Director Pauley announces Our Missouri Waters pilot project, develops coordinated, holistic approach to watershed management

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Nov. 17, 2011 – The Missouri Department of Natural Resources today announced Our Missouri Waters, a new watershed-based approach that will change the way the department conducts water resource management.

Speaking at the Tri-State Water Resource Coalition annual conference in Springfield, department director Sara Parker Pauley announced the initiative that will take a coordinated, holistic approach to watershed management across the state.

“Our Missouri Waters initiative will modernize and streamline the way the department conducts watershed planning to better target our resources and provide a greater environmental benefit to the state of Missouri,” said Director Pauley. “This will help the department maintain consistency and provides a framework to measure results and provide accountability.”

Stakeholders, partnering agencies and the public will play a critical role throughout the initiative.  The department has established a Watershed Advisory Committee that will provide their expertise and insight to the department as it works to develop, implement and evaluate this new approach. Working with these partners, the department will work to improve watershed planning, identify issues within watersheds and utilize tools that are best suited to address those watershed-specific issues.

“I applaud the department for taking this step to break down silos, which will lead to a more efficient, integrated and effective approach to preserving and protecting our precious water resources,” Gov. Jay Nixon said.

Citizen participation and cooperation is also crucial for successful watershed management. “Local citizen participation is key to the success of Our Missouri Waters initiative. When citizens better understand the issues within their watershed, they become more invested in the future of their community and together we can develop the most effective solution to benefit the state’s water resources for generations to come.” added Director Pauley.

The department selected three pilot watersheds to be included in the department’s first phase of the Our Missouri Waters initiative. The department evaluated all watersheds throughout the state and selected Spring River watershed, Big River watershed and the Lower Grand River watershed due to their diversity and opportunities. When selecting the three pilot watersheds, the department examined issues such as water quality, water quantity, high-quality waters for preservation and local stakeholder interest.

The department will begin implementing the pilot projects in early 2012 and will continue the planning process into 2013. These pilots will allow the department to analyze how well this watershed-based approach works and to make adjustments before implementing a statewide effort expected to be launched in 2013.

For more information, visit the department’s website at dnr.mo.gov/omwi.htm or contact the Department of Natural Resources toll free at 800-334-6946 (voice) or 800-379-2419(Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). 

Fishing in Missouri

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Turkey Trivia Thanksgiving 2011

NWS issues Red Flag Warning. Be firewise to prevent wildfires.

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JEFFERSON CITY Mo -- The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a “Red Flag Warning” for much of Missouri. According to the NWS, “This means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures will create explosive fire growth potential.” For more information, visit http://www.crh.noaa.gov/hazards/lsx

The Missouri Department of Conservation urges hunters, campers and others in the outdoors to follow these precautions to protect lives, property and our precious forests.

Getting to camp

Wildfires can start when fine, dry fuel, such as grass, comes in contact with catalytic converters.

·        Think twice before driving into and across a grassy field.

·        Never park over tall, dry grass or piles of leaves that can touch the underside of a vehicle.

·        When driving vehicles off road, regularly inspect the undercarriage to ensure that fuel and brake lines are intact and no oil leaks are apparent.

·        Always carry an approved fire extinguisher on vehicles that are used off road.

Preparing to make your fire

·        Clear a generous zone around fire rings. When humidity is low and wind is high, debris can become tinder for a stray spark or ember.

·        Store your unused firewood a good distance from the fire.

·        Never use gasoline, kerosene or other flammable liquid to start a fire.

·        Keep campfires small and controllable.

·        Keep fire-extinguishing materials, such as a rake, shovel and bucket of water, close by in case you need to quench your fire in a hurry.

Never leave a campfire unattended!

·        Extinguish campfires each night and before leaving camp (even if it's just for a few moments).

Practice extra caution in the field

·        If you smoke, put out your cigarettes completely. Burn them in your campfire or pack them out.

Don't delay call for help!

·        Call 911 at the first sign of a fire getting out of control.

Report forest arson

Many wildfires are set by vandals. You can stop arson by calling 800-392-1111. Your report will remain anonymous, and rewards are possible.

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Discover Nature with Eagle Days

MDC offers events at locations around the state along with other viewing opportunities.

Courtesy MDC

JEFFERSON CITY Mo – Missouri's winter eagle watching is spectacular as large numbers of our national symbol congregate along Missouri rivers, lakes and wetlands. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) encourages people to discover nature through the following Eagle Days events, which include live eagle programs, exhibits, activities, videos, guides with spotting scopes and refreshments:

·        Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Mound City, on Dec. 3-4 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call 816-271-3100.

