Conservation Department Now Allowing Pets in Rockwoods Reservation Area

Visitors to the Rockwoods Reservation Area in Wildwood may have noticed a new animal cropping on the area’s trails, but it’s not migrating wildlife or an invasive new species.

Conservation officials say a recent change in the area’s rules allowing dogs and other pets into the park for the first time is enjoying broad popular support but some residents are concerned about its impact on the native wildlife.

The change actually took place about four months ago after being approved by the ruling body of the Missouri Department of Conservation, which maintains the nature area. District Forester Gus Raeker said the Conservation Commission’s rescinding of the pet ban came by way of popular demand.

“For years now, the biggest suggestion we have gotten from the public is being able to bring pets to the area,” he said.

Raeker said visitors to the conservation area were frustrated by the rule, so the MDC looked into why it had been established in the first place.

When the park was first established, it included a mini-zoo with pens that held foxes, coyotes, skunks and other wildlife that would react poorly to the presence of pets such as dogs. However, Raeker estimated the pens have been gone for at least two decades.

“Also, there were neighboring properties where owners had pets that were getting loose and into the area,” he said.

However, that has become less of a problem in recent year, Raeker said, adding that there are now city and county ordinances requiring that owners keep their pets on leashes or face fines.  

“So, then we looked to see how things were done on other areas and how that was working out,” Raeker said, noting that there are only seven areas statewide where the MDC does not allow pets. “We felt like we could reasonably accommodate pets [in Rockwoods Reservation].”

Raeker said that the majority of people have been “ecstatic” about the change, although he acknowledged that it has prompted a few complaints.

One such individual is St. Louis County resident Glenn Stafford, who said he has been a lifelong contributor to the county parks system and has spent 45 years visiting Rockwood Reservations to observe deer, rabbits, hawks and other wildlife.

Stafford said all he has seen on his recent visits are people with their dogs and that the rule allowing pets is scaring away the native inhabitants.

Raeker maintained that a requirement that pets be leashed helps reduce the impact and says the area still has “quite a bit of wildlife.”

“The one thing I think folks don’t realize is how much the movement pattern of wildlife changes from one season to the next,” he said. “In spring, when vegetation is plentiful, deer don’t have to move around as much.”

For folks concerned about the change, Raeker also noted that there are still two state parks in the St. Louis metro area that have a “no pets” rule. They are Engelmann Woods Natural Area on State Highway T in Franklin County and Powder Valley Conservation Area in Kirkwood.

In the Eureka and Wildwood area, Greensfelder County Park, Rockwoods Range Conservation Area and Babler Memorial State Park all allow pets.