Blog entry

• Help me save the ONLY 60 Acres of Chert Glades left in the World!

  Wednesday, Jan 7, 2009 4:00AM / Standard Entry / Members only
  

  Tell the City of Joplin Missouri USA to remove Joplin South baseball field from the Highly Endangered Chert Glade in Wildcat Park.
  
  There is only 60 Acres of Chert Glades in the Entire World, a globaly unique ecosystem found only in SW Missouri. Missouri's own desert system. A Chert Glade is very rocky terrain with very shallow soil and plant root systems, it is home to some rare and hard to grow lichens and mosses, and home to some unique lizards. Chert is what makes this glade unique, it is the underlaying bedrock, extremely rare and beautiful, it's the hardest rock on earth second only to the diamond, and is only found like this in SW Missouri.
  
  Past mining operations have distroyed most of our Chert Glades and what remains Must be protected, and a baseball field and the litter associated with it has no place in this endangered ecosystem!
  
  And the City of Joplin, made the decision to keep this baseball field in tack and in the middle of a chert glade. I say it's past time for this old landmark to go, they can always move the baseball field, but they cant move the chert glade under it.
  
  Don't allow the City of Joplin to make this important decision for the world, let our voices be heard, from far and wide, from every corner of the world, because this land doesn't belong to just Joplin alone, but the entire world, but they feel that they can get away with ruining it without your say. And I say lo! It's time we fight back!
  
  So please help me save this wonderful place and sign my petition and spread the word.
  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/25/protect-the-only-60-acres-of-chert-glades-in-the-world
  
  Thank You,
  Michelle Short
  Founder of the Wildcat Warriors Conservation Group
  
  
  
  Here are some photo's of the beauty of Wildcat Park, now you know why I'm fighting so hard to save this place =)
  
  These are called Slender Ladies Tresses and they grow right next to the baseball field, can you just imagine what it would look like to see a whole field full of this tiny little flowers
  
  
  
  
  Shoal Creek from high atop a Chert Cliff
  
  
  A birds nest in a Chert Cliff, safe from ground predators
  
  
  Here is an untouched Chert Glade in the fall
  
  
  Chert Cliffs, this entire area narrowly escaped the touches of the greedy minning company's around here.