Big Barren Creek Natural Area
Much of Missouri's original landscape no longer exists. But thanks to the Missouri Natural Areas System some examples of it are being preserved and protected. Natural areas are important benchmarks to evaluate environmental change and serve as reservoirs of the state biological diversity. Additionally, natural areas provide opportunities for scientific study as well as educational, cultural, and recreational uses. Through protection from development and by managing to preserve the natural characteristics of the areas, the best examples of natural communities are preserved. Natural areas often provide essential habitat for rare and endangered plants and animals.
The Missouri Natural Areas Committee is an interagency committee, consisting of representatives of the Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, USDA Forest Service, and the National Park Service which coordinate the classification, inventory, designation, and stewardship of natural areas in Missouri. Natural areas are owned by a variety of public agencies as well as private concerns.
The Mark Twain National Forest has a wide selection of natural areas, representing fens, sinkhole ponds, glades, forests and aquatic communities.
Big Barren Creek Natural Area
Big Barren Creek Natural Area has many prominent features enhancing its preservation value: an exceptional Ozark headwaters steam with quality aquatic natural communities, an outstanding upland and bottomland forest, an uncommon dolomite glade. Caves and cave-like openings can be seen along the cliffs. A wide variety of animals and plants occur here, including two federally protected endangered species.
Ozark Headwaters Stream
Characteristic in this segment of Big Barren Creek are shallow riffles, minor spring branches, and deep permanent, spring fed pools (which are rare in this region). All these physical features contribute to the exceptional diversity of aquatic habitats present in this natural area. You will find water willow, chairmaker's rush, and loosestrife in the shallow riffles. The spring branches are rich in water-cress, pale manna grass, golden ragwort, and marsh coneflower, and in the deep pools, yellow pond lily and coontail are common.
Dry Dolomite Cliff
Gray dolomite (a type of limestone) cliffs rise above the deep pools. Spotty vegetation on the cliffs include fragile fern, wild hydrangea, coral bells (alum root), and goldenrod.
Sedimentary Rock Shut-Ins
A tributary called Devils Run joins Big Barren Creek in the middle of the natural area. The narrow, steep sided section of this stream is choked with massive chert, dolomite, and sandstone boulders deposited by seasonal flash flooding and characteristic of Ozark waterways.
Mesic Bottomlands Forest
White oak and red oak, bitternut hickory, sycamore, sugar maple, and black walnut trees dominate the canopy of the mesic (moderately moist soil) bottomland forest located in the narrow flood plain of Big Barren Creek. The smaller trees and shrubs of the understory include pawpaw, hornbeam, hoptree, and spicebush, and are underlain by a diverse ground flora.
Dry Mesic Chert Forest
Chert is a flint-like rock that resists weathering. It is left behind, embedded in the soil after the less resistant limestone or dolomite rocks have eroded and broken down. On the north and east slopes, a dry-mesic chert forest occurs. The canopy is made up of white oak, scarlet oak, and mockernut hickory while flowering dogwood, red maple and sassafras dominate the understory.
Dry Chert Forest
The dry chert forest occurs on the more exposed slopes and narrow ridge tops. Scarlet oak and post oak, shortleaf pine, and black hickory are dominant, with sassafras, hop hornbeam, and huckleberry in the relatively open understory. Bracken fern and goat's rue are common in the ground layer.
Dolomite Glade
A small dolomite glade, a rocky, barren opening on a moderate to steep slope, occurs on the south-facing slope above the shut-in. Typical glade species can be found here, including little bluestem, Missouri coneflower, and houstonia.
Wildlife at Big Barren Creek
The diversity of aquatic features at Big Barren Creek results in a variety of fish and water dependent organisms. The chain pickerel fish quietly lingers under the leaves of the yellow pond lily in the deep pools. Here you will also find the colorful longear sunfish. In the riffles, northern hog suckers can be seen overturning rocks in search of food, while schools of bleeding shiners pick small insects from the surface of the water. Around sunrise and sunset, a variety of animals are likely to visit the water holes. In the spring frog and toad tadpoles can be seen along the banks.
In the cliffs where caves and cave-like openings are found, listen for the eastern phoebe, which may nest in these protected nooks, calling its own name (feebee, feebee). Caves are also home to the dark-sided salamander and eastern pipistrelle bat.
Special Regulations
Camping, collection of plants or animals, and vehicular traffic are prohibited. Enjoy all other recreational activities allowed on the National Forest.
Ownership and Management
Owned and managed by USDA Forest Service, Mark Twain National Forest - Doniphan Ranger District.
Additional Natural Areas
You may wish to visit nearby natural areas on the same day. Listed below are Mark Twain National Forest, National Park Service, and Missouri Department of Conservation natural areas. For more information on a particular site, check ownership and contact the Forest Service District Ranger office, National Park Service - Ozark National Scenic Riverways, or the Department of Conservation Wildlife District Supervisor in the town listed.
- Haney Pond, USFS, Doniphan, MO
- Cupola Pond, USFS, Winona, MO
- Wells Branch Fen, USFS, Doniphan, MO
- Marg Pond, USFS, Winona, MO
- Overcup Oak Sink, USFS, Winona, MO
- Mill Mountain, NPS, Van Buren, MO
- Cowards Hollow, USFS, Doniphan, MO
- Big Spring, NPS, Van Buren, MO
Size, Location, and Access
Two hundred thirty-two acres in Carter County. Portions of section 3, 4, 9, and 10, T25N, R1W, Handy 7.5 topographical quadrangle. From Van Buren take U.S. highway 60 west to state highway C. Go south on C approximately 11 miles to Carter County road 167 (just before crossing Big Barren Creek). Turn right on 167 and go 2.3 miles to parking on Forest Service land. Watch for Natural Area boundary signs.
CARTER 147 Big Barren Creek
A 232-acre portion of the Mark Twain National Forest located southwest of Van Buren in Sections 3, 4, 9 and 10, T25N, R1W, Handy 7.5 topographic map. Access is by foot from Forest Service Road 4004 from the southwest. Designated August 29, 1989.
Natural Features
A .8-mile stretch of Big Barren Creek with deep, permanent spring-fed pools, a tributary with large chert boulders and an unusual sedimentary shut-in, a high-quality bottomland forest, caves, a glade and dolomite cliffs in the Lower Ozarks Section. The area exhibits few signs of past use or development. For further information and a brochure of the site contact the District Ranger at: USDA Forest Service, Eleven Point Ranger District, #4 Confederate Ridge Road Doniphan, Missouri 63935, 573/996-2153
For Further Information Contact:
- Forest Supervisor 401 Fairgrounds Road Rolla, MO 65401 314/364-4621 TTY
- Doniphan Ranger District 1104 Walnut Doniphan, MO 63935 314/966-2153 TTY
