CITY PLANS TO DEVELOP NATURE AREA

The Cape Woods Conservation Area is a 37-acre, state-owned tract of bottomland forest and grass that borders Osage Park.

Surrounded by ever-expanding urban growth, the area is home to deer, turkey and other wildlife.

The city of Cape Girardeau plans to improve this pocket of nature so it will be accessible to the public. The work will be done largely at state and federal expense.

The City Council tonight is slated to approve a lease agreement and development plans.

From a cost standpoint alone, it is a good deal for the city, said Doug Newman of the conservation office in Cape Girardeau.

The city plans to lease the land from the Missouri Department of Conservation for $1. The lease would run 10 years and could be renewed for another 10 years.

A section of Cape's hiking and biking trail along Cape LaCroix Creek will run through Cape Woods.

The asphalt trail is being built with federal funds in conjunction with the Cape LaCroix Creek flood control project. Ultimately, the trail will extend from Shawnee Park north to Route W.

The city will use a $120,000 state conservation department grant to build a parking area, restrooms, and an auxiliary, asphalt walking trail in Cape Woods.

The conservation department also will provide the necessary right of way for the city to widen Hopper Road and erect a new bridge between Clippard School and Mount Auburn Road.

And the state agency will allow the city to build an access road from Mount Auburn Road to Osage Park. As part of that project, the city will build a bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek.

Mayor Al Spradling III said Osage Park will be reachable from both Kingshighway and Mount Auburn Road.

Spradling estimated all the improvements could be done within four years. City Planner Kent Bratton said the improvements could come even quicker.

Construction of the main trail through Cape Woods could begin early next year, Bratton said.

"I am tickled to death with it," said Bratton.

He said the city began looking at the site seven years ago as plans were being developed for the flood control project.

The conservation department bought the site from Roy and Dorothy Welch a year ago as part of the Urban Wild Acres program, funded by a state sales tax.

Newman said the conservation area will allow people a place to enjoy nature.

"It is not a park. We have plenty of parks, but they are all mowed," he said.

This is the second, Urban Wild Acres conservation area in Cape Girardeau and only the 16th in the state. The program has been in existence since 1977.

Cape Girardeau is the smallest city in the state with such a conservation site, Newman said. The others are in Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia, St. Joseph and Springfield.

Cape's other site is the seven-acre Juden Creek Conservation Area west of Twin Trees Park.

But Newman said the steep site, on the rural fringes of the city, isn't as accessible to the public. There are no plans to develop it either, he said.