URBAN WILD ACRES COMING TO CAPE

The idea of a natural area in Cape Girardeau is backed by many residents, including the city's planner, Kent Bratton.

The Missouri Department of Conservation recently got 37.38 acres and named it Cape Woods. It is being placed in its Urban Wild Acres program.

The area, bought from Roy and Dorothy Welch of Kansas, borders Hopper Road on the south and Mount Auburn Road on the west. It lies along Cape LaCroix Creek and adjoins Osage Park on the north and east.

Approximately 80 percent of the tract is young, bottomland forest and the rest grass. The conservation department considers the area a key parcel in protecting the city's remaining wildlife habitat and providing outdoor recreational and educational opportunities.

Bratton is pleased with the purchase. He attended the first meeting in 1988, when a proposal was made to the department to buy the land.

"It's been a long time coming," Bratton said. "The area will tie in with Osage Park and they will complement each other."

A key element in the plan is a hiking trail along Cape LaCroix Creek, Bratton said. There will also be nature trails, logs or benches for sitting, a couple of bridges and maybe some restrooms and parking, he said.

The area will remain as natural as possible, said Doug Newman with the conservation office in Cape Girardeau. He said it will allow people to appreciate nature.

Newman said his department and the city are working out an agreement on the area. The area will be managed by the city.

Ida Domazlicky, teacher of the hearing impaired for the Cape Girardeau School District and co-president of the Four Seasons Chapter of the National Audubon Society, said keeping the area natural will make wildlife more accessible to local residents.

"Another good thing about it is that anytime that you can keep the stream edges intact, natural-soil conservation and water-quality processes are likely to work more effectively," Domazlicky said. The natural area will lessen the effects of flooding, she said.

The land can also work as a wildlife corridor, Domazlicky said, meaning animals and birds will be able to move from one area to another with greater safety. The animals will be able to choose more appropriate habitat in the natural area, she said.

Domazlicky is especially pleased that Cape Woods will link with Osage Park. One of the major, new ideas in conservation biology is to connect fairly large natural tracts of land, otherwise there are just islands of land for wildlife, she said.

Colleen Kimmel, immediate past president of the Four Seasons chapter, said getting conservation dollars for urban parks is a good idea. She said it is a way to make nature more accessible to more people.

Kimmel said preliminary plans for the tract look good. The hiking trail will be a plus, she said, and there will be several projects, such as replanting along the stream, on which various groups will be able to participate.

"There are a lot of conservation dollars going to wilderness areas," Kimmel said. "It's nice that a smaller community like ours is to be able to get some of those dollars."

Kimmel, a part-time homemaker and seasonal naturalist at Trail of Tears State Park for the Department of Natural Resources, thinks dollars spent for the natural area will be put to good use. She said it will be a busy area.

The tract adjoins the Charles C. Clippard Elementary School on Hopper Road. Kimmel said the area may benefit the school, which might use it to provide hands-on experience with nature for the students.

"It's been a disturbed area for a long time," Kimmel said. "A lot of these areas can be improved for the benefit of everyone. It sounds really exciting."

Cape Woods

37.38 acres.

At Hopper and Mount Auburn roads adjoining Osage Park

Adjacent to Cape LaCroix Creek.

Plan calls for hiking trail along creek, bridges, restrooms and parking.