MDC offers TRIM grants for community forest improvements

Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance (TRIM) grant applications due June 1. Help available throughout the state. Workshops coming up in Columbia, Kirkwood and Springfield.

JEFFERSON CITY Mo – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is offering grants to assist with the management, improvement and/or conservation of community trees and forests. These Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance (TRIM) cost-share grants can help communities fund tree inventories, removal or pruning of hazardous trees, tree planting and the training of volunteers and city/county employees to best care for community forests.

TRIM is a competitive cost-share tree-care program administered by the MDC in cooperation with the Missouri Community Forest Council and United States Forest Service. The program provides reimbursement of $1,000 to $10,000 to assist government agencies, public schools and non-profit groups with the management, improvement or conservation of trees and forests on public land.

TRIM applicants must submit a completed application form by June 1 that details project costs and funding sources, maps and drawings of the project site, a three-year maintenance plan for the project and a letter of approval from the governmental body owning the proposed project site.

A panel of judges selects projects for funding on a competitive basis. Proposals are assessed for their value to the community, thoroughness as a tree-management program and the ability to promote, improve and develop a community's urban forest and economic feasibility. Grant recipients can receive up to 60 percent of the money needed for their projects. Projects located in communities with The National Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA designation are eligible for an additional 15 percent in matching funds.

MDC will hold a TRIM workshop for the central region on Wednesday, May 4, 9-11 a.m. at the MDC Central Regional Office in Columbia, 1907 Hillcrest Drive. Registration is required. Contact MDC Urban Forester Ann Koenig atann.koenig@mdc.mo.gov or by calling 573-882-8388 x227.

MDC will hold a TRIM workshop for the St. Louis region on Thursday, May 5, 6-8 p.m. at the MDC Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood, 11715 Craigwold Road. Registration is required. Contact MDC Urban Forester Perry Eckhardt at perry.eckhardt@mdc.mo.gov or by calling 314-301-1506x2236, or MDC Urban Forester Mark Grueber at mark.grueber@mdc.mo.gov or by calling 636-300-1953 x248.

MDC will hold a TRIM workshop for the southeast region on Thursday, May 5, 10 a.m. – noon at the MDC Southwest Regional Office in Springfield, 2630 N. Mayfair. Registration is required. Contact MDC Urban Forester Cindy Garner atcindy.garner@mdc.mo.gov or by calling 417-895-6880.

For TRIM grant information for the Kansas City area, contact MDC Urban Forester Chuck Conner at charles.conner@mdc.mo.gov or 816-655-6250, x250.

For TRIM grant information in the Joplin area, contact MDC Urban Forester Jon Skinner at jon.skinner@mdc.mo.gov or 417-629-3423.

For TRIM grant information for the Hannibal area, call MDC Resource Forester David Vance at david.vance@mdc.mo.gov or  573-248-2530.

For TRIM grant information for the northeast region of Missouri, contact MDC Resource Forester Yvette Amerman at yvette.amerman@mdc.mo.gov or 660-785-2424. 

For more information on TRIM, including the grant application and a helpful workbook, visit http://tinyurl.com/3tw8nfs

Missouri Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Information

Natural areas the focus of new MDC book

The latest addition to Missouri’s conservation library is a

guide to 50 fascinating examples of the state’s natural heritage.

JEFFERSON CITY–Anyone who has ever wondered how the Show-Me State looked when it achieved statehood in 1821 will want a copy of the latest book from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).

“Discover Missouri Natural Areas” profiles 50 of Missouri’s more than 180 designated natural areas. The book’s author, MDC Natural Areas Coordinator Mike Leahy, chose areas that represent all 16 of the state’s natural communities in all four if its ecological regions. Captivating plant, animal and landscape photos illustrate summaries of the areas’ natural features, plants, animals and points of interest. Examples include:

·        Little Bean Marsh, in Platte County, is one of the few marsh areas surviving from when Lewis and Clark passed that way more than 200 years ago. In the spring, this area is a staging area for a spectacular number and variety of waterfowl and shorebirds on their northward migration. In the winter, it is a hangout for bald eagles.

·        Big Oak Tree, in Mississippi County, has trees so big you might think you have wandered into a stand of sequoias. Bring along binoculars to identify birds like the rare Swainson’s warbler, anhingas and Mississippi kites as you stroll this state park’s trails and boardwalks. The plant and amphibian life are just as diverse and beautiful.

·        Taberville Prairie, in St. Clair County, is one of the last strongholds of the greater prairie-chicken in Missouri. This 1,360-acre area also has nearly 350 species of wild plants, 43 types of butterflies and birds you are unlikely to find outside Missouri’s dwindling grasslands. One of the state’s last intact prairie headwater streams meanders through the area.

