A Restoration Success Story — Forest Park Forever

When Forest Park visitors follow the paths through Kennedy Forest to its northwest corner today, they encounter the sights and sounds of a thriving urban ecosystem of pollinators, birds and wildflowers that would have been almost unimaginable 25 years ago.

Thankfully, a few insightful volunteers did imagine this scene a quarter century ago.

The beauty now found in the eight-acre section known as Kennedy Forest Savanna reflects dedicated restoration work by Forest Park Forever, St. Louis Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry, the Missouri Department of Conservation and volunteers* from the Kennedy Woods Advisory Group (KWAG). 

Envisioned by KWAG’s Gary Schimmelpfenig and the late Ken Cohen, the Kennedy Forest Savanna was the first intentionally (re)created Nature Reserve in Forest Park. On this spot near Skinker Boulevard, overgrown in 1998, Schimmelpfenig and Cohen noticed mature post oak trees—native to Missouri and can live for hundreds of years—and a soil makeup that hinted at pre-existing savanna. Ant expert Dr. James C. Trager further examined the soil and the species of ants found in the area and affirmed KWAG’s hypothesis.

According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, only a handful of savanna landscapes remain in Missouri, surviving where prairies transition into woodland. Like prairies, savannas are open areas dominated by native perennial grasses and forbs. With up to 30 percent tree cover, savannas have more trees than prairies but fewer trees than woodlands. 

Kennedy Forest Savanna is a transitional area to the woodland of Kennedy Forest, providing essential habitat for many plant and animal species once again. 

Like so much of Forest Park’s restoration, returning the savanna to St. Louis took thoughtful collaboration and funding from private donors. 

The work Forest Park Forever and City staff, outside experts and volunteers accomplished over two decades ranges from manual labor to soil tests, while monitoring years-long progress and shepherding the savanna back to life.