Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center, Joplin

Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center was an Audubon owned and operated nature center located in a protected area in Joplin, Missouri. It was an Audubon sanctioned environmental education and conservation facility that protected the last remaining globally unique chert glades, as well as other natural resources of the biologically diverse Spring River watershed. Located at the confluence of Silver and Shoal Creeks, the center, now operated by the State of Missouri, showcases plants and animals found on the chert glades and surrounding aquatic and woodland savanna habitats. Chert glades, named after the bedrock on which they have formed, host a unique assemblage of plants and animals that may be found elsewhere in the world, but not typically found together as they are at Wildcat Park. A variety of plants and animals found in surrounding caves, prairie-savanna, riparian corridor, and oak/hickory woodlands converge here for an unusual suite of biological diversity that was being documented, monitored, and protected through education and outreach to the surrounding community and region. The center was a result of a nearly $6 million partnership project of the National Audubon Society, City of Joplin, and Missouri Department of Conservation. The center was one of two Audubon Centers managed by Audubon Missouri, a state office the National Audubon Society. The Audubon Center at Riverlands is located in north St. Louis on the Mississippi river, near its confluence with the Missouri river. ()