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1. Outdoorswoman Workshops a Freeing Experience
2. Report Highlights Biological Diversity in Missouri
3. Conserve Holiday Shopping Energy with Natural Gifts
4. Governor's Treescape Awards Honor Green Communities
5. Outdoor Calendar
"We end, I think, at what might be called the standard paradox of the twentieth century: our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides. But they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it." -- Aldo Leopold, The River of the Mother of God and other essays
1. Outdoorswoman Workshops a Freeing Experience
Workshops sponsored by The Missouri Department of Conservation give women a chance to feel safe and competent in pursuits once enjoyed mainly by men.
CONCEPTION, Mo. -- The night was pitch black, with no moon or stars in sight. A chilly breeze blew through the air as cicadas buzzed loudly in the trees. Eight women dressed in jeans and sweatshirts walked along the Platte River, holding flashlights and lanterns to guide them through the darkness. As they walked along the shore, they shined their lights onto the river, searching for the trotlines, limblines and bank poles they had set up earlier that afternoon.
After locating the lines, the women waded into the cold water, hoping to find catfish attached to their hooks. "I don t get this, one woman said. "Why are we checking these lines at 11:00 at night? It s really cold and there are bugs everywhere. Why can't we just do this tomorrow morning when it's light out? The others smiled. "Because real catfishermen check their lines every few hours, one woman said. "And at least for this weekend, we are real catfishermen!"
These eight women were among 98 females from all over Missouri who participated in the state s fifth Becoming an Outdoorswoman Workshop, a three-day outdoor skills program sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation. The workshop was held Sept. 6 through 8 at Conception Abbey, a Benedictine monastery 40 miles northeast of St. Joseph.
The beautiful, 960-acre facility offered beginners age 18-78 the chance to learn outdoor activities they had never tried before. Those with some experience under their belts already got the chance to improve their skills. Activities included deer and turkey hunting, bait fishing, catfishing, locating wild edible plants, canoeing, mountain biking, outdoor photography, fly fishing, bass fishing, map and compass reading, setting natural dyes, camping skills, muzzleloading, shotgunning, riflery, archery and bowhunting.
"I had a hard time deciding which classes to take," said Frances Burge of Edwards. "There were so many great ones to choose from. I chose the photography class because with eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren, I need to take good photos. I also took three fishing classes because my husband and I just retired to a house on the Lake (of the Ozarks), and we want to become better anglers."
In the bait fishing class, participants learned how to identify fish, bait hooks, cast, clean and fillet their catches. Ann Knopp of Kansas City had been casting for 30 minutes and was losing patience just as she felt a tug on her line. "Oh my gosh, she yelled out. I think I got something! What do I do?
"Reel it in slowly, said another participant, running over to help Knopp.
After several minutes of struggling with the large bluegill, Knopp reeled in her first fish. A smile of satisfaction spread across her face.
"I came here for two reasons, she said. "To get away for a peaceful weekend and to learn how to fish, so my kids and I can do fun activities outdoors. Because we live in urban Kansas City, many activities take place indoors, but I wanted fishing to be a fun outdoor sport for the whole family. I have never fished before, but after catching my first fish, I can t wait to do it again.
While the anglers were attaching worms, crickets and minnows to their hooks, another group was learning how to identify different species of wild edible plants. After identifying the plants, we sampled them in prepared recipes," said Margaret Whitlock of Monett. "We tasted elderberry muffins, sorrel soup, pawpaw bread, Queen Ann's lace jelly and candied ginger, and it was all delicious!"
In another part of the Abbey, Shirley Graham of Shawnee, Kansas, watched as black-powder shooting instructor Zoe Caywood, dressed in pre-1840 s garb, demonstrated the finer points of muzzleloading. Graham learned how to measure powder, lubricate patches, pound lead balls down the barrel, shoot at targets and clean muzzle-loading rifles. My husband and kids hunt, she said. "I want to learn so I can hunt with them. It s hard for my husband to teach me because he's been shooting since he was a kid, so I thought this would be the perfect place to learn. I am having such a great time.
Participants enjoyed much more than the basic workshops. There was an auction of outdoor equipment, with proceeds going to workshop scholarships. One of the meals was a gourmet smorgasbord that included wild goose, beaver, pheasant and quail. Those attending had a chance to see a freestyle canoe demonstration. They could attend morning prayer services with the monks, who also offered a tour of the historic abbey. MDC employees also presented a fashion show in the abbey dining room. They modeled outdoor gear that ranged from women s fishing waders to hiking boots to knapsacks to hunter orange coveralls with a zip-down seat.
The weekend was a lot of fun for everyone, which is why such workshops are becoming popular nationwide. So far, 36 states offer similar programs. This is a unique workshop that allows women to feel safe and competent in this male-dominated arena, said Lynn Youngblood Sloan, manager of MDC s Burr Oak Woods Conservation Nature Center in Blue Springs. "Women can learn and ask questions without worrying about being scoffed at and then go home and join their husbands, boyfriends and sons in these activities. At the same time, these women can enjoy the camaraderie of other women and escape their daily routines.
Sloan says that due to space limitations, she had to turn down hundreds of women who wanted to attend, but another workshop is being planned for Spring 1997. In addition, one-day workshops for men, children and families are presently in the planning stages.
