Missouri Conservationist online

Kathy Etling moved from St. Louis to a house in Osage Beach when her husband recently retired. They own a bass boat and are anxious to try duck and goose hunting on Lake Ozark. They also hunt deer and turkey on their property near Ste. Genevieve. Kathy often writes freelance articles for fishing magazines.

Melinda Hemmelgarn, a dietitian at the University of Missouri in Columbia, enjoys hiking, bicycling and canoeing.

Conservation Department wildlife research biologist Lonnie Hansen likes to hunt, process and eat wild game.

Doug Ladd lives with his wife and daughter in Webster Groves. He says family vacations often revolve around lichen or botany projects. Doug has been the director of science for the Missouri Chapter of the Nature Conservancy for 13 years. His most recent book is Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers.

Charlotte Overby says she loves spiders and was named Charlotte because her siblings were reading Charlotte's Web the summer she was born in Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands. She first saw ballooning spiders while canoeing on the Missouri River. She is assistant editor of the Conservationist and coordinates the production of Outside In.

Larry Rizzo has worked for the Conservation Department for nine years, formerly as a naturalist at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center and now as a natural history biologist. Larry lives in his hometown of Kansas City, where he and his wife enjoy local barbecue and the Chiefs. He likes to hunt, float, camp and fish.

Joel Vance of Russellville, author of a book on upland bird hunting, is part and parcel of the history of wing shooting. He has a weak spot for traditional, double-barreled shotguns, and he hunts quail and grouse across a wide swath of the Midwest. His favorite hunting partners are his sons and a bevy of beloved Brittanies.