Missouri Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden will restore the 60-acre Whitmire Woodland Natural Area at its Shaw Nature Reserve. The Reserve provides stewardship and interpretation of a living collection and natural areas that feature Missouri's diverse natural plant communities. The garden will remove a dense infestation of invasive amur honeysuckle and all secondary invasive species; thin fire-intolerant trees from the canopy; restore native grasses and wildflowers by developing site-appropriate seed mixes; establish a prescribed fire management program, and develop a web application to document, track, and evaluate restoration progress. Ecological conditions of the Natural Area will be vastly improved as a result of these project activities. Overall, the visitor experience and educational programs of the Nature Reserve will be enhanced and public awareness about the threat of invasive species will increase.