HANNIBAL — Hannibal Parks and Recreations will start a master plan project for the Sodalis Nature Preserve. In a short meeting Tuesday, Parks and Recreation Director Andy Dorian told the Hannibal City Council Sodalis has attracted several hundred thousand dollars from multiple national and state sources. Since the preserve's inception, the combined efforts of the U.
S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Conservation Fund and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation have preserved the park's abandoned mine — a home to over 200,000 endangered bats. Recently, a $100,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation allowed for the addition of a pavilion to the park, serving ever-increasing numbers of visitors — from local to international.
“It’s kind of a worldwide known park now,” Dorian said. “We have a direct partnership with the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, The Conservation Fund and the Department of Conservation on the Indiana Bat, the Gray Bat, and several of the other bats here. (It) is the largest single spot of hibernating Indiana Bats in the world. So, from a scientific standpoint, we have scientists coming from all over the world all the time trying new research techniques.
“One of the (sources) of funding that we're working with right now is with the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation. They were able to work with the federal government and get some money to work on the species habitat in the park: working on some of the invasives, some of the tree canopy improvements, things like that.” “We want to tie that all in with the recreational component of trails and outdoor activities and marry it all together,” Dorian said.
“We have a beautiful shelter and bathroom, but the rest of it's kind of stale. We have hundreds of thousands coming in from all different organizations. The hope is to be able to (harness) that and design (a new entrance) with native plantings, outdoor interactive recreational components, new signage: things like that.
A master plan will help us tap into all the different funding that's floating around.” The plan will start at the entrance and expand from there as needed. Eventually, the plan will tie Bear Creek Trail into the park.
“We have a lot of different ideas,” Dorian said. “If anybody's been to Shaw Nature Reserve down in St. Louis, they've got a lot of interactive things for kids and for families that would be parts of that (Bear Creek Trail) component.
” The council unanimously approved a $12,000 contract with engineering and architecture firm Planning and Design Studio based in St. Louis to kick off the development of a master plan. In other business, the council:.
