The BRIDGE Volume 30: Issue 3 March 2017 The Newsletter of the Friends of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park News from the Friends of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park (FoRB) Friends of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park is a membership supported 501 (c)(3) organized to promote understanding, appreciation, enjoyment and preservation of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park and the surrounding area. email: weaverjc@missouri.edu, address: FoRB, P.O. Box 7642, Columbia MO 65205-7642 website: http://www.friendsofrockbridgemsp.org/ Board News, Kevin Roberson, President – Nature Detectives and UPOP Greetings fellow Friends, I hope this message finds you well and content. I hope that you have been able to get out and enjoy the early spring that we had for the middle of February and visit your park. I got my garden ready to plant, worked on removal of invasive plants, and got to mess around in the Park some. The unseasonably warm weather is giving me the willies, even though I don’t miss winter cold. Like most thinking people, I have a fear of the unknown and I think that is where we are headed. I am not a doom and gloom prognosticator, but I think there is no doubt that we are in a time of major change. Right now I am just hoping that my fruit trees don’t get frosted back. They did last year. It is a good time of year to work on invasive plants. They pull from the ground easy this time of year, and if you cut them it is a good time to paint the stumps to kill the plant. I have heard that 25% glyphosphate works well as stump treatment. In the spring the flowing sap makes it harder to be effective. Saw my first woodcock on the 17th and heard them penting on the 18th. Get out and enjoy! Kevin Roberson FoRB Officers and Directors – 2016 Officers: President: Kevin Roberson; Treasurer: Jan Weaver, Secretary: Sara Whiting ; 2016 Directors: Sue Tillema, Scott Schulte, Lynne Hooper

News from Rock Bridge Memorial State ParkRock Bridge Memorial State Park is managed by the Department of Natural Resources, Missouri State Parks, and is primarily funded by 1/2 of 1/10 of a per cent State Parks-and-Soils Sales Tax. It is located at 5901 S. Highway 163, Columbia, MO 65203. phone: 573-449-7400; Website: http://www.mostateparks.com/rockbridge.htm, email: rock.bridge.memorial.state.park@dnr.mo.gov

News from State Parks – Don Robinson State Park Opens https://mostateparks.com/blog/state-parks-stories/66421/new-park-botanical-garden Located just 20 minutes south from the Highway 109 exit off Interstate 44 at Eureka, the park is a wild sanctuary amid the booming development at the southwest corner of the St. Louis area. The LaBarque Creek Conservation Area is on the park’s northern boundary, and the two combine to form designated natural areas that total almost 2,000 acres. Natural areas represent some of the best, and last, examples of Missouri’s original wild landscape “I would argue it’s the highest quality natural area around St. Louis,” Colatskie said. “The box canyons are the real gems of the area.” The LaBarque Hills Trail is a 2.4-mile loop that takes hikers along the backbone of the park’s western ridge. The Sandstone Canyon Trail is a four-mile loop that follows a ridgetop along the upper edge of a sandstone canyon. There also is a half-mile paved ADA trail.

NEXT FRIENDS BOARD MEETING: Monday March 13, 6:00 pm, Park Office

Answers to Hidden Treasures Questions. 1. Probably a cistern. It is shallow (8’ now, probably 10+’ when built) and located on a hill top where the water table would be much lower. Also, cisterns were commonly used in rural Missouri to store rainwater gathered off roofs. 2. Antlions. In spring, summer and fall antlion pits can usually be seen in the dusty floor of the Shelter Cave. Pits are about 1” deep and .5 to 2” across. The antlion in its larval stage hides and waits at the bottom of the pit. When an insect falls in, it can’t get out because the walls are steep and the fine dirt is loose. The antlion injects paralyzing fluid into its prey. Adult antlions look like damselflies but with antennae .25” long and clubbed. The wings are transparent with many fine veins. This is just one example of an animal that has a specialized niche and finds what it needs in the park.

DonRobinsonStatePark.Credit:governor.mo.gov

Hidden Treasure Questions for March - Roxie Campbell, Park Naturalist

50th Anniversary Hikes – Hike to the Hidden Treasures of Rock Bridge

1st Saturdays - February through December - 1:30 to 4:30

Celebrate the Park’s 50th Anniversary by Joining a Monthly Hike! On the first Saturday of February through December, join Park Naturalist Roxie Campbell on a hike that will guide you to hidden treasures of the park, will inform you about the history and nature of the area you hike in, and provide a short (optional) service project to help you understand the how important it is to take care of the park. Check the park website for future hike locations. https://mostateparks.com/events/park/rock-bridge-memorial-state-park

Board News: Unsettling Weather Naturalist News: Hidden Treasures Questions for March State Park News: Don Robinson State Park opens

Next 50th Anniversary Hike: Saturday, April 1 from 1:30-3:30 pm, TBD

1. Is this a cistern or a well? It’s in the park at the Reyburn home site.

Answers on page 1.

2. What insect makes funnel-shaped pit traps in the loose dry dirt of Shelter Cave and waits for ants or caterpillars to fall in? Tip: Part of their name is the same as a major African predator.

To join FoRB, send your name, address, phone and email with a check to: FoRB, P.O. Box 7642, Columbia MO 65205. Membership levels: $15 park staff/volunteer, senior or student; $20 individual; $35 family; $100 supporting FoRB is a 501 (c) (3) organization and donations (but not memberships!) are deductible to the extent allowed by law