·        Alley Spring, in Shannon County, has one of the state’s largest springs, discharging 81 million gallons of water daily. You can hike beneath old-growth shortleaf pines and tour the adjacent historic Alley Spring gristmill.

·        Castor River Shut-Ins, in Madison County, is the only known place in Missouri where water flow has carved a steep channel through pink granite, creating a “shut-ins,” as such places are known. Here, you can take your pick of fishing for smallmouth bass or wading in the cool waters of Castor River downstream from the shut-ins.

·        Hughes Mountain, in Washington County, has one of the oldest landforms on Planet Earth, a 1.4 billion year-old mountain of volcanic rhyolite. The hexagonal columns of the cooled lava poking up from the earth’s ancient bowels here echo those at Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming. If you can take your eyes off the geological wonders, check out the glade plants and animals or the spectacular view of the surrounding Ozarks.

·        Pickle Springs, in Ste. Genevieve County, is a geological and biological wonder of a completely different kind. Here, water has carved sandstone into weird shapes called “hoodoos” and created dozens of large and small waterfalls. The area’s cool moist box canyons provide a safe haven for plants left over from the last ice age. Bring along a camera if you visit this area in the spring. Showy rose azaleas bloom along the sandstone valley.

“Discover Missouri Natural Areas” has a table that enables users to compare special features, natural communities and recreational opportunities on all 50 areas. These include trails on 35 areas, boat access to seven and hunting and fishing opportunities on another 34 of the areas profiled.

Also included are sections explaining natural community types, Missouri’s ecological geography, guidelines for visiting natural areas and how to use the book’s features. There is even a glossary to explain special terms and a list of scientific names to help users who want to find more information about natural areas’ inhabitants.

“Discover Missouri Natural Areas” costs $9 plus sales tax and shipping and handling. To order, call toll free 877-521-8632 or visitmdcnatureshop.com.

-Jim Low-

Prairie in Progress by Lia Heppermann, MDC Wildlife Biologist

Image via Wikipedia
Reprinted from:

St. Louis Regional Newsletter
MDC

June 2011

Visitors to the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area will notice many fields planted with native warm season grasses and wildflowers, or forbs.  This is an effort to restore, or more accurately reconstruct, the prairie once known as Howell’s Prairie, which was a part of this area many years ago.  It may be surprising to know that prior to European settlement more than one- third of the Missouri landscape was prairie.  With settlement however, the prairie was grazed and plowed and converted to farmsteads and agriculture. Additionally, settlers began to control the fires causing the prairie to gradually give way to trees.  Few examples remain today of undisturbed, unplowed remnant prairie, and those that do remain are invaluable to our natural heritage.  Instead, we are often left with the difficult prospect of restoring degraded prairie or trying to recreate prairie habitat where it once existed; both of which are poor substitutes for the real thing.  Natural prairie communities are filled with a diverse array of plant and animal life which unfortunately do not respond to the “if you build it, they will come” hypothesis.  Ecological restoration is more complicated than that.  In spite of this, doing nothing is not an option either.


Which brings us back to the reconstruction project at Busch.  Progress has been slow and there are many challenges.  Currently nearly 200 acres have been planted with seed from Missouri seed suppliers.  They provide seed that is native to, and grown in,  Missouri and therefore adapted to the local climate and its rainfall, soils, insects, and other herbivores.  Patience For more information on prairies visit:
http://mdc.mo.gov/landwater-care/plant-management/prairie-grassland-and-field-managment or http://www.moprairie.org is key since it takes many years before the wildflowers will bloom.  During the first few years, plants are developing deep root systems to survive drought, fire and grazing which were characteristic elements of natural prairies.  Controlling invasive exotic plants and implementing fire are additional challenges.  Unfortunately, herbicide is necessary to control sericea lespedeza and other invasive
plants.  The challenge is to remove one and leave the other.  Fire is implemented as often as possible to stimulate the growth and vigor of the grasses and forbs.  Happily, we are making progress, and when you visit
you can find pale purple coneflower, round-headed bush clover, purple prairie clover, lead plant, rattlesnake
master, rosinweed, compass plant and many others blooming among the tall grasses.

Turn a memory into a memento with a first-turkey certificate

Image via Wikipedia

You can even add a photo of your favorite hunter.

JEFFERSON CITY–Shooting that first turkey is a landmark event in a young hunter’s life. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) helps turn such milestones into mementos.

