Missouri's Ozark River Greenway is a 108 mile long corridor extending southward from the confluence of the Meramec and Mississippi Rivers in St. Louis to Meramec State Park and Forest. The original Meramec Concept resulted in the official formation on Sept. 9, 1975 as the Meramec River Recreation Area (MMRA). MMRA has evolved into a designated Greenway route that parallels the course of the Meramec River. A number of small parks and trail segments already exist along this corridor which also encloses Castlewood, Robertsville, and Meramec State Parks.
The MMRA's brochure "Lower Meramec River Guide", subtitle "Meramec River Greenway", has a partial listing of parks and other natural features of the MRG. A number of smaller city parks that will be potential Ozark Trail sites are not listed in this generally outstanding publication. The listing below reverses the direction of the map, in which Castlewood S.P. is at the bottom and Meramec S.P. is at the top, to conform to more conventional and familiar road maps.
Additional history and information is given in "The Meramec Greenway..." pamphlet and color map produced by the not for profit Meramec River Recreation Association (41 South Central, Seventh Floor, Clayton, MO 63105). Areas along the river are managed by MO Depts of Conservation and Natural Resources, the cities of Fenton, Kirkwood, Arnold, and Valley Park, and the St. Louis and Jefferson County Dept. of Parks and Recreation. The region features bison and elk at Lone Elk Park, boating at Winter Park (with annual power boat races), and trails are available at Rockwoods Range Conservation area. MMRA sponsors Operation Cleanstream and the Great Meramec River Raft Float. Emmenegger (Kirkwood), Greensfelder and Buder parks have been donated to MMRA.
Jennifer Kulier "Meramec Greenway. A Trail From City To Country" Cycle St. Louis, June 1997, p. 27. Starts at Collins park in Arnold to Meramec S.P. near Sullivan. The greenway includes River Round Conservation area near St. Clair. MMRA was organized in 1975 and became a not for profit organization in 1981. Former summer "get-away" resorts included Castlewood, Valley Park, Glencoe, and Times Beach (yes, the dioxin place!). Contact Denny Bopp (314-937-3697, 2901 Hwy 61, Festus, MO 63028), assistant district supervisor of MO state parks and MRRA member. Goal is an 108 mile long trail. Contact Meramec S.P. (573) 468-3632 (visitor's center 573-468-6072).
Planning document: "Proposal for St. Louis County ISTEA Enhancements Funding Meramec Greenway Bikeway Al Foster section. submitted to East-West Gateway Coordinating Council and MO Highway and Transportation Dept. by Missouri Division of Parks on Feb 18, 1997. Doug Eiken, Dir., Div. of State Parks. DNR and StL County proposal for a 2.5 mile bikeway. Gateway Trailnet, Inc. also donated funds. Al Foster Section (Sherman to Glencoe with connection to Wildwood) to be built on abandoned MO-Pacific R.R. bed. 55K people served/benefited from Al Foster trail. The project has an overall $175,493 budget which includes funds for land acquisition and leases.
Related Addresses: Meramec River Recreation Association 41 South Central, Seventh Floor Clayton, MO 63105 314-nnn-nnnn (phone) John W. Behrer, Director Shaw Arboretum of the Missouri Botanical Garden P.O. Box 38 Gray Summit, MO 63039 314-451-3512 (phone) 314-451-0850 (phone) 314-451-0541 (fax) John O. Bell, President Henry Shaw Ozark Corridor Foundation P.O. Box 44 Eureka, MO 63025 Douglas K. Eiken, Director Div. of State Parks MO DNR P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176 573-751-2479 (phone) 573-751-8656 (fax)
The Meramec Greenway map encompasses Section 1 (Castlewood),Section 2 (Robertsville), and Section 3 (Meramec) of the planned Ozark Trail in Missouri.
Denny Bopp (phone 314-937-3697) may be contacted at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources or Ben Knox at MRRA for the most current information about MRG and MMRA development activities.
MRRA has submitted a plan to develop the first 53 miles of the Greenway as an Ozark Trail extension to the confluence of the Meramec and Mississippi Rivers. Note: St. Charles Greenway Network sponsored a cruise on the Tom Sawyer on Sept. 13, 1997 to visit the Missouri-Mississippi River Confluence (Columbia Bottoms) recently purchased from the city of St. Louis by the MO Dept. of Conservation. The Director of State Parks in Missouri (Doug Eiken) confirmed plans for OZT to grow out of efforts to establish the Meramec River Greenway.
Jennifer Kulier wrote a story on the Meramec River Greenway for the June 1997 issue of Cycle St. Louis ("Meramec Greenway", p. 27).
Meramec River Recreation Association 41 South Central, 7th Floor St. Louis, Missouri 63105 phone (314) 889-2874
Missouri STREAM TEAM c/o P.O. Box 180 Jefferson City, MO 65102
The logo on this page is that of the Meramec River Recreation Association/Meramec Greenway and may not be copyrighted and/or trademarked.
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