For four weekends in a row, dedicated volunteers have been digging, planting and weeding our Butterfly Garden at Busch CA. The Department of Conservation has been very supportive of our joint project, and we owe a special thanks to Mike Arduser, Nancy Snider, Mike Liverar, and Larry Taylor. WGNSS member and MDC employee David Bruns got over 100 plants for the garden from the MDC nursery. And Busch staffers and volunteers alike have been faithfully watering our garden. In addition to those plants supplied by MDC, some plants were ordered from Rock Post Wildflowers of Fulton, Mo., and still others were donated by Nancy Snider, Jeannie Moe, Kraig Paradise, Jack Harris, Mark Peters, and Kathy Thiele. Special thanks also go to Jim Ziebol for his design of the flower beds and walking paths, and to Jack Harris for his expertise in selecting what to put in our garden. Volunteers who donated their time, labor, energy and enthusiasm by working in the garden deserve a grateful round of applause: Jeannie Moe, Mark, Beth, Kristen and Erica Peters, Betty Tanner, Kraig Paradise, Nancy Snider, Kathy Thiele, Pat McCormick, Sue Gustafson, Cindy Stoops, David Rabenau, Jim Ziebol, Jack Harris, and Fred Immen. Without their hands-on help, our vision could not have become a reality. Some of the plants you will see as our garden grows are: Common Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, White Crownbeard, New Jersey Tea, Slender Mountain Mint, Ironweed, Bergamot, New England Aster, Blazing Star, Purple Coneflower, Wild Blue Indigo, Grey-headed Coneflower, and Wild Ageratum.

Kraig Paradise is expanding the WGNSS wildflower garden he planted last summer at North County Recreation Center. It was so popular that the park manager asked Kraig to assist him in making the garden bigger this year.

Recent developments involving Gateway International Raceway in Granite City, Illinois (I-70 and Hwy. 203) threaten the few remaining WETLANDS near the racetrack. These scattered wetland areas are some of our favorite birding spots, where we can find King Rail, Common Moorhen, Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Wood Duck, and migrating shorebirds. The Corps of Engineers has before it a request for a Section 404 Permit that would allow the racetrack to DESTROY these wetlands in favor of - parking lots. Already flush with 20,950 parking spots to accommodate 100,000 patrons, the racetrack now wants to pave an additional 122 acres to create 12,250 new parking spaces. In the process, 62 ACRES OF WETLANDS surrounding the racetrack will be lost or severely degraded. While many issues are involved, including the increased risk of flooding of nearby communities as more of nature’s sponges disappear, as well as the failure to utilize alternative means of transportation such as MetroLink, the threat to wildlife and habitat is clear. Please write by May 30 (or sign the letter attached to this newsletter) and send your letter to: U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: CEMVS-CO-F (Susan Horneman), 1222 Spruce Street, St. Louis, Mo. 63103-2833, and refer to Public Notice P-2224. HELP SAVE OUR WETLANDS by letting the Corps hear from you.

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