MDC’s First Turkey Program gives participants free commemorative certificates suitable for framing. You can even add a photo of the proud hunter with his or her bird. This tangible recognition of young hunters’ achievements provides permanent reminders that can either substitute for or complement a taxidermist’s mount. To create a first-turkey certificate, visitwww.mdc.mo.gov/node/10469. The same site has forms for a youth’s first deer as well as first deer/turkey certificates for adults.

The parallel program for anglers is the First Fish Program. The First-Fish certificate form is available at www.mdc.mo.gov/node/10474.

Missouri remains a national leader in hunter and angler recruitment because of successful youth programs, hunter education, low cost permits and other efforts to promote hunting and fishing as healthful, sustainable outdoor activities.

-Jim Low-

SPRINGTIME CAUTION: LEAVE YOUNG WILDLIFE ALONE

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SPRINGTIME CAUTION: LEAVE YOUNG WILDLIFE ALONE Posted: 20 Apr 2011 12:00 PM PDT Young animals may seem abandoned but are seldom alone in the wild; “rescue,” however, may kill them PRATT — Spring is a time of rebirth and birth, with trees budding and young wildlife being born and hatched, and different levels of parental care are employed within the animal kingdom, all designed to work without human interference. But one common problem occurs when seemingly abandoned or orphaned wildlife are picked up by well-intentioned persons, often with tragic results. Mammals such as deer often leave their young to search for food. Deer fawns are born with natural camouflage and little scent, making it difficult for predators to detect them. A spotted coat helps hide young as they sit motionless in surrounding cover. These adaptations make it possible for the doe to move about and feed, maintaining her strength as she provides for her young. Raccoons and other mammals employ similar strategies. Well-meaning individuals sometimes discover young deer, raccoons, foxes, rabbits, or skunks and assume that they are orphaned or abandoned. Usually, the mother is close at hand but out of sight waiting for the human intruders to leave the area. In this situation, it is extremely important to leave the animals as found in the wild. To pick them up and take them home is illegal, for good reason. Wild animals often have very specific dietary requirements and often die under human care. Those that do survive have little chance of surviving if returned to the wild. Another reason to avoid picking up wild animals is health. Wild animals carry diseases and parasites that can infect humans or their pets. Dogs, if not vaccinated, may contract distemper from infected coyotes, foxes, or even weasels. Bobcats can transmit a similar disease to domestic cats. Ticks from host animals can expose humans to Lyme disease, and perhaps the greatest danger wild animals pose to humans is rabies. Many animals can carry rabies for several days without showing any outward symptoms. Pet dogs and cats should also be restrained during the season when young birds, rabbits, and other wildlife are young. Both dogs and cats can be deadly to wild young, no matter how friendly they may seem to humans. It can be a wonderful experience to see young animals in the wild, but for the benefit of the wildlife, it is important to leave them in the wild, where they are best equipped to survive.

Missouri Conservation Commission April 2011 Meeting

Image via WikipediaThere were several presentations made to the Commissioners at the April meeting which was held on the 14th and 15th.

Scott Manley from Ducks Unlimited recognized the MDC for supporting the development of waterfowl breeding habitat in Canada,

Chris Vitello (Fisheries Division Chief) reported on issues surrounding Missouri Department of Conservation cold water hatcheries in Missouri.

Jeff Berringer (MDC Resource Scientist) reported on various issues regarding the population of black bears in Missouri.

The Commission heard from the Missouri Farm Bureau on the issue of the reintroduction of elk to Missouri.

In addition to these presentations, several actions were also taken by the Conservation Commission.  Most  had to do with acquisition of lands.  Also, the Commission did its regular job of acting on suspensions and revocations of licenses for various infractions.

The Commission acted to transfer approximately 1/3 of an acre of the Vera Cruz access to Bryant Creek to Douglas County.  It appears this was done to allow for Douglas County to replace the bridge over Bryant Creek. Also, the Commission allowed for a small easement to be used by Douglas County for the purpose of construction access.

In a similar move, the Commission acted to hand over 0.43 acres of the Baptist Camp Access (this is the one on the Big Piney River as opposed to the one on the Current River) to Texas County for the replacement of their bridge over the river.  They also allowed for an easement for construction purposes.

Finally, the Commission approved the purchase of about an acre of land from the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission to add to the White Ranch Conservation Area (Howell Cty).

The Commission suspended or revoked the licenses of many residents for Wildlife Code violations.  Also, about 275 folks had action taken against them for violations under the Interstate Wildlife Violator Act. 305 people got their privileges taken because of lack of child support payments.

The nest meeting will be May 26 and 27.

50 Years of Turkey Hunting in Missouri

We hope everyone is getting exccited about opening day!  We wish you all the best, and most of all, be safe.  Your turkey hunting success is predicated on, most importantly, everyone coming home safely.