Next to the soccer fields, across the street from UMSL’s North Campus, sits a small natural haven, unknown to many students and faculty. This haven is the Bellerive Bird Sanctuary. This densely wooded area with some light trails roughly encompasses 22 acres and is property of the Village of Bellerive Acres.
The land was originally private property. In 1924, John D. Furstenberg reserved the land to prohibit any future development. Decades later, the land was passed to his descendants, who then transferred the property ownership to the Village of Bellerive. The transfer came with the stipulation that it remain untouched and they named it a “bird sanctuary.”
The Village of Bellerive has a history of collaborating with community partners to maintain the sanctuary. The residents are currently working with Dr. Meghann Humphries, an assistant teaching professor in the biology department at UMSL. She teaches many ecology and evolution courses, including Ornithology.
“They have a long history of actually trying to improve it. They seek out grants, they worked with AmeriCorps in the past and [the] Missouri Department of Conservation in the past, and now they’re working with me.”
Dr. Humphries’s interest in the sanctuary began as a teaching tool, but shortly became something bigger and more conservation-focused.

“So I, just as a general teaching philosophy, try to get students as much hands-on experience as I can. The sanctuary itself is a good opportunity for – hopefully in the future it’ll be a great opportunity for – Ornithology students. There’s not a lot of bird diversity in it right now, but that was my initial thought, that the Ornithology lab should spend time in the bird sanctuary that’s walkable from our classroom. But then, when I got down there, I realized that there’s not a lot of bird diversity because there are a lot of invasive plants, and so I kind of shifted gears so that my Conservation lab does the majority of the work over there.”
Despite the setback for Ornithology, Dr. Humphries still regularly uses the sanctuary for her Environmental Biology and Conservation Biology classes. With Environmental Biology, students visit the sanctuary multiple times throughout the semester for nature observations, and they observe how nature changes over the course of several months. With Conservation Biology, students do biodiversity surveys of the area and use that data to formulate a management plan for the sanctuary.
In terms of environmental health, the sanctuary is currently facing two major problems. First, there’s a large number of invasive plants, namely honeysuckle. It chokes out native plants that would support a larger array of animals. Second, the stream that runs through the sanctuary and carries runoff from UMSL has poor water quality.
While the water quality issue cannot be addressed at the moment, Dr. Humphries has actively tackled the invasive plant problem through honeysuckle hacks. Honeysuckle hacks are volunteer events that involve removing large swaths of honey suckle to allow native plants to be restored.
At the most recent honeysuckle hack, around 50 people showed up. The participants came from UMSL’s Conservation Biology course, UMSL Sustainability and the Honors College. Even residents from Bellerive participated.

In the future, Community Engagement, Beyond Housing and representatives from the Missouri Department of Conservation will be assisting students in fighting invasives in the sanctuary.
Dr. Humphries has commented on the great relationship UMSL has established with the Bellerive Community, with all the education and conservation work she does.
“The residents of Bellerive Acres are amazing. They have been so generous. They have, in the past, helped us with a honeysuckle hack to deploy the management plans that students have created. I have also collated [and] condensed the students’ work into a brief report and given that to the residents over there.”
While progress has been made, there is still a lot more to do to restore the Bellerive Bird Sanctuary to its former glory. The conservation work will continue, and Dr. Humphries and Bellerive Acres are accepting any UMSL students who want to join the mission.