Joplin is home to a unique ‘chert glade’ ecosystem
JOPLIN, Mo. — You don’t have far to travel to see one of the most unique ecosystems in the world. You may have already seen it without knowing what it was.
If you’ve ever been to Wildcat Park in Joplin to walk trails like this one, you may have already stepped on one of the most unique ecosystems in the world without even realizing it.
It’s called a chert glade.
“Chert” is a type of rock made up of silicon dioxide, it’s found in many places, but you don’t know it’s there because it’s usually below the surface of the soil or under other types of rock.
Except in Joplin, it’s found exposed and often with lichen a light green color or moss, a dark green color, growing on top.
Some pretty unusual plants and animals can also be found living on it.
“What a glade is is just really an exposed top layer of rocks, so there’s not any deep soil and we kind of like to call it Missouri’s desert because it is dry, it is warm, so it really is a nice home for things like our cactus, prickly pear cactus is the cactus we have here in Missouri and lots of species of lizards, tarantulas, all sorts of things,” said Kensi Tillman, naturalist, Shoal Creek Conservation Center
Naturalist Kensi Tillman tells us the world’s largest chert glades complex is found along Shoal Creek and its tributaries.
If you want to see some of it for yourself, just go out the back of the Shoal Creek Center in Joplin.
“Chert is a kind of rock that in and of itself is not all that uncommon but as a glade or as that top rock it is kind of uncommon to see, so there’s really not that very much chert glade in the world and we do have the majority of it right here in Joplin which is really cool,” said Tillman.
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