MDC to give away seedlings at KC Arbor Day event April 18

Arbor Day celebrates trees and the spring planting season. 

For information on tree planting and care, 

visit http://mdc.mo.gov/node/3321.

                     Missouri Department of Conservation photo

Healthy Trees for Life Arbor Day celebration will be in KC's Loose Park

Kansas City, Mo. – Missouri State Forester Lisa Allen will be among the speakers at the Healthy Trees for Life Arbor Day celebration 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at Loose Park, 55th and Summit Streets. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is a partner of the free event, hosted by Kansas City Parks & Recreation, and will give away swamp white oak seedling trees at the event. Allen is the MDC Forestry Division Chief.

   Presentations at the Arbor Day event will give area residents a chance to learn ways to keep trees healthy, how trees benefit people and wildlife, and what threats trees face from disease or invasive species such as emerald ash borer. Family fun activities will be offered such as kids’ scavenger hunt and free giveaways. Kansas City will be honored as a TreeCity_USA for its commitment to healthy trees. Arbor Day Foundation President Dan Lambe is scheduled to attend.

   Spring is a good time to plant trees and give them a chance to adapt before the summer stress of hot weather. Arbor Day celebrates the value of trees, the planting season and proper care for trees. MDC foresters encourage property owners to plant native trees. They’re adapted to local soils and climate, and they’re good for butterflies, birds and other wildlife.

   For more information on tree care, visit mdc.mo.gov/node/3321.  The Heartland Tree Alliance, an MDC partner, provides information about trees that do well specifically in the Kansas City area at https://www.bridgingthegap.org/heartland-tree-alliance. A useful source for information about native wildflowers, grasses, shrubs and trees is available athttp://www.grownative.org.

May Meeting of Missouri Conservation Commissiom Later This Week

The Missouri Conservation Commission will meet in open session on May 31st at Van Buren beginning at 8:30 am.  An excutive session will have met the evening before but its closed to the public. 

The executive session is where things that are legally deemed to be permissable to discuss outside the view of the general public are taken up.  Some examples are matters regarding personnel, license revocations, and certain real estate discussions.

One item on the agenda of particular interest to Missouri outdoor folks will be a presentation by Jason Sumners, MDC Resource Scientist.  Jason will be discussion the status of the Missouri deer herd as well as proposed regulation changes for the upcoming year.

Another item that will be discussed is possible changes to regulations on early migratory bird seasons.  This presentation will come from Doreen Mengel, MDC Resource Scientist.

Two other planned presentations will be given by Michael Bill, MDC Resource Forester and by Jeff Cockerham, MDC Education Outreach Chief.  Michael will be discussion sustainable forest management guidelines.  Jeff will be discussing the Missouri Hunter Education program.

There will be a reccomendation to sell 1.1 million board feet of timber off of Pech Ranch Conservation Area.

Other topics include some project status summaries and the like, as well as all the license revocations for the month.

visit mdc.mo.gov for more information.