Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center Located in a protected area in the city of Joplin, MO, the Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center was owned and administered by the National Audubon Society. It was an Audubon-approved environmental education and conservation center that safeguarded one of the world’s last remaining chert glades, as well as other natural resources in the biologically varied Spring River watershed, from development.
The facility, which is now run by the State of Missouri and is located at the confluence of Silver and Shoal Creeks, exhibits plants and animals that can be found in the chert glades and neighboring aquatic and woodland savanna ecosystems as well as the surrounding chert glades. Known as chert glades (after the bedrock on which they were built), Wildcat Park is home to a diverse collection of plants and animals that can be found in other parts of the world, but are not usually observed in such close proximity as they are at Wildcat Park.
A diverse range of plants and animals found in the surrounding caves, prairie-savanna, riparian corridor, and oak/hickory woodlands congregate here to form an unusual suite of biological diversity that was being documented, monitored, and protected through education and outreach to the surrounding community and region at the time of the survey.
An almost $6 million partnership between the National Audubon Society and the cities of Joplin and the Missouri Department of Conservation brought to the creation of the center. The center was one of two Audubon Centers maintained by Audubon Missouri, a state office of the National Audubon Society and a member of the Audubon Society of the United States. In north St. Louis, near the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the Audubon Center at Riverlands is located on the banks of the Mississippi river.
It was announced in July of 2018 that the National Audubon Society had withdrawn from the arrangement it had made with the city and the Missouri Department of Conservation, and that the facility and lease had been given over to the state. In recent years, the Missouri Department of Conservation has improved the funding and management of the facility and its surrounding region.
Facilities include an 11,000 sq ft nature center with a 1,300-US-gallon (4,900 l; 1,100 imp gal) aquarium, classrooms, exhibitions, and a library. The aquarium is one of the largest in the world. Trails with eco-type learning stations, a gazebo, and a small pavilion are available for use outside. There are 4 miles (6.4 km) of trails available outside. The center is situated within the city-owned Wildcat Park, which encompasses 60 acres.