Forests
Missouri's forests have made a remarkable recovery. By the early 1900s, nearly every acre of the vast Ozark forest was cut for firewood, lumber and crops. The forests were depleted and the region was economically and ecologically ruined. Through determined conservation efforts, the oak-hickory forests have regenerated, although the mighty shortleaf pine forests that once dominated the central Ozarks are all but gone.
Forests now cover 14 million acres, about one-third of the state. Only 15 percent, about two million acres, is owned by federal, state or local governments. The remaining 85 percent is managed by private landowners.
Our increasing demands for lumber, paper and space for development are growing threats to forest habitat. Considerations for future forest management must go beyond economic benefits, because forests are more than lumber products.
Forests produce millions of fruits and seeds for wildlife, they contribute to clean air and water and they provide recreational opportunities. From the birds that nest in the treetops to the microscopic creatures that decompose falling leaves, all forest species are connected in the web of life.
Restoration
Running buffalo clover
Pondberry
The Conservation Department cooperates with The Nature Conservancy, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Center for Plant Conservation to protect and restore two endangered forest understory plants. Running buffalo clover is propagated from wild populations and reintroduced into its known historic range. Pondberry, a shrub, grows in wetland forests. Seedlings from the large native population at Sand Ponds Conservation Area are used to establish this rare species at Corkwood Conservation Area.
Pondberry is an aromatic plant that closely resembles the more familiar spicebush.
Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project
Kentucky Warbler
Biologists stringing mist nets
One of the many facets of the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP), a long-term cooperative effort of the Conservation Department, state universities and the U.S. Forest Service, is to study the response of forest interior birds, such as the Kentucky warbler , to different timber management practices. Biologists string mist nets through the forest to capture birds. After recording their location, weight, age and sex, they band and release the birds. This project, which also includes studies of forest vegetation, reptiles and insects, encompasses 9,000 acres of Conservation Department forests and spans 100 years.
Old Growth Inventory
Measuring a tree
Natural history biologists inventory old growth forest remnants to serve as a baseline for managers as they attempt to restore forests. Old growth forest has mostly disappeared from Missouri, but sound forest management helps to recreate similar conditions today.
