Conserving Plants, Animals and Their Habitats
Facing our challenges:
Missouri is a state with a magnificent variety of land and wildlife; however, much of Missouri has changed dramatically from what the first settlers experienced. Each generation sees the world for the first time and makes changes to the landscape that have a lasting impact.
Although some plants and animals have been successfully restored to sustainable populations, the continued loss of highquality habitats all across Missouri has led to troubling declines in other important plants and animals. Future Missourians will only benefit from these important resources if high-quality habitats are conserved and carefully managed.
Goal: The Conservation Department will work to increase the number of high-quality Missouri natural communities, including wetlands, prairies, forests, woodlands, cliffs, streams, grasslands, savannas, glades and caves.
Results we want to achieve:
- Healthy and functioning natural communities that support a variety of native plants and animals.
- Minimal negative impacts from non-native species.
- Plants, animals and habitats managed for long-term health using the best scientific information.
What we will do:
- Protect and restore 6,000 additional acres of prairie on public and private lands by 2025 to support species such as bobwhite quail, greater prairie chicken and Topeka shiner.
- Protect and restore 3,000 additional acres of forested wetlands on public and private lands by 2025 to support species such as the wood duck, marbled salamander, cerulean warbler, swamp rabbit and alligator gar.
- Remove five species from the state endangered species list by 2015 through habitat management, threat reduction, education and monitoring.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive Invasive Species Plan by 2010 that identifies eradication efforts, potential regulations and public education needs.
- Establish or expand 40 Natural Areas to enhance Missouri’s Natural Areas System and to protect the best examples of Missouri’s ecological subsections.
- Conduct monitoring, evaluation and research to provide scientific information for the management of Missouri’s fish, forests and wildlife.
- Focus restoration and management efforts with public and private partners in those areas of Missouri with the greatest opportunity for the conservation of plants, animals and natural communities.
- Continue Department hatchery programs to produce and stock fish, such as paddlefish and sturgeon, whose populations are not sustained naturally due to loss of spawning habitats.
What Missourians tell us
More than 90 percent of Missourians agree with the statement, “It is important for outdoor places to be protected even if you don’t plan to visit the area.”
Eighty-four percent agree that “The Missouri Department of Conservation should designate natural areas to protect Missouri’s best examples of forests, prairies, marshes and glades.”
More than three-quarters of Missourians agree that “The Missouri Department of Conservation should make an effort to restore animals that once lived here or are currently very rare in Missouri” (79 percent) and that the Department “should conserve and restore rare and endangered plants” (79 percent).
