Meramec State Park

Meramec State Park is a popular attraction in central Missouri, just over 60 miles from the metropolis of St. Louis. The park is situated along the Meramec River, and features a geographic mix of mainly limestone and dolomite, and diverse ecosystems such as hardwood forests, glades and several caves underneath the surface. In the late 1970's, a dam was to be erected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the river which would have flooded the park and imperiled many different species, including the endangered Indiana bat. However, due to direct citizen action against the dam, the project was halted, marking an enormous victory for the environmentalist movement.