by Jim Murphy

The DuPont Forest has changed a lot since Mark Twain's days on the Mississippi River. Twain and other steamboat pilots may have gratefully saluted the steep hills and bluffs on the Missouri side as they rounded Gilbert Island. Those paddle-wheelers were well fueled by the river hills' abundant oaks and other hardwoods.

Today's visitor to this Natural Area finds few reminders of heavy logging and similar past disturbances. The area's ridgeline, which parallels Highway 79 between two scenic river overlooks, and the sharply sloping hillsides again support a healthy mixed forest of northern red, white and chinquapin oaks as well as blue ash and basswood. Numerous sugar maples contribute brilliant oranges and yellows in autumn.

Although a few giant red oaks in the hollow are a century and a half old, most of the area's overstory is closer to 80. These trees were saplings when the DuPont powder works closed after World War I. In late 1938, a one-year-old Conservation Commission accepted the gift of 1,073 acres from E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company. Most of the Natural Area's understory trees date from this generous donation which was one of the new Commission's first acquisitions.

Steep limestone bluffs dominate the northern part of the Natural Area. Turkey vultures may be seen floating effortlessly above, their keen eyes searching for meals. Some may nest on crevices on the rocky slope.

Another distinct natural community is provided on several dry, gladelike sites along the ridgeline, particularly at points overlooking the hollow 200 feet below. Glade grasses such as little bluestem and sideoats grama live here. Purple blazing star also occurs. Chinquapin oak and blue ash prevail on these sites.

Far below are the cove hardwoods, the "cove" referring to the main hollow's deep indentation into the hills. Well-watered and very productive, the cove is home to large northern red oaks, sugar maple, basswood and shagbark hickory, with pawpaw and bladder-nut in the understory.

A spring visit to the cove treats your eyes to a rich wildflower show which includes jack-in-the-pulpit, wild ginger and bloodroot. Christmas and maidenhair ferns and Virginia creeper also add to the greenery of the forest floor.

Den trees abound in the Natural Area. The tree cavities provide nesting and rearing quarters for birds and small mammals, particularly fox squirrels. Hawks, owls and wood ducks nest here too, joining summer tanagers, eastern wood pewees, great-crested flycatchers, and red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers.

A fall visitor may see some of the red-tailed and Cooper's hawks and many species of ducks which migrate down the Mississippi River Valley. Before they were drained and plowed, Illinois' Sny River bottoms on the other side of the Mississippi hosted mid-America's largest concentrations of migrating waterfowl. Missouri's Ted Shanks Wildlife Area, adjoining DuPont Forest area, still draws tens of thousands of ducks and geese each year.

Bald eagles still frequent this stretch of the Mississippi each winter. Should you spot one when walking on the Natural Area you will see our national symbol in a setting reminiscent of how the Mississippi hills once appeared.

SIZE: 80 acres.

DATE OF DESIGNATION: November 15, 1972.

LOCATION: On the east side of Highway 79 about 18 miles south of Hannibal and 15 miles north of Louisiana in Pike County. Parts of Sections 1 and 12, T55n, R3W, Ashburn 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle.

NATURAL SIGNIFIGANCE: High quality upland forest and small glades and associated plants and wildlife of the Lincoln Hills Section, Glaciated Plains Natural Division.

OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT: Administered by the Missouri Department of Conservation. For more information contact the Wildlife Area Manager, Ted Shanks Wildlife Management Area, Box 13, Ashburn, MO 63433, 314/754-6171.

REGULATIONS: Statewide regulations under the Wildlife Code of Missouri apply.