Abstract

Starting in the East St Louis area and moving southwards, the Illinois side of Mississippi River is formed by a low-meadow strip of around three miles wide up to the point where the Kaskaskia River reaches the Mississippi, in front of St Genevieve Missouri for about 55 miles of length. Then the low plain is on the West side of the Mississippi for about 20 miles before it returns to be on its east side again up to a point in front of Cape Girardeau Missouri. That first 55-mile strip zone is known as Mississippi Bluffs at Northern Ozarks due to the dramatic topographical difference between the plain and the upper lands, and offers wonderful views from the top to the basin. Besides the fact that these low plains are known by their repeated flooding disasters through the years—to the point that some towns had to be moved uphill over the cliff as the case of Valmeyer—their ecological characteristics are magnificent due their soil richness, what has been exploited by not few farmers on the region. But much more than that could be done since recent urban development trends on first-class cities all around the nation and in Europe are searching for open lands and pocket meadows for town parks, urban farming, recreational purposes, etc. in a pursuit for a blended fabric as a matter of mixed natural/man-made weaving to enrich their city life with opportunities that not long ago were available only by going out to rural areas. Such surface of over 100K acres offers a great opportunity for the State of Illinois to develop centers for sporting, recreational, touristic, amusing, urban farming, and any kind of ecofriendly activities that could match efficiently with St Louis city’s crowded and busy life in a mutual benefit through attractive landscape development investments. The State urgently needs decentralized trends that bring steady economic opportunities everywhere else out of Chicago area.

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