"I think it s great that we can all come together to learn these techniques, said Pamela Polson of Kansas City, who came to the workshop to improve her fishing. "All of the women here are wonderful role models. It's a good time to be a woman.
2. Report Highlights Biological Diversity in Missouri
The Missouri Department of Conservation is working to keep the biological diversity the state still possesses and reclaim some of what has been lost.
JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri has been dynamiting homes for rare turtles. It also has been releasing ospreys, prairie chickens, pallid sturgeons, Niangua darters, collared lizards and keeping tabs on endangered Indiana bats, alligator snapping turtles and pondberry. These activities and more are chronicled in the 1994-95 Wildlife Diversity Highlights report from the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The report just skims the surface of MDC work to maintain and enhance the state's rich variety of plant and animal life. Since the agency began receiving proceeds from the one-eighth of one-percent sales tax in 1977, it has been able to expand its efforts to conserve the full range of plant and animal communities in Missouri, not just those few species of interest to hunters, anglers and trappers.
For instance, in the last fiscal year the MDC used fertilizer-based explosives to create shallow, flooded depressions at Rose Pond Conservation Area in Clark County to help the state-endangered Blanding's turtle and Illinois mud turtle. Freshwater marshes at Rose Pond CA are among the last places in Missouri where these two species live. Part of the reason for their decline is loss of shallow depressions where they live. Explosives provide an inexpensive way of creating habitat for the turtles without the disturbance caused by bringing heavy equipment into a marshy area. The MDC will monitor the manmade depressions to see how beneficial they are to the turtles.
Similarly, the MDC is monitoring the progress of:
Copies of the Wildlife Diversity Highlights report with more information about MDC efforts to preserve the state's biological diversity are available free on request from: Missouri Department of Conservation, Natural History Division, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180.
3. Conserve Holiday Shopping Energy with Natural Gifts
It's easy to find something special for the nature lovers on your shopping list.
JEFFERSON CITY -- Holiday shopping for an outdoorsy friend can be a challenge. If you're not inclined toward hunting, fishing, birdwatching or other outdoor pursuits yourself, it's often hard to know the right kind, size, or color of outdoor gear to buy. But there is one source of nature-related gifts that allows you to avoid all those quandaries. Consider a gift from the Missouri Department of Conservation.
It used to be that hunting and fishing permits, which went on sale in December each year, were the perfect thing for a modestly priced gift. But now the permit year runs from March 1 through the end of February, making the timing wrong for the year-end holidays. If you're looking for an eminently practical, big-ticket gift, though, consider a lifetime hunting or fishing permit.
Missouri's Lifetime Small-Game Hunting Permit entitles holders to a lifetime of harvesting rabbits, squirrels, quail, pheasants and other small game. The Lifetime Fishing Permit allows anglers to fish Missouri lakes, streams and rivers each season. Each of these permits costs $400. The Conservation Partner permit ($800) includes both lifetime fishing and small-game hunting privileges.
Another possible gift for the sportsmen and women is the MDC Heritage Card. It looks like a plastic credit card, but it makes permit purchases quicker and easier. All the information needed to buy a permit (name, age, conservation number and hunter education certification number) is included on the card's magnetic strip.
Heritage Card holders also receive a 5-percent discount on retail purchases of MDC publications, nursery stock and some other items. Heritage cards cost $2 each. They are available wherever hunting and fishing permits are sold.
Perhaps your giftworthy friends don't hunt or fish. If they love watching wildlife, nature photography or just roaming the outdoors, you might want to give them some of the dozens of books, audio tapes and video tapes available from MDC.
MDC "how-to" video tapes include "Beginning Fly-tying," "Landscaping for Wildlife," "Birding for Beginners" and "Improving Your Forest." These videos are available for $9 per copy, plus shipping and handling, from: Media Library, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180. If you're a computer buff, you might be interested in Habitactics, an interactive CD-ROM game that lets kids and adults alike have fun while learning about the basic needs of wildlife.
MDC also has a selection of beautiful, interesting and informative books on a wide range of topics. The latest addition to the MDC's book offerings is "The Crayfishes of Missouri," 152 pages of breathtakingly detailed color photographs and astonishingly detailed information about 34 species of "crawdads" that call Missouri home. This book is $7.
Other MDC books include: "Missouri Wildflowers" (with color photos to aid in identification), $7; "About Mammals and How They Live," (this one comes with superb drawings), $9; "A Key to Missouri Trees in Winter," $2; and "Cy Littlebee's Guide to Cooking" (recipes for cooking game and fish), $2.
The top of the line is "Wild Mammals of Missouri." For $32.50 the buyer gets hundreds of lovingly rendered drawings by the late, internationally renowned wildlife artist Charles Schwartz and a record of the encyclopedic knowledge of mammals he and his wife, Elizabeth Schwartz, amassed during their decades of work for MDC.
Don't forget MDC's 1997 Natural Events Calendar. It's one of the most beautiful calendar values anywhere, and at $3 a copy it's a bargain. It features 35 seasonal color photos, ranging from a stunning palette of prairie wildflowers to the grizzled visage of an Eastern mole peering out of a mound of freshly turned soil.
MDC offers books with information on the state's wildlife and plants and suggestions of where to go see them. The "Missouri Nature Viewing Guide" