| Pacific Palisades Conservation Area | |
|---|---|
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area) | |
  | |
| Location | Jefferson and St. Louis counties, Missouri, United States |
| Nearest city | Pacific, MO |
| Coordinates | 38°28′27″N90°43′19″W / 38.474046°N 90.7219°W Coordinates: 38°28′27″N90°43′19″W / 38.474046°N 90.7219°W |
| Area | 695 acres (281 ha) |
| Governing body | Missouri Department of Conservation |
| Official website | |
The Pacific Palisades Conservation Area is a conservation area located along the Meramec River where St. Louis, Jefferson, and Franklin counties meet in Missouri, USA. It is named for the rock and sand formations along this portion of the Meramec River. [1] The LaBarque Creek Conservation Area is about 3.3 miles (5.3 km) to the south.
Conservation biology is the management of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management.
The Meramec River, sometimes spelled Maramec River is one of the longest free-flowing waterways in the U.S. state of Missouri, draining 3,980 square miles (10,300 km2) while wandering 218 miles (351 km) from headwaters near Salem to where it empties into the Mississippi River near St. Louis at Arnold and Oakville. The Meramec watershed covers six Missouri Ozark Highland counties—Dent, Phelps, Crawford, Franklin, Jefferson, and St. Louis—and portions of eight others—Maries, Gasconade, Iron, Washington, Reynolds, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, and Texas. Between its source and its mouth, it falls 1,025 feet (312 m). Year-round navigability begins above Maramec Spring, just south of St. James. The Meramec's size increases at the confluence of the Dry Fork, and its navigability continues until the river enters the Mississippi at Arnold, Missouri.
Jefferson County is located in the eastern portion of the state of Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the population was 218,733, making it the sixth-most populous county in Missouri. Its county seat is Hillsboro. The county was organized in 1818 and named in honor of former president Thomas Jefferson.
Pacific Palisades Conservation Area is a 695 acres (281 ha) tract between St. Louis and Jefferson counties. The area is divided into a wildlife area in Jefferson County and an access area, in St. Louis County. River access is only available from the St. Louis county section. Hunting is allowed only in the Jefferson County section.
The access area is located in St. Louis county 800 yards (730 m) west of Eureka on Franklin Road. The access area hosts a Meramec River access and is on the north shore of the Meramec River.
Eureka is a city located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States between the cities of St. Louis and Pacific, along Interstate 44. It is in the extreme southwest of the Greater St. Louis metro area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 10,189. Since 1971, Eureka has been known as the home of the amusement park Six Flags St. Louis.
The wildlife area is in Jefferson County, off English Road, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Pacific, Missouri. The wildlife area has a diverse ecology with two lakes, 300 acres (120 ha) of forest, 50 acres (20 ha) of prairie, 145 acres (59 ha) of field, 200 acres (81 ha) of cropland, a once-prominent ramp, and large bluffs along south bank of the Meramec River.
Pacific is a city in Franklin and St. Louis counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 7,002 at the 2010 census.
The area is good for hunting deer, turkey, and doves. Herons and other waterfowl typically nest around the lakes. Large number of mussel beds are also located along this section of the Meramec River. Game fish species include bluegill, largemouth bass, and crappie.
Deer are the hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the fallow deer, and the chital; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer (caribou), the roe deer, and the moose. Female reindeer, and male deer of all species except the Chinese water deer, grow and shed new antlers each year. In this they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are part of a different family (Bovidae) within the same order of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla).
The wild turkey is an upland ground bird native to North America and is the heaviest member of the diverse Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey. Although native to North America, the turkey probably got its name from the domesticated variety being imported to Britain in ships coming from the Levant via Spain. The British at the time therefore associated the wild turkey with the country Turkey and the name prevails.
The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 64 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera Botaurus and Ixobrychus are referred to as bitterns, and, together with the zigzag heron, or zigzag bittern, in the monotypic genus Zebrilus, form a monophyletic group within the Ardeidae. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from the herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes in breeding plumage. Herons, by evolutionary adaptation, have long beaks.
