directions to Brommelsiek Park: From Highway 40/61, exit at the WingHaven Blvd (Highway DD) interchange and go south on Highway DD for approximately four miles. Turn right on Schwede Road to the park entrance. An additional entrance is located on Wilson Road for the dog park and small fishing lake.
If you would like to help, but are unable to participate in the actual events you can still contribute to other worthwhile projects.
Contributions can be made to Greenway Network. Send checks to:
Greenway Network, Inc.
3457 Riverchase Pkwy
St. Peters, MO 63301
or donate online.
Greenway Network is an all volunteer 501 C3 non-profit group and no one is paid a salary. Your deduction is tax deductible.
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Greenway Network members help at Portage Des Sioux Tree Planting.
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St. Charles County Operation Clean Stream
It was a yucky day weatherwise but nearly 500 of the 800+ registrants showed up
anyway!!
On March 28 Greenway Network's St. Charles County Operation Clean Stream mobilized roughly 394 volunteers to pull trash from Peruque, Belleau, Lake St. Louis, Dardenne, McCoy and Cole Creeks.
St. Charles County, City of St. Charles, Wentzville, Lake St. Louis, O'Fallon, St. Peters, Dardenne Prairie and Cottleville will assist in Greenway Network's annual clean-up.
Once again the Stream Trash ART (START) project will be a unique component of the cleanup. This project, created by Greenway Network project director Ralph Rollins, salvages metal pulled from the streams and reuses it to create welded works of art. Joseph Farmer, a St. Charles artist and member of Best of Missouri Hands will work from materials found that day, and will create sculptures that reminds everyone to keep our streams and rivers clean.
This community-wide event is coordinated by Greenway Network in association with OPEN SPACE COUNCIL and sponsored by Missouri Stream Team, George Butler Associates, Brookside Environmental Services, Missouri Department of Conservation and Wal-Mart.
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Spring & Fall Dardenne Days 2009
Greenway Network, Stream Team 463, sponsors Dardenne Day.
Through the years Greenway Network has provided an opportunity for local teachers, their students and Stream Team volunteers to share their excitement for clean water by obtaining grab samples from over twenty sites along the 27 mile watershed. Read More....
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*****Break the plastic bag habit!!*****
Please view the following website that gives lots of reasons to start using cloth or other reusable bags at the grocery store.
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/MULTIMEDIA02/80505016
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Congratulations to James and Tami Fawcett for winning the Quilt!!
Hands ON!
Greenway Network wants to thank the many volunteers who have been helping out with our booth at area festivals. In order to make our display more interactive we have been adding macroinvertebrates and eco-art whenever possible.
This quilt top was made using sunprints from Earth Day St Louis 2007. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Federal Campaign Number is 66328
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Barat Academy Students help Greenway Network In Monitoring Peruque Creek and removing invasive plants.
Students from Barat Academy continue to work with Greenway Network on a stream restoration projects this year.
Here they work with Board Member and Stream Team Guru, Larry Ruff to identify macroinvertebrates.
The students have also removed Bush Honeysuckle and Garlic Mustard from about 150 yards of stream bank. They only have about a mile to go!!
More recentloy they applied protective wrapping to 250 newly planted trees at Beowmmelsiek Park.
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Green's Bottom Wildflower and Wetlands Project
Greenway's Mission is partly "to encourage sound management of area
watersheds, to educate the public"; we also network with other agencies.
Thanks to the cooperation of the St. Charles County Highway
Department and our County Executive, we were able to substitute beautiful
Native prairie grasses and wildflowers on over 21 acres along the new
Green's Bottom road project. The area lies between the road and the
Katy Trail. The area is a wonderful linear wetland.
From the Suburban Journal
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Ryan Prewitt photo St. Charles artist Joseph Farmer works on the plumage of a moto bird he built out of materials pulled from streams in St. Charles County. |
ODD JOBS: From trash to treasure
By Kalen Ponche
Two rusty children's bikes and a twisted guardrail leaned against a shed in Joseph Farmer's backyard Monday afternoon.
Farmer, 56, stood back, considering the array of junk that was organized by size. On the far right were faded highway signs, on the left were linear posts and poles, and in the middle was metal of all shapes.
The junk lay in the bottom of the creeks in St. Charles County until it was pulled out by Operation Clean Stream volunteers during two weekends in April. And it was from this pile of potential that Farmer created a giant metal sculpture of a bird.
Farmer has bent, pounded and welded...
Read the whole article>
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Invasive Plants Beware!
Greenway Network has joined several other regional groups in the Gateway Regional Cooperative Weed Management Area. This is a group interested in coordinating efforts and sharing resources for invasive species removal. There is no specific representation on the group from St Charles County. Invasive removal is of particular interest to us as we look toward more work at the Peruque Creek site.
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2009 IS GREENWAY NETWORK'S SIXTEENTH ANNIVERSARY!!!
Help us celebrate by volunteering, attending events, coming to board meetings, renewing your membership, donating your time or money for special events, letting us get to know you better, advising us on issues, helping us plan by becoming committee member; any or all of this will keep Greenway Network stay an energetic, beneficial group for all of Missouri.
We are located in the heart of the United States in St. Charles County, a county that is bounded by the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers. Our non-profit volunteer organization works to develop parks, trails, and recreational/educational opportunities for the enjoyment of all. Originally created as a St. Charles County based organization in 1993, we now serve the entire St. Louis Region with a membership base which includes citizens from all the adjacent counties in this region, including Metro East.
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DID YOU KNOW??
Every member of Greenway Network receives a bi-monthly edition of "Missouri Wildlife Magazine" from the Missouri Conservation Federation. Because we support and are an affliate of this very fine Missouri non-profit organization, you receive complimentary copies. If you are a paid member in the month of February, you will receive the magazine for the next year.
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Next Meeting
| Date: | July 6, 2009 |
| Time: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | College Center Building, Suite 202. St. Charles Community College |
| Information: | All members are welcome to come and meet the Board of Directors and participate in the monthly meeting. Input and ideas are always welcomed. Issues discussed will be Race for the Rivers, Operation Clean Stream float trip, Stream Team events, grants and planning of events for the upcoming year. |
Who are we?
The Greenway Network is a grassroots, volunteer-based organization whose mission is to conserve natural resources, encourage sound management of the area's watersheds and protect the quality of life for all citizens.
Issues that Matter
Get the latest about Greenway Network's ongoing projects and get relevant information on current issues that concern our envirornment, land and waterways in the St. Louis Metro area.
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