Here are some tasks to add to your spring “To Do” List:
Mulch
After Spring cut back but before the flush of growth is a great time to mulch around perennials and shrubs alike. Ensure that there is no mulch piled at the base of any plant material as it will encourage disease and rot at the base of the plants. This includes trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses!
Irrigation
It’s that time of the year to start your irrigation systems up!
-Backflow testing
-Charging and running the irrigation lines and stations
-Finding those pesky leaks-if its drip line you will have the leaks!
-Testing the control box
-Setting run times and so much more…
Organic Land Care Maintenance
If you use organic practices in your gardens, now is the time of year to add a pre-emergent. We recommend corn gluten as a great pre-emergent in your gardens and gardens only! After mulching, you can broadcast spread the corn gluten by following the product label.
Turf
Its time to get your seed, fertilizer, and soon aerate in those highly used green spaces!
RAISE discretionary grant program (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) selected this St. Louis project for funding
With great support from Senator Roy Blunt and Congresswoman Cori Bush, part of the northern segment of the Brickline Greenway, from Fairground Park to Forest Park Avenue, just took an important step forward. The United States Department of Transportation awarded Great Rivers Greenway $15 million in construction funding as part of their RAISE discretionary grant program (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity).
This segment of the Brickline Greenway path will give people transportation choices and connections to nearby destinations, especially on this route with high crash, injury and fatality rates for people walking or riding bikes. The greenway will also include features along the way to enhance the environment and climate change resiliency, improve the safety of visitors and tell the stories of the place through signs, public art and programs. Another major goal is for the greenway to be a catalyst for equitable economic development to strengthen the neighborhoods and current residents in this historically disinvested area. The approach to equity means pursuing shared prosperity for people here now and driving job and population growth. Working with residents, partners and leaders, the greenway project and process strives to drive access to transportation, employment and training opportunities, affordable housing, job and population growth and overall quality of life. Great Rivers Greenway is working with many different kinds of partners to bring all of these aspects of the project to life.
The 2.16 mile section spans 4 neighborhoods, connecting destinations like Fairground Park, Boys & Girls Club of St. Louis, Saint Louis University, City Foundry, churches, businesses and the busiest transit route in the MetroBus system. The total cost of this project from Fairground Park to Forest Park Ave is $41 million and is currently in planning with community engagement, estimated to move into construction in 2025. The RAISE grant, funding a portion of the project’s construction from Fairground Park to Page Avenue, is supported by additional local sales tax dollars that fund Great Rivers Greenway and the match is being supported by Edward Jones and other private donors. Additional fundraising is currently underway. Another portion of the project, from Sarah Street to the Grand MetroLink Station, recently received $4 million in federal funds for construction through the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) through East-West Gateway Council of Governments.
This segment is part of the overall Brickline Greenway, a public-private project to connect Forest Park, Gateway Arch National Park, Fairground Park and Tower Grove Park with a network of 10-20 miles of greenway paths connecting up to 17 neighborhoods and creating equitable opportunities for growth along the way. The project is driven by community engagement across all audiences. Visit www.BricklineGreenway.org to learn more about the project and subscribe for email or text updates. The full application and letters of support can be viewed at www.GreatRiversGreenway.org/RAISE.
Based on community input, we translated the project’s mission, key principles and intended outcomes into a brand for the Brickline Greenway (while still being part of the overall Great Rivers Greenway network of greenways). Project progress continues:
Market Street from Harris Stowe State University to the St. Louis CITY SC team’s new stadium district is in design and includes a major art installation from St. Louis resident and artist Damon Davis to honor and celebrate the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood and tell the stories of the people who lived there before they were displaced and the neighborhood destroyed.
Improvements from Fairground Park south to the Grand MetroLink Station and east to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency must be driven by community engagement. We’re focusing on taking stock of existing conditions and partners, engaging one-on-one with stakeholders and community leaders, and planning for engagement, both for now and when we can connect fully in real life again.
From the Cortex MetroLink Station east toward the Grand MetroLink Station, planning and design progress continues in coordination with partners like City Foundry STL and
the Armory District.
Conservation is an essential part of the work that we do throughout the St. Louis region.
To that end, here are just a few of our conservation highlights from the last year!
We’re restoring 13 acres of prairie and woodland adjacent to Gravois Creek near the Mysun Charitable Foundation Trailhead on Gravois Greenway.
Together with St. Louis County Parks and with support from the Great Rivers Greenway Foundation, we’re returning 36 acres along the St. Vincent Greenway in St. Vincent County Park to a native woodland, prairie and savanna. Twenty-four acres of invasive species have been removed to date.
We’ve planted 800 willow stakes along the Meramec River in Lower Meramec Park to stabilize the banks and reduce erosion. We’re also working to reforest 10 acres of floodplain; replanting will begin in fall 2021 with a goal of 600 native trees on site by 2023.
Greenway users, pollinators, birds and wildlife are reaping the benefits of our ongoing conservation project at the site of a former sod farm along the Dardenne Greenway: Bluebird Meadow. The 34-acre native wildflower meadow is now a thriving prairie and natural floodplain for Dardenne Creek. It’s our pleasure to repay those pollinators, constantly working hard for our ecosystem!
Through September 24, 2020, you have the chance to submit your comments about projects that seek federal funding through East-West Gateway’s Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP). TAP funds can be used for projects such as bicycle and pedestrian facilities, Safe Routes to School infrastructure or programming, community improvement and environmental mitigation activities, and preservation of historic transportation facilities.
We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible – use the form below to send your feedback on this greenway project. We also encourage you to look through their full list (there are several of our partners seeking funding on greenway projects) and give any feedback you have on any or all of the opportunities. It only takes a moment and is a great way to make sure your voice is heard. East-West Gateway staff will evaluate the feedback, applications and make recommendations in January 2021 to the Transportation Planning Committee.
MISSION: Great Rivers Greenway makes the St. Louis region a more vibrant place to live, work and play by developing a network of greenways.
