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Home PageMASTODON STATE HISTORIC SITE ACQUIRES ACREAGE FOR WETLAND
JEFFERSON CITY, MO., FEB. 8, 2008 -- Mastodon State Historic Site, near Imperial, recently acquired 6.14 acres of forested wetland, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources announced today. The property is connected to the historic site's current boundary along West Outer 55 and Old Antonio roads.
The property was formerly owned by Rock Creek Sewer District. Because the property has wetland soils and is in the Rock Creek floodway, it was suitable for wetland mitigation. The sewer district administrator, Eric Knoll, negotiated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Department of Natural Resources to manage the area as a forested wetland to mitigate for wetlands the district disturbed on the Mississippi River during new construction. A proposal in the state historic site's conceptual development plan, which is the long-range development plan for the site, calls for a wetland trail in the area.
Sewage from the Rock Creek valley is now pumped to a facility in Kimmswick. The former sewage treatment plant was dismantled, and the sewer district landscaped the area with undulating vegetation, appropriate trees and a drainage access to the creek.
Mastodon State Historic Site is located 20 miles south of St. Louis, off Interstate 55 at the Imperial Main Street exit. The site contains the Kimmswick Bone Bed, an archaeological site listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and a museum that features a mastodon skeleton replica and ice age artifacts.
For more information, contact Mastodon State Historic Site at 636-464-2976 or the Department of Natural Resources toll free at 800-334-6946 (voice) or 800-379-2419 (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). To learn more about Missouri's state parks and historic sites, visit www.mostateparks.com.
