Opportunities From: Open Space STL

You are invited to serve on the Planning Committee for the 319 non-point source (NPS) nine element (9E) Lower Meramec Watershed - Hamilton Creek HUC 12 sub-watershed planning effort as the process will engage watershed stakeholders through this planning committee and various activities.

The second 319 Lower Meramec Watershed - Hamilton Creek HUC12 subwatershed planning meeting will be held on Thursday, November 6, 2025 from 2:30 to 4:30 PM.

The meeting will be held in the Community Room at the Wildwood Municipal Building, located on the first floor of City Hall at:

16860 Main Street

Wildwood, MO 63040

Please RSVP by registering for this event by October 30th. The agenda is as follows:

2:30 PM Welcome - City of Wildwood
2:35 PM Introductions & Background - Bonnie Harper, Executive Director, Open Space STL & Stacy Arnold, Watershed Planning Consultant, Open Space STL
2:50 PM Overview & Group Discussion of 1st Draft of the Hamilton Creek HUC 12 Watershed Management Plan
3:40 PM Group Discussion of Prioritization of Critical Areas & Funding Sources for Implementation
4:15 PM Other Updates & Q&A
4:30 PM Adjourn

Background Information

Open Space STL applied for Section 319 watershed planning grant funds, which Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved July 15, 2024, to administer and facilitate the watershed planning process to build on the original efforts of East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWG) and partners, including Open Space STL, to update the Kiefer Creek 9E Plan for Bacteria to address primary and secondary pollutants of concern in Kiefer Creek as well as its larger encompassing Hamilton Creek HUC 12 Watershed.

Concurrently, a demonstration project will be installed in Greensfelder Park to showcase a land preservation, protection, and prairie restoration in partnership with St. Louis County Parks, and the continuation of the implementation of the Kiefer Creek Plan for Bacteria to continue to recruit volunteers and engage the public to conduct trash clean-up and invasive species removal restoration events to install rainscaping in Castlewood State Park as identified in the plan.

The main goal of the Open Space STL Lower Meramec Watershed Restoration Collaboration Phase I is to build on the original efforts of EWG and partners, including Open Space STL, to address primary and secondary pollutants of concern in the Hamilton Creek HUC 12 sub-watershed of the lower Meramec River Watershed to improve water quality for whole body contact and aquatic life designated uses.

This will help Open Space STL meet its long-term goal of planning and implementing water quality improvement projects to widely restore tributaries of the lower Meramec River to achieve and maintain water quality standards for all designated uses. This project is currently set to run from now through September 30, 2026 and will employ several strategies to achieve the overall goal through planning, implementation, public engagement, outreach and education, and monitoring and modeling efforts.

Hamilton Creek HUC 12 (071402021001)

The Hamilton Creek HUC 12 watershed is 34,956 acres or 54.6 square miles in size. The majority of the watershed is in southern St. Louis County and the remainder is in north central Jefferson County. Hamilton, Carr, Flat, Forby and Kiefer Creeks are north of the Meramec River.

Carr Creek is a tributary of Hamilton Creek. Antire Creek is on the southern side of the Meramec River. There also are tributaries to these creeks and smaller streams and land areas which drain directly to the Meramec River. Kiefer Creek enters the Meramec River in Castlewood State Park, 24 miles upstream of the confluence with the Mississippi River, Hamilton Creek enters the Meramec near the Glencoe area of Wildwood, 30 miles upstream, Flat Creek enters the Meramec in Eureka approximately 31 miles upstream, and Antire Creek enters the Meramec River near Route 66 State Park.

Portions of Eureka, Wildwood, Ellisville, Ballwin and Byrnes Mill are in the Hamilton Creek watershed. Peaceful Village in Jefferson County is completely within this watershed. Unincorporated High Ridge is in the southern part of the watershed.

This project is partially funded by US EPA Region 7 through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (subgrant number G24-NPS-04), under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act.