A local nonprofit lauded for its conservation efforts in the area recently observed its 20th anniversary, looking back at two decades of protecting and celebrating the natural beauty found in Monroe County.

Clifftop – Conserving Lands in Farm, Forest, Talus or Prairie – was founded in 2006 and has persisted over the years as a collection of volunteers whose primary mission is to preserve the bluffs corridor in Monroe County and its neighbors.

Clifftop Membership Chair Joann Fricke offered an overview of the organization’s history and activity, having been a part of the group since 2010 and a member of the board since 2011.

She spoke on Clifftop’s origins, the group having been formed by several people living or working land in the bluffs.

“It was actually a group of landowners who got together to help each other work on their properties in the bluffs and just bring as much attention to the bluff area as possible,” Fricke said.

Over the past 20 years and seeing a fair amount of growth, the group has been plenty busy in the pursuit of grants, hosting of workshops and educational events and conducting of workdays to keep the properties it oversees in good condition.

Amid all that activity, however, Fricke noted Clifftop’s progress can perhaps best be measured in the acreage it has acquired and come to protect over the years.

“The biggest milestones are property acquisitions,” Fricke said. “Our White Rock Nature Preserve was purchased in 2010 and opened to the public in 2011 with over a mile of hiking trails.”

Along with White Rock near Valmeyer – which saw a major addition to its acreage in 2023 – Clifftop has come to take stewardship of the Mill Creek Natural Area in Randolph County, Salt Lick Point Land and Water Reserve in Valmeyer, Stemler Cave Woods Nature Preserve near Columbia, and the more recent addition of Storment-Hauss Nature Preserve near St. Joe in 2020.

While each of Clifftop’s conservation areas offers some distinct feature of Monroe County’s countryside, perhaps the most unique among these is the Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve.

The purchase taking place in 2013, Clifftop acquired over 500 acres of property sitting atop the Fogelpole Cave system.

“What is preserved is not the surface because the surface was actually farmed, but there are hundreds of sinkholes on this surface, so the farmer was making a lot of circles and all of the herbicide and fertilizer that was being used on the ag field was going down into the Fogelpole Cave system, and the Fogelpole Cave system is the largest cave system in Illinois, 51st largest in the United States,” Fricke said.

Clifftop President Bob Weck – a biologist with a research focus on cave biology – remarked on how important this preserve and the Fogelpole Cave system is in the state.

He spoke about the preserve and the “intensely karstified” topography with its hundreds of sinkholes leading directly into the cave ecosystem.

Webb and Fricke noted the tremendous effort that has gone into the Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve. While some of the land is still farmed, plenty has been done to bring in native plants and generally limit erosion and drainage of farm chemicals into the cave system.

Weck boasted about the quality of Clifftop’s nature preserves, specifically the hiking trails that can be found among them that each offer their own unique taste of the area’s natural beauty.

As mentioned, Clifftop has also been tremendously active when it comes to organizing events and activities for nature education and to get folks to appreciate the great outdoors.

“We’ve hosted BioBlitzs, we do a lot of community outreach, we have a native snake program at White Rock, we’ve done a Frog Frolic for kids at Paul Wightman, just a lot of different things to get people out into nature and enjoy conservation, get them interested in conservation,” Fricke said.

With such activity among Clifftop’s volunteers, Weck spoke with pride as he discussed the group’s accomplishments over the years.

“It’s pretty remarkable what Clifftop has been able to do as an all-volunteer organization,” Weck said. “We’ve been really lucky to have some generous funding agency grants and foundations. We’ve grown a lot since the organization started.”

He further emphasized the importance of the conservation work being done, acknowledging that this conservation is an ongoing effort that demands dedication well into the future.

“It’s a constant battle to keep the preserves in a natural state with things like climate change and invasive species,” Weck said. “Just because we own these sites doesn’t mean we’re done. In the foreseeable future, it’s gonna take continued effort to do stewardship and keep them in a natural state.”

Fricke placed emphasis on the educational and nature-enthusiast elements of Clifftop’s work, with Weck echoing her as he remarked that the group focuses on “providing the community with access to nature.”

She noted her pride in the organization’s outreach and presence in the community, staying involved as much as they can to spark and preserve a passion for conservation and the natural world.

“We go out and we talk about ourselves, and we host these different programs,” Fricke said. “There’s always something interesting to learn about conservation, and I think that we’ve brought it to the people of Monroe County, and they’ve supported us wholeheartedly. But honestly, it’s reached much farther than Monroe County. Often in our parking lots where people are hiking, we see a lot of Missouri cars. We run into people on the trail all the time when we go out to do maintenance, and people are always saying, ‘These trails are so lovely. I love the woods. I just love to walk in nature and enjoy the peace and quiet.’ I’m pretty proud of hearing that. That’s what we want to do. We want people to get out in nature.”

For more information on Clifftop and the group’s nature preserves and hiking trails in the county, visit clifftopalliance.org.