·        Smithville Lake Little Platte Park Course Complex, Smithville, on Jan. 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Jan. 8 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call 816-532-0174.

·        Old Chain of Rock Bridge, St. Louis south of I-270 off Riverview Drive, on Jan. 14-15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 314-877-1309.

·        Springfield Conservation Nature Center, Springfield, on Jan. 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Jan. 22 from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information call 417-888-4237.

·        Lock & Dam 24 and Apple Shed Theater with driving tour at Ted Shanks Conservation Area, Clarksville, on Jan. 28 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Jan. 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information call 660-785-2420.

·        Shell City Community Center and Shell Osage Conservation Area, Shell City, on Feb. 4-5 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call 417-876-5226.

Can’t make Eagle Days? View eagles in the wild at numerous locations throughout the state including:

·        Lake of the Ozarks Bagnell Dam Access east of Bagnell

·        Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area off Route K southwest of Columbia

·        Lock & Dam 24 in Clarksville

·        Lock & Dam 25 east of Winfield

·        Mingo National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Puxico

·        Old Chain of Rocks Bridge south of I-270 off of Riverview Drive in St. Louis

·        Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary east of West Alton

·        Schell-Osage Conservation Area north of El Dorado Springs

·        Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge south of Mound City

·        Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge south of Sumner

·        Table Rock Lake southwest of Branson

·        Truman Reservoir west of Warsaw

Dress for the weather and don’t forget cameras and binoculars.

For an MDC brochure on Eagle Days, visit www.mdc.mo.gov and search “Eagle Days.”

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MDC celebrating 75 years of conservation in Missouri

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Missouri’s unique, citizen-led conservation agency began in November 1936.


JEFFERSON CITY Mo -- The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is celebrating its 75th anniversary through October 2012. Throughout the next year, the MDC-produced magazine, Missouri Conservationist, will highlight the Show-Me-State’s unique, citizen-led conservation story, successful conservation partnerships and programs and future challenges. To read the Missouri Conservationist online or to subscribe, free to Missourians, visit http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag. MDC will also host anniversary events throughout the coming year at nature centers and other locations throughout the state. To follow anniversary activities, visit http://mdc.mo.gov/about-us/get-know-us/75th-anniversary.

“Conservation in Missouri is unique,” said MDC Director Robert Ziehmer, “unique in its history, unique in the way it derives its authority and funding from citizens, and unique in the passion, partnerships and commitment of Missourians to perpetuate this legacy.”

Ziehmer added that Missourians have achieved some amazing results.


“Working together, the Department and citizens have restored and conserved dozens of fish and wildlife species,” he said. “We have ensured that Missouri is a great place to hunt and fish, transformed forestry into a sustainable industry, created a system devoted to serving both rural and urban private landowners, invested in the hearts of major urban areas to encourage participation in the outdoors, developed an accessible network of public lands and facilities, and partnered the entire way with citizens and communities throughout the state.”

The need to protect, conserve and sustain Missouri’s fish, forest and wildlife resources began well before the creation of the MDC. During their expedition in the early 1800s through what is now known as Missouri, explorers Lewis & Clark described the stunning abundance and variety of fish, forests and wildlife. However, by the 1860s, our state’s fish, forest and wildlife resources were depleted through unchecked hunting, fishing, logging and burning of land. By the 1930s, the existing Missouri Department of Game was underfunded and largely a token gesture weakened by powerful interests.

These circumstances set the stage for citizen-led efforts to begin the restoration of Missouri’s fish, forest and wildlife resources 75 years ago. In September 1935, Missouri sportsmen met and formed the Restoration and Conservation Federation of Missouri. They drafted an amendment to the Missouri Constitution aimed at creating an apolitical conservation agency and set to work getting it passed. On Nov. 3, 1936, voters approved Amendment 4 to the Missouri Constitution, creating the Conservation Commission and the apolitical, science-based conservation agency with authority over fish, forests and wildlife. On July 1, 1937, Amendment 4 took effect.

“Not in their wildest imaginations could those early sportsmen have imagined what has been achieved,” said Dave Murphy, executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri. “On the same landscape, at the same time that our human population has doubled, we’ve seen the restoration of wild turkey, deer, geese, river otters, raccoons, black bass, elk and so much more.”

