Who Says It Ain't Easy Being Green?

St. Louis is full of environmentally-friendly sites

Every day is Earth Day in St. Louis where an outstanding collection of ecotourism attractions await visitors. St. Louis visitor institutions show how to save endangered animal and plant species, as well as teaching people how simple it is to help preserve the earth's environment. Plus - they're a lot of fun!

The Missouri Botanical Garden, praised in National Geographic for its unparalleled efforts to catalog plants from the world's rainforests, is a 79-acre garden that has been a St. Louis institution since 1859. At the Climatron geodesic greenhouse, the mysterious world of the rainforest comes alive via orchid-strewn paths that meander through the lush vegetation and give visitors an up-close look at exotic plants, free-flying birds and bubbling waterfalls. At the garden's Kemper Center for Home Gardening, visitors can discover ways to utilize their home gardens effectively by using environmentally safe fertilizing and pest-control methods. Specialty gardens demonstrate how to attract butterflies, bees and birds and the center's "plant doctor" helps diagnose gardening problems and propose eco-safe solutions to common problems. (4344 Shaw Boulevard, 314-577-9400, http://www.mobot.org/.)

The garden operates three other eco-friendly sites in St. Louis, including the Butterfly House, the Shaw Nature Reserve and the EarthWays Home. The mission of the Butterfly House is to foster a better understanding and increased awareness of our natural world through the observation of butterflies, their habitats, lifecycles and role in the world's eco-system. Visitors can mingle with more than 60 species of the world's most beautiful butterflies in free flight that reside in the center's 8,000-square-foot glass conservatory. The center also features colorful exhibits, nature films and the "Miracle of Metamorphosis" display where butterflies emerge from chrysalis before your eyes. Outdoor sculpture gardens are planted to attract "wild" butterflies and demonstrate how to turn any yard into a butterfly habitat. (Faust Park, 15193 Olive Boulevard, 636-530-0076, www.butterflyhouse.org)

View restored plant and animal habitats at the Shaw Nature Reserve, a 2,500-acre experimental ecological reserve filled with tracts of tall grass prairie, wildflower glades, wetlands and woodlands. A 300-foot boardwalk allows a close-up and dry-footed look at a portion of the 20-acre wetlands area and its animal inhabitants and there are ongoing classes and programs on ecology, crafts and gardening. (Highway 100 & I-44, Exit 253 in Gray Summit, MO. 636-451-3512, www.shawnature.org)

The EarthWays Home is one of a handful of demonstration houses across the country that shows how to implement energy-saving techniques into people's homes, businesses and lives. Built in the early 1880s, the home has been renovated to demonstrate ways houses can be built, adapted and furnished to minimize the impact on the environment. Visitors learn how they can cut consumption and recycle the materials used in their homes, and an adjacent garden demonstrates the use of native plants and landscaping for energy. (3617 Grandel Square, 314-577-0220, www.earthwayshome.org)

The Saint Louis Zoo, a world leader in animal conservation projects, has embarked upon an innovative captive breeding strategy to ensure the survival of many of the world's most endangered species including cheetahs, black rhinoceros, okapis and more than 80 other breeds.

Named the Number One Zoo by Zagat Survey's U.S. Family Travel Guide in association with Parenting magazine, the zoo is home to more than 7,000 exotic animals, many of them rare and endangered, and the 800-plus species represent the major continents and biomes of the world.

The Zoo also operates an in-house Resource Conservation & Recycling program to conserve valuable on-site resources including water usage, energy, landfill space and building materials. The zoo is a world leader in saving endangered species and their habitats, as the zoo's WildCare Institute operates 12 centers to oversee wildlife management and recovery around the globe. Locations and subjects include exotic bird populations in the Galapagos Islands, helping native peoples protect their forest in Bosawana, Nicaragua, genetics studies on endangered lemurs of Madagascar, and protecting Humboldt penguins in Peru.

The Zoo's Living World education and discovery center is the first facility of its kind to use high technology and live animals to teach about the diversity of life on Earth. Visitors can listen to an animatronic Charles Darwin talk about his discoveries and can follow the evolution of life from the past to the future and watch documentaries about the animal kingdom and conservation efforts taking place in other countries. At the Children's Zoo, visitors can hand feed colorful, friendly parrots called lorikeets, see hatchlings inside the zoo's nursery incubators, and watch hippos dance beneath the waves in a unique underwater viewing area in the River's Edge animal habitat. It's always a cool experience checking out the cold-weather residents of the Penguin and Puffin Coast dwelling, or to go buggy at the Monsanto Insectarium with its six-legged critters and a butterfly dome. The Conservation Carousel is a merry-go-round featuring one-of-a-kind, hand-carved wooden animals representing the protected and endangered species found at the Saint Louis Zoo. (Forest Park, 314-781-0900, www.stlzoo.org)

St. Louis is home to two additional institutions of animal conservation with the World Bird Sanctuary and Wild Canid Survival and Research Center. At the Wild Canid Center, better known as the Wolf Sanctuary, visitors can see wolves from all over the world, enjoy educational programs, and see the internationally renowned captive breeding facility for endangered wolf species. The 2,000-acre reserve was founded by "Wild Kingdom" TV show host Marlin Perkins in 1971 and houses family wolf packs in a natural habitat. (Washington University's Tyson Research Center at I-44 at Beaumont/Antire Road, 636-938-5900, http://www.wolfsanctuary.org/) Global birds and reptile species are on display at the World Bird Sanctuary, one of the largest conservation facilities in existence. Visitors can get a behind-the-scenes tour of the WBS breeding facilities and observe numerous species of local songbirds at special feeding stations and bird-watching blinds along the sanctuary's woodland trails. The WBS offers educational programs for children and adults on animal and nature conservation. (125 Bald Eagle Ridge Road, 636-225-4390, http://www.worldbirdsanctuary.org/)

At the Saint Louis Science Center, there's a major gallery dedicated to ecology and the environment. Engaging hands-on activities, thoughtful displays, animatronic elements and gallery demonstrations guide visitors through the changes to our environment from prehistoric times to the present and into the future.

Each year, the Science Center teams up with volunteers to conduct the Saint Louis BioBlitz, a 24-hour exploration and inventory of the life in Forest Park. Biologists lead volunteer groups to search natural areas within the park, listing as many different species as they can find. (5050 Oakland Avenue, Forest Park; 314-289-4400, www.slsc.org)

Tower Grove Park is home to the most diverse forest of any urban park in the country, including more than 7,500 trees of more than 300 varieties within its 289 acres. It is the finest example of a Victorian park design remaining in the United States, and one of only four municipal parks that has been designated a National Historic Landmark. The second largest park, Tower Grove is also a haven for diverse bird life, especially during the spring and fall migration, and it's a popular bird watching area. (Bounded by South Grand Boulevard, Arsenal Street, Kingshighway, and Magnolia Avenue, 314-771-2679, www.towergrovepark.org)

The National Great Rivers Museum is a fascinating free attraction that details how the mighty Mississippi was created and navigated and how it affects our lives. Hands-on displays vividly illustrate the environmental impact of changes to the river, conservation programs for the river's wetlands, floodplain and water supply. Visitors can also access the top of the lock and dam to see barges negotiate the waters and get a 360-degree view of the countryside's changing color. (Melvin Price Lock & Dam, Alton, Illinois; 618- 462-6979)

The Columbia Bottom Conservation Area offers breathtaking views of the confluence of the nation's two great rivers - the Mississippi and Missouri. The Columbia Bottom Nature Center offers hiking trail maps, an overview of the area's plentiful fauna and flora, video presentations about the river and nature talks. An easily accessible boat launch, boardwalk path through a tall grass prairie and hiking trails bring you close to the rivers, and a view of the unspoiled confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers can be seen at the nearby Edward "Ted" and Pat Jones Confluence Point State Park. (801 Strodtman Road, 314-877-6014, www.mdc.mo.gov/areas/areas/bottom)

The Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center features a wildlife viewing area, bee hive, 3,000 gallon aquarium, a giant indoor tree house, rotating exhibit area, fishing and hunting exhibits, urban wildlife displays, and a children's discovery section. Three trails of varying lengths and challenge levels meander through the 112-acre, wildlife-filled nature preserve. (11715 Cragwold Road, 314-301-1500, www.mdc.mo.gov/areas/cnc/powder)

Recycling is truly an art form at City Museum. The museum building itself is "recycled" having started life as a shoe manufacturing factory and warehouse. Items that would have become landfill now fill the floors of the quirky and innovative warehouse of artistic fun. Remnants of old buildings were transformed into the museum's gift shop, retired heating coils from area breweries provide access to ceiling-high habit trails for kids and adults, which deliver visitors to an enchanted forest created from salvaged wood, trees and other items. Murals are created with leftover watchbands and castoff hardware from manufacturing plants, and an architectural artifacts gallery houses elaborate building materials and pieces including terra cotta décor that once graced 19th century buildings. World Aquarium, a funky haven for fish and reptiles, shares space on the museum's second floor and teaches kids about the diversity of nature and the ecosystem. (701 North 15th Street, 314-231-2489, www.citymuseum.org)  

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Updated:  June 2, 2008