Pictured is a partial map showing mound sites throughout the region as part of a feasibility study on Cahokia Mounds. The map also shows the current trail route and planned additions. (submitted photo)

As efforts to turn the Cahokia Mounds into a national park unit continue, independent consultant Suzanne Kutterer-Siburt presented progress and plans for the initiative Thursday at the Monroe County History Museum in Waterloo.

The initiative is called “The Mounds – America’s First Cities” and is being led by Heartlands Conservancy in collaboration with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Heartlands Conservancy began a feasibility study to demonstrate whether the project meets the National Park Service’s requirements to become a national park unit.

According to nps.gov, the National Park Service’s website, “a national park contains a variety of resources and encompasses large land or water areas to help provide adequate protection of the resources.”

The feasibility study would determine whether this accurately depicts Cahokia Mounds.

Siburt said the study takes about a year, adding that the results should be known by the end of 2016. She also said the project involves much more than Cahokia Mounds. To clarify, the national park unit status would include mounds across the St. Louis region, such as Sugarloaf Mound in St. Louis, Emerald Mounds in Lebanon, Pulcher Mound in Dupo and others.

“This is a very big project,” Siburt said. “We’re talking about the Cahokia Mounds, and this large mounds project.”

After the feasibility study, nps.gov states that Congress would need to authorize a study of management options to determine whether the park would be run by the state, a private entity or federal agency, among other options.

Siburt said it would be too difficult to set a time frame on when Cahokia Mounds could finally reach national park unit status. However, if the goal is reached, Siburt said the designation could bring in more tourism as a benefit to Monroe County and the St. Louis region.

“It gives it so much more breadth and depth,” she said of making the mounds a national park unit.

One organization in the community welcoming to the idea of tourism is the Monroe County Economic Development Corporation. According to the corporation’s director, Edith Koch, tourism could spur the economy.

“Tourism can be economic development, and economic development can be tourism,” she said.

In June, the St. Clair County Board showed support for the idea, voting to donate $25,000 to Heartlands. The donation will go toward community outreach and education; updating databases, mapping and surveying parcels; partnership outreach and education, and more.

Congress would need to establish an act for the president to sign into law as the final part of turning Cahokia Mounds into a national park unit. Yet another way to receive the status is for the president to invoke the Antiquities Act to designate the mounds as a national monument.

The Illinois General Assembly passed a joint resolution in 2015 to urge Congress to elevate the status of Cahokia Mounds.

For more information on the study and the initiative of turning the mounds into a national park unit, visit facebook.com/TheMounds or call Heartlands Conservancy at 618-566-4451. More information on the mounds is at cahokiamounds.org.

Mounds Heritage Trail
To coincide with the feasibility study, Siburt also brought up development of the Mounds Heritage Trail at Thursday’s presentation.

Siburt said work is being planned to extend the trail east to Lebanon and north from Cahokia Mounds to Alton, where it would continue to Pere Marquette State Park in Grafton. Interest is also established to extend the trail further south into Monroe County.

“It’s in the works,” Siburt said, adding that these add-ons will require funding to move forward.

One leg of the trail goes west from the mounds to the Sugar Loaf Mound in St. Louis and the other heads south to Columbia, where it stops at the Monroe County Welcome Center. Additionally, the trail goes north to Big Mound Site in St. Louis.

A Heartlands Conservancy brochure on the Mounds Heritage Trail states that the trail blends historical, natural and cultural features by providing a route to museums, the mounds, historic buildings, cultural landmarks and more.

The trail came about as a means to drive tourism. That being said, the trail is designed to support hiking, biking and motor vehicle travel.

For more information on the trail, go to heartlandsconservancy.org.