In 1970, the Conservation Federation of Missouri led an effort to establish dedicated funding for conservation through the Design for Conservation. Passed in 1976, it included a pledge to obtain land for recreation, forestry and protection of critical habitat, increased services to the public in the areas of wildlife and forest conservation, the creation of conservation nature centers throughout Missouri, and funding through the 1/8-of 1-percent conservation sales tax.

This sales-tax revenue makes up 58 percent of MDC’s annual operating budget with no funding coming from the state’s general revenue. Permit revenues from fishing, hunting and trapping account for approximately 20 percent of the Department’s annual revenue. MDC also receives 14 percent of its funding in the form of federal reimbursements from sources including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration programs.

Efforts to ensure healthy forests, abundant fish and wildlife and productive waters provide benefits to citizens’ quality of life and the state economy. Today, hunting, fishing and wildlife watching, along with forest industries support about 95,000 Missouri jobs and generate more than $11.4 billion annually to state and local economies.

The Department is led by the Conservation Commission, which consists of four commissioners appointed by the Governor for six-year unpaid terms. Current Commissioners are: Don R. Johnson of Festus; James T. Blair, IV, of St. Louis; Don C. Bedell of Sikeston; and Becky L. Plattner of Grand Pass.

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Hunters shoot 89,000 deer on opening weekend

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Experts attribute the 8-percent decrease to warm, windy

weather and decreasing deer numbers in some parts of the state.

JEFFERSON CITY–Hunters checked 89,728 deer during the opening weekend of Missouri’s November firearms deer hunt, a decrease of 8.3 percent from 2010.

Resource Scientist Jason Sumners, with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), said weather played a role in this year’s decrease, but attributed a longer declining trend to shrinking deer numbers in some parts of the state.

“There’s no question that the opening-weekend harvest was affected by warm temperatures and high winds,” said Sumners. “However, this isn’t just a one-year decrease. The opening-weekend harvest averaged 118,000 from 2001 through 2005. From 2006 through 2010, the average was 95,401.  Those figures reflect a change in regional deer populations.”

Sumners said areas where deer numbers are down include parts of the Kansas City, Northwest, Southwest and Central regions. The opening-weekend harvest in those areas was down between 11 and 18 percent.

The opening-weekend harvest in southeastern Missouri and in the Ozark region was similar to last year’s. Sumners said deer numbers are increasing slowly in those areas.

Sumners said the declining trends in deer population and harvest numbers are not cause for concern.

“We have been trying for the better part of a decade to stabilize deer numbers in some areas,” said Sumners. “In others we have been working to bring down deer populations to reduce crop damage and deer-vehicle accidents. Now our challenge is finding ways to fine-tune harvest at the local level to balance hunting opportunity with nuisance problems.”

Sumners said this could mean future reductions in the availability of antlerless permits in some areas.

According to Sumners, a decrease of 8,000 in the opening-weekend harvest is not likely to have a significant effect on the overall deer harvest but may reflect a general trend of lower deer numbers in many parts of rural Missouri.  With 12 days of the November hunting season ahead, followed by a nine-day antlerless deer season, 11 days of muzzleloader hunting and a two-day late youth season, hunters have plenty of time to catch up. Archers have through Jan. 15 to hunt. Sumners said he expects the 2011-2012 deer harvest to be in the neighborhood of 250,000 to 275,000.

Top harvest counties during the opening weekend were Howell with 1,702 deer checked, Macon with 1,617 and Texas with 1,588.

MDC recorded one non-fatal, firearms-related hunting incident during the opening weekend.

-Jim Low-

Bring your ideas to an informational meeting Nov. 18 at Long Branch State Park

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., NOV. 14, 2011 – The public is invited to bring their ideas to an informational meeting on Friday, Nov. 18, at Long Branch State Park near Macon. The informational meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the Long Branch Marina Store.

Recent accomplishments at the park and future plans will be highlighted during the informational meeting. Visitors are invited to share comments on the Long Branch State Park services and operations.

This informational meeting is part of an ongoing effort to ensure citizens have input on facilities and services offered in state parks and historic sites.

Long Branch State Park is located two miles west of the U.S. Highway 63 and 36 junction in Macon County. People requiring special services or accommodations to attend the meeting can make arrangements by calling the park directly at 660-773-5229 or by calling the Department of Natural Resources toll free at 800-334-6946 (voice) or 800-379-2419(Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). For more information on Missouri state parks and historic sites, visit the web at mostateparks.com.

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