Annual Report Fiscal Year 2008–2009

by 72 schools. The elementary unit, Nature Unleashed, was piloted by 21 schools. Grants supporting the two school units totaled $114,000. Conservation field trip grants helped 20,273 students get outdoors. Outdoor classroom grants were awarded to 34 schools. Conservation grants to schools exceeded $238,500.

Citizens enjoying nature

About 900,000 visitors explored the trails, programs and exhibits at our conservation nature centers and education centers throughout the state.

Grow Native!

Grow Native! is a program of the Missouri departments of Conservation and Agriculture, with help from the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve. A focus in FY09 has been the education of civil engineers and contractors in St. Louis, where an emphasis is being placed on the ability of native plants to slow stormwater runoff and improve water quality. Also, a survey shows sales of native plants in Missouri increased 70 percent between 2003 and 2008.

Landowner Assistance

Financial assistance

Nearly $1 million in cost-share funds went to 523 private landowners to implement beneficial habitat management practices for fish, forest and wildlife resources. The funds helped install 921 individual conservation practices, impacting nearly 12,000 acres.

Technical assistance

MDC provided timely and responsive service through 63,986 rural and urban landowner contacts, including more than 16,171 on-site visits. We also answered 4,488 requests for wildlife nuisance assistance, including 1,038 on-site visits.

Partnerships

We developed about 35 partnerships with federal, state and non-governmental organizations. These relationships helped MDC enhance technical, financial and equipment support to landowners interested in improving fish, forest and wildlife. For example, MDC assisted Missouri USDA with developing and applying $150 million in Farm Bill conservation programs, including more than $2 million in staff time.

Places to Go

Forest and woodland improvements

We conducted forest and woodland habitat improvement on 21,078 acres of state land. This included thinning young trees on 3,052 acres, post-sale work on 1,048 acres, prescribed fires on 10,922 acres and harvest of 6,056 acres.

Land management

MDC conducted habitat management on approximately 187,000 acres of public land, with an additional 120 miles of edge habitat. We spent nearly 460,000 hours on area and equipment maintenance.

Adopt-A-Trail

Volunteers monitored, maintained and helped to enhance trails. In FY09, 44 volunteers or groups of volunteers reported spending 1,130 hours on conservation area trails.

Accounting for Department Operations

Listened to Missourians

We conduct a variety of scientifically sound, unbiased and representative efforts each year to understand public opinions, expectations and recreation participation. This information guides decisions about regulations and fish, forest and wildlife management. In FY09 there were 62 activities that involved