Missouri Conservationist online

Gene Kelly administers the Conservation Department's donation program and serves as liaison for the newly created Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation. He has been with the Conservation Department for 32 years and enjoys many outdoor pursuits, but catching trout on dry flies is his favorite.

Jim Loveless, when not building canoes, enjoys fishing and bird hunting. He is a wildlife management biologist with the Conservation Department and has been the manager of the Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area since it was purchased. He and his wife, Connie, live in Columbia, where Loveless is active in local politics.

Joan Mckee, an editor and designer at the Conservation Department's headquarters in Jefferson City, says she benefits from agricultural services programs when she enjoys the abundant prairie wildflowers on her parents' farm in Hickory County, which the Conservation Department helped maintain through prescribed burns.

Biologist John Meyer coordinated the Conservation Department's turkey, pheasant, grouse, river otter, osprey, Canada goose, collared lizard and peregrine falcon restoration programs from 1985 until 1997. He and his wife, Sherry, live in Boone County and enjoy hunting, canoeing, photography, fishing and reading.

Missouri Conservationist readers have enjoyed Joel Vance's journalism and humor for 30 years. He is the author of several books and a book on tape that is a collection of short stories read by the author. He also is a columnist for several commercial magazines. Joel and his wife, Marty, live near Russellville

James D. Wilson is an ornithologist with the Conservation Department. In addition to peregrine falcons, he has worked with bald eagles, ospreys and trumpeter swans. Jim and his wife, Marsha, and their two sons live just outside of Jefferson City and enjoy camping, canoeing and traveling.