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"For the first time in Missouri, the prospects are bright for teaching conservation statewide according to a coordinated plan, and students in every school will be exposed to conservation principles as an integrated part of their overall learning program." --Werner O. Nagel, Conservation Contrasts, 1970
Missouri Youths Meet Hunter Ed Challenge
JEFFERSON CITY -- Holding the shotgun in his right hand, 14-year-old Allen Treadwell loaded a shell, racked the slide and took a deep breath. "Trapper . . . pull!" As the clay bird flew across the field, Treadwell mounted the gun in the pocket between his shoulder and arm and shot the bird, sprinkling tiny fragments of clay over the green grass.
After surveying his work, he lowered the gun and turned to the four boys standing behind him waiting to take their turns. "Good shooting," they told him as each boy slapped Allen's hand. It was 9:45 a.m. May 25 -- the first day of the 1996 Missouri Youth Hunter Education Challenge -- and for Treadwell, of Seligman, Mo., the most important event of the program. This was Treadwell s second trip to the YHEC. Last year, he placed first in the junior shotgun event and his goal was to do it again this year.
"I want to win this," he said. "Sure, it's fun and everybody here is friendly, but I want to beat them."
Sponsored by the Missouri Hunter Education Instructor's Association, this program was established in 1991 to promote the development of hunter skills. Open to graduates of hunter education courses, the two-day event held May 25-26 at the United Sportsmen's Club in Jefferson City offers kids age 11-18 the opportunity to improve their techniques and become more responsible hunters.
"When these kids graduate from hunter education classes, the YHEC gives them something to do with their training throughout the year and not just during the hunting season," said Bob Staton, hunter education coordinator for the Missouri Department of Conservation and president of the International Hunter Education Association. "This is a place where they can match their skills with other kids. Because some of them are not interested in team sports, these events are exciting for them."
Treadwell's mother, Brenda Treadwell, agrees.
"I think it is so important to give kids something to do and something to look forward to," she said. "Allen loves doing this, and I am very happy he has found something he enjoys."
The YHEC offers eight events. Saturday's events consisted of sporting clays, .22 rifle marksmanship, a wildlife identification quiz and a hunter safety trail. On Sunday, contestants tried their hands at archery, muzzle-loading rifle marksmanship, orienteering and a written hunter responsibility exam. The top three scorers in each event received prizes.
According to Jan Morris, NRA Missouri YHEC coordinator, 79 kids participated in this year's competition compared to 40 kids in 1995. He attributes this rise in number to the good time that everybody had last year.
"All the kids went home last year and told their friends about the Challenge," he said. "If the number of kids doubles again next year, I don't know what we'll do. I think it's becoming popular because it's a fun event for everybody involved - the kids, parents, coaches and staff."
"The whole idea here is to do your best and enjoy the whole weekend. Don't get too wrapped up in all of it. Just have fun, okay?" said a volunteer working the hunter safety trail.
Shane Brocato, 16, of Owensville, smiled at the volunteer and promised to have a good time as he disappeared into the woods.
A plastic boar stood in the middle of a small stream at the first station. Shane stopped, looked at the boar and the surrounding woods and wrote "shoot" on the paper attached to his metal clipboard. He then continued on the trail to the second station - a squirrel climbing a tree.
Presenting participants with actual scenarios encountered by hunters in the field is the purpose of the hunter safety trail. The young hunters make decisions such as safe/unsafe and shoot/don't shoot to test their knowledge of safety and legal situations.
A large owl hanging from the branch of a tree at the fifth station stumped Shane. He stood before the plastic animal, trying to remember the rules he had learned in his hunter education class. After several minutes, he wrote "don't shoot" on his paper and moved to the next scenario.
Shane wasn't sure if he had chosen the correct answer, but he wasn't too worried about it. "Some friends of mine wanted to come to this just for fun," he said. "I'd like to do well, but if I don't, that's okay because I know what last place feels like."
But Morris believes that everybody is a winner. "If these kids are all safe, if they learn something, improve their skills and have fun doing it, then this weekend was a success."
Overall winners in the 1996 event included:
Other event winners in the Senior Division included: Justin Micham of Bruner, .22 rifle; Chuck Kitley, Lake Lotawana, muzzleloader; Clint Mitchell, Sparta, sporting clays, and Jacob Eiler, Owensville, archery, and Tom Niehoff, Imperial, orienteering.
Other event winners in the Junior Division included: Casey Roper, Farmington, archery; and Derek Roper, Farmington, hunter safety trail.
Information about the Missouri Youth Hunter Education Challenge is available from: Jan Morris, 1101 Cardinal Drive, Imperial, MO 63052.
Timber Harvests Move Forest Study Into Next Phase
EMINENCE, Mo. -- Leroy Denning cut a notch near the base of a massive scarlet oak, then changed sides. In seconds, the blade of his Stihl chainsaw chewed through 18 inches of dense wood -- 70 annual growth rings -- approaching the notch cut on the opposite side. When he saw the kerf of the felling cut begin to widen, he stepped quickly back to one side. Gravity finished the job, accelerating three tons of tree in an arching path. The oak pivoted on a 6-inch hinge of wood between Denning s two cuts, dropped neatly between half a dozen smaller trees and came to rest with a flurry of thrashing limbs and shuddering earth.
It was just another day of logging at Peck Ranch Conservation Area for Denning. But for Forestry Resource Technician Carl Ward, the occasion was full of portents. As he watched Denning s labors, he saw more than a man harvesting a valuable commodity. His vision included better management of Missouri s forests for everything from jobs and lumber to recreation and endangered species.
Denning is an independent logger who lives near Winona. He began cutting timber with his father at age 11. His latest job started when the Missouri Department of Conservation accepted his bid for a timber harvest as part of the Missouri Ozarks Forest Ecosystem Project. Ward s job is to ensure that contract loggers like Denning follow the provisions of their contracts. Denning says he sees no difference between timber harvests he has carried out under contract with MDC in the past and those under MOFEP, as the research project is known. For Ward, however, these cuts include a new dimension.
MOFEP is a scientific study of unprecedented length and breadth. Unlike most studies, which span two or three years -- perhaps 10 in exceptional cases -- MOFEP is scheduled to run for 50 years, with the possibility of a 50-year extension. During those decades, hundreds of scientists from dozens of disciplines will gather volumes of detailed information about how human activities affect every imaginable aspect of forest health.
Work on MOFEP began five years ago. That s when the MDC began sending crews into 9,000 acres of prime Ozark forest to gather data about what a forest is and how it works. Some crews recorded what trees made up the forest canopy, how many of the trees have cavities suitable for wildlife den sites and how many were lying on the ground decaying. Other crews counted salamanders, snakes, turtles, toads, frogs and lizards. Some counted mammals, while others concentrated on birds. There were crews to record the plants covering the forest floor, to inventory the insects living on the ground and in the treetops. They counted acorns and berries and mapped soil types. They documented differences between old-growth and mature second-growth timber.
All this information created a detailed portrait of a forest -- a snapshot of a dynamic system at a particular point in time. With that snapshot pasted in the picture album, MOFEP researchers now are ready to move into the second stage of MOFEP. That involves subjecting the study area to different management practices and watching how it changes.
MOFEP divides the 9,000 acres into nine compartments. Three of the compartments are designated for uneven-age tree management. In another three, the MDC will use even-age management. The remaining three are set aside as no-harvest areas.
In the three uneven-age compartments, the MDC will contract with loggers like Denning to cut selected trees. Selective timber harvests will take place at 10-year intervals. The goal is sustained timber production. MDC foresters will supervise the harvest of some commercially valuable trees in each size class, while letting others continue to grow. They also will select trees for removal that have poor potential for growing into quality timber and those that are too crowded for efficient, healthy growth. In each compartment, foresters will take into account the needs of wildlife, being careful to leave enough trees of different species and sizes to maintain high-quality habitat.
In some uneven-age harvest areas, much of the timber marked for removal in the first cut may be small -- six to 10 inches in diameter. But as MOFEP continues, the size distribution of timber harvested will become more balanced, so a balanced mix of small and large trees are cut every 10 years.
In the three even-age management compartments, the MDC will require contract loggers to remove all the trees from small plots. These plots will average about 10 acres, although some may be as small as five acres or as large as 15. MDC foresters will schedule harvests on 10 percent of the acreage in even-age management compartments every 10 years. Again, the goal will be sustained production of wood products, but the activity will be concentrated in small pockets instead of being spread over a large area, as it is in uneven-age management.
In uneven-age compartments, trees will regenerate naturally, growing up as sprouts from the stumps of harvested trees or from seeds dropped by the remaining trees. Some even-age management areas also will regenerate naturally. Others will receive broadcast seedings of shortleaf pine on sites where that species will grow well.
In both the even-age and uneven-age management areas, foresters will instruct loggers to leave enough hollow trees to provide dens for birds, mammals and other animals. They also will set aside about 200 acres of timber as old-growth forest in each compartment under both even-age and uneven-age management areas. They also will leave a variety of tree species in each area where selective cutting is carried out.
In the three no-harvest compartments, the MDC will do nothing. It will let mature trees to grow old, blow down, be struck by lightning, decay and fall to the ground and rot. Foresters will not manipulate the mix of young and old trees or the distribution of oaks, hickories, pines and other trees. These compartments serve as the control group in this scientific experiment.
Loggers will have until November 1996 to cut the timber for which they have paid. After that, researchers will move back in and begin recording changes in the soil and in plant and animal communities in areas where timber cutting took place. They also will continue monitoring the same factors in no-harvest areas so they can rule out the effects of weather and other factors that might cause changes unrelated to tree cutting.
We know how to grow trees, says Ward, who has been helping the MDC do just that for almost 20 years. But you can t manage for just trees anymore. MOFEP is a chance to see how our tree management affects other things.
MDC Forestry Division Chief Marvin Brown says MOFEP is one of the most ambitious studies of its kind in the nation. This project is an effort to gain some insights about what makes a forest tick, he says. Foresters and biologists realize the importance of looking beyond narrow goals for land management, but our ability to predict the effects of our actions is limited by what we know.
We need a better understanding of the whole forest system if we hope to manage it for many different goals. The current name for this approach is ecosystem management, but whatever you call it, it just means looking at the big picture. We ve always known that everything in nature is connected. MOFEP is aimed at learning how the parts of the forest are connected, so that when we try to do one thing for trees, we know what it will do to birds and flowers and the long-term health of all the parts of the forest that Missourians value.
MDC Announces Early Migratory Bird Seasons
JEFFERSON CITY -- Missourians will be able to hunt mourning doves from Sept. 1 through Oct. 30 and teal from Sept. 7 through Sept. 15 if federal officials approve early migratory bird seasons set by the Conservation Commission at its May meeting.
The Commission set daily and possession limits for doves at 15 and 30, respectively. It set the daily and possession limits for teal at four and eight blue-winged, green-winged or cinnamon teal in the aggregate. Shooting hours for teal will be from sunrise to sunset.
Other seasons set by the Commission include:
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has set aside that weekend so everyone can fish. Fishing permits, daily trout tags and trout permits are unnecessary at any MDC area and most other places. Requirements for special permits still may apply at some county, city or private areas, and normal regulations, such as size and daily limits, still apply.
For more information, see All Outdoors 5/17/96.
HUNTING
Bag Limit
Opens Closes (Daily-Possession)
Bullfrogs 6/30/96 10/31/96 8-16 (See Wildlife Code)
Common Snipe*+ 9/ 1/96 12/16/96 8-16
Coyotes 5/ 6/96 3/31/97 Some restrictions during
deer season. (See Wildlife Code)
Crows 11/ 1/96 3/ 3/97 No Limit
Deer/Turkey (Archery) 10/ 1/96 11/15/96 See Regulations, available mid-July
11/27/96 1/15/97 See Regulations, available mid-July
Deer (Firearms) 11/16/96 11/26/96 See Regulations, available mid-July
Deer (Muzzleloader) 11/16/96 11/26/96 See Regulations, available mid-July
12/ 7/96 12/15/96 See Regulations, available mid-July
Deer 1/ 4/97 1/ 5/97 Open only to hunters with unfilled
(Firearms & Muzzleloader Any-Deer Bonus Deer Tags for
in units 1-17, 22, 58 & 59) open units. See Regulations
Dove*+ 9/ 1/96 10/30/96 15-30
Ducks and Coots* TO BE ANNOUNCED
Furbearers 11/20/96 1/20/97 No Limit
Geese* TO BE ANNOUNCED
Groundhogs 5/6/96 12/15/96 No Limit
Pheasants &
Gray Partridge 11/1/96 1/15/97 (See Wildlife Code)
Quail 11/1/96 1/15/97 8-16
Rabbits 10/1/96 2/15/97 6-12
(may include only
2-4 swamp rabbits)
Ruffed Grouse 10/15/96 1/15/97 (See Wildlife Code)
Sora and Virginia Rails*+ 9/ 1/96 11/ 9/96 25-25
Squirrels 5/25/96 1/15/97 (See Wildlife Code)
Teal*+ 9/ 7/96 9/15/96 4-8
Turkey 4/21/97 5/4/97 1 bearded bird per week
Turkey (Fall Firearms) 10/14/96 10/27/96 (See Wildlife Code)
Woodcock*+ 10/15/96 12/18/96 5-10
FISHING
Trout Parks 3/1/96 10/31/96 5-10
Trout Parks 11/8/96 2/8/97 Catch & release Fri., Sat.,
(Winter Tag Required) Sun. 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Trout Management Areas Open All No Closed 5-10 (See Wildlife Code)
(Trout Permit Required) Year Season
Trout (Trophy and Wild) Open All No Closed 3-3 (See Wildlife Code)
Trout Management Areas) Year Season
(Trout Permit Required)
Black Bass
(streams, specified zone) 5/25/96 2/28/97 6-12 (See Wildlife Code)
(impoundments) Open All No Closed (See Wildlife Code)
Year Season
Bullfrogs 6/30/96 10/31/96 8-16 (See Wildlife Code)
Paddlefish 3/15/97 4/30/97 2-4 (See Wildlife Code)
(See Wildlife Code for creel limits on other species.)
TRAPPING
Beaver 11/20/96 3/31/97 No Limit (See Wildlife Code)
Coyotes 11/20/96 2/15/97 No Limit (See Wildlife Code)
Furbearers 11/20/96 1/20/97 No Limit (See Wildlife Code)
___________
*Hunters of migratory birds are required to have a migratory bird
hunting permit in addition to other appropriate permits (See Wildlife Code).
+Subject to final federal approval
CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEETING
June 19, Sand Spring Resort, Lebanon, Mo.
(For additional information contact the Department Director.)
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