Joplin Chert Glades In Immediate Danger From Rebuilding Plans

********Urgent Update: St. John's breaks ground Jan. 2012********

Since the May 22 tornado destroyed the St. John's Hospital they have decided to move to a new location. Less than 1/2 a mile from Wildcat Glades Park, it is true they are not building On a chert glade itself but they will be encroaching danerously close. And now the Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon are working with St. John's Mercy and are in the planning stages of joining the park to the hospital, which would include more paved trails, parking lots and possibly more bio dention areas and wet weather ponds changing the eco system of the chert glades. And soon other business will want to build near the hospital destroying what little nature is left. And the chert glades are NOT protected by any Endangered land or species law. We have lost enough to the tornado, we don't need to destroy more neigborhoods, trees or nature. And don't think I hate St. John's because I do not, I love that they want to stay. We really need them, but please consider moving to an area not so endangered. =)

Ok back to the original petition:

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1 1/2 acres destroyed every year. Doesn't sound like a lot at first, does it.

But now with less than 60 acres of Chert Glades left in the entire world the Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center and the city of Joplin would like you to believe the last chert glades are safe and sound due to their protection (description of a chert glade is below). But that couldn't be further from the truth proven by the baseball field they refuse to move out of a chert glade and the lack of litter clean up that goes along with it, this field has no place being in a 'Nature  & Conservation Area" 

This is the Real Truth of the last chert glades, it's an all to sad and heartbreaking scene. Destruction...















Development..


and a Rubbish Dumping..


What a chert glade is















 
There less than 60 Acres of Chert Glades in the Entire World, a globaly unique ecosystem found only in the SW Missouri area.  Missouri's own desert like ecosystem.

 

A Chert Glade an open area of land with little to no trees, and is very rocky terrain with very shallow soil and plant root systems. It is home to some rare and hard to grow lichens and mosses, in 2002 a new speices of lichen was discovered,  and the glades are home to some amazing lizards and insects like the collard lizard, the lichen grasshopper.   Chert is what makes this glade unique, it is the underlaying bedrock, extremely rare and beautiful, it's the hardest rock on earth second only to the diamond, and is only found like this in SW Missouri.

Each year fewer and fewer Great Blue Herons revist the Shoal Creek Basin next to the largest chert glade in Missouri at Wildcat Park. And I know this on a personal level as a photographer. So saving Wildcat Park and the chert glades not only helps and save chert wildflife but the wildlife surrounding the glades.
 



Past mining operations have distroyed most of our Chert Glades and what remains Must be protected, that is also partly why the lead and cadmium levels are so high in the land and waters around Joplin Missouri area, from a lack of proper management.

And reguarding  the baseball field and new development, and the litter associated with it has Absolutly  No place in this endangered ecosystem! And the Center and city keep wanting to add in more Parking Lots and Observation Decks, this is out of the question.  This can Not Be Allowed to happen.

Don't allow the Wildcat Glades Conservation & Audubon Center, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the City of Joplin to make these important decision for the world, let our voices be heard, from far and wide, from every corner of the world, because this land doesn't belong to just Joplin alone, but the entire world, but they feel that they can get away with ruining it without your say. And I say No! It's time we fight back! Because once this land is gone, it's gone forever, and remember it's disappearing at a rate of approx. 1 1/2 acres a year, mainly due to new development.

Thank You,
Michelle