About a year ago, Loring Bullard, an author and educator on water quality, came upon a whirlpool as he was walking along Wilson’s Creek.
Since then, the whirlpool has opened up into a geo-feature known as a swallow hole that Bullard says is pulling water from the creek into an underground cave.
“This is just kind of an extreme example of a losing stream. The stream basically flows across a cave opening and at some point the water is able to get down into the cave and it just flows out of the creek and into the cave below,” Bullard told KSMU.
On Friday, March 16, the public can learn more about this swallow hole and the unique geography in this area of the Ozarks at a presentation hosted by the James River Basin Partnership.
Starting at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Springfield Conservation Nature Center, Bullard will show pictures and videos of the swallow hole’s transformation.
Also at the event, executive director of the James River Basin Partnership, Tiffany Frey, will inform the public about a grant that she says will help protect Wilson’s Creek from natural and manmade changes which divert the creek’s flow of water.
The Springfield Conservation Nature Center is located at 4601 S. Nature Center Way in southeast Springfield.