Recently I’ve been so riled up about the closing of a nature area under the management of the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) that I wrote a letter to the editor of the Joplin Globe.
I’m writing this on Saturday, which is when we get our big paper of the week that carries several opinion columns and letters to the editor. We have no Sunday or Monday paper anymore, and if you want a paper copy, you pay extra each day and get it delivered with your mail. Since my mail comes in the afternoon, and I’m a newspaper with breakfast gal (okay, plus I’m cheap), I read the e-edition of the Globe.
Imagine my disappointment when the letter I sent via the Globe’s form on Wednesday wasn’t there today.
This area was once known as the Izaak Walton League. The League provided materials for the field-stone fences, meeting lodge, and spring-fed ponds that were built by men laboring for the WPA (Works Progress Administration) in the 1930s. To get there from Joplin, you drive south on 86, turn east on NN in front of the Redings Mill Inn that has a good burger, cold beer, live music, (and where I once sang karaoke), go another mile or so, then turn west on Eland Road. A little ways down this road, you’ll see the stone walls of the Woods on the left.
According to the Globe, An MDC engineer said the walking bridges and the one car bridge had “structural concerns.” Instead of scheduling repairs, the MDC has closed the park, saying no need to repair bridges since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was coming in later (rumored 2025) and would close it anyway. MDC is shirking its duty to the public by not keeping Walter Woods open as long as possible, certainly through the summer and fall. The EPA’s proposal is to remove lead that MAY have been airborne from a milling operation and blown this direction over 100 years ago. And if those particles exist, they’re buried under 10 decades of decayed leaves and vegetation.
I wrote to Deputy Director Aaron Jeffries at MDC and got a response that said sorry you don’t agree with our proposed remediation work. The only word I got from the Globe was that my letter was received. In an effort to get some readers for it, here’s my letter:
Dear Editor,
I read in the Joplin Globe (June 11th edition) that The Walter Woods Conservation Area near Joplin is part of the EPA Region 7 Superfund mining remediation project. How can we stop this? Has anyone seen the area next to Walter Woods that has been remediated? What a word! It doesn’t fit because it is not removing something undesirable to make it better. Ruined is a better word. In the adjacent area the EPA tackled some time back, every tree was cut down and the earth turned over. Now grass barely grows there.
Is there lead beneath this area? Of course. The whole Joplin area has veins of lead under it. That’s why this area was so heavily mined. But the area under the Woods was never mined. People who frequent the Woods walk on asphalt paths or wooden bridges, and they are nowhere near lead. They certainly aren’t digging in the dirt. I don’t understand what the danger is.
That area is used, but not crowded. There are times I’ve pulled into the parking area and no other car is there. But by the time I leave, there are more. Part of the joy of being out in Walter Woods is because it isn’t jam-packed except with wildlife.
This area is used by the community. I’ve eaten hamburgers cooked on a grill under the picnic shelter. I’ve searched and found a Geocache container there. Forty-nine years ago, my husband’s (well-controlled) bachelor party was held at the lodge. I know events like that don’t happen out there anymore, since the MDC took over, and I understand why. Still, there is wonderful history out there for many Southwest Missouri folks.
What will it take to refuse the EPA’s access to this area? Please don’t let them turn Walter Woods into a pasture.
Most sincerely,
Veda Boyd Jones
P.S. Here’s an email address in case you want it: Aaron.Jeffries@mdc.mo.gov and a website address in case you’re interested and may have better luck than I did: Joplin Globe letter to editor form
