A piece of Signal Hill property acquired by the St. Clair County Greenspace Foundation in July will be open to the public for a guided hike Saturday.

The hike begins at 1 p.m. Saturday lead by board member Charles Giedeman, plant and habitat consultant for the organization.

Those interested in participating should meet at the end of Wedgewood Street off Lindorf in the Signal Hill neighborhood.

"What we want from this walk Saturday is to gather input from people who might be using it and find out how they'd like to use it," said Margaret Meyer, secretary/treasurer of the organization. "The ultimate goal is to make it more accessible with natural trails that will be open to the public.

"Because this property backs right up to the Signal Hill School, they could use it to have an outdoor classroom. There is a good variety of trees, a lot wildlife and some wildflowers in there. The wildflowers will be a lot more prevalent once we get all of that bush honeysuckle out of there."

The 22-acre piece of land was bought by the county from the East St. Louis Park District for $35,000 and transferred to the nonprofit, all-volunteer organization to be maintained as public green space.

The land was purchased with money in the county fund dedicated to buying and maintaining parks. The land is a former Girl Scout camp in the bluffs off Concord Drive between Belleville's western border and Frank Holten State Park.

Since the site was transferred to the organization, volunteers met weekly to clear the land of invasive plant species and make it more inviting to be used by the public.

So far, about an acre of land that started out completely overgrown with bush honeysuckle, an extremely invasive plant species, has been cleared.

"The volunteers can't do it all," Meyer said. "We'll need to have some professional help with chainsawing and chemical treatment."

Meyer said the organization relies on donations and has applied for grants to get the property on a forest management plan. Volunteers found the remnants of two stone fireplaces on the property, believed to date back to the 1930s when the East St. Louis Park District received a park grant from the federal government.

Another fireplace and concrete foundation were also located where the Girl Scouts built a pavilion when they leased the land beginning in the 1950s. The pavilion burnt down in the 1970s, Meyer said.

"We're trying to figure out how they got trucks back there to pour the concrete," she said. "Now, it's so overgrown we can't imagine what it used to look like way back when. It really is a jungle and has changed quite dramatically, but, the land is very, very beautiful in its irregularity."

The Greenspace organization owns nearly 60 acres of Mississippi River bluffs in the county. More information about the organization and how to get involved can be found at www.greenspacefoundation.org.

Contact reporter Jennifer A. Bowen at jbowen@bnd.com or 618-239-2667.

Contact reporter Jennifer A. Bowen at jbowen@bnd.com or 618-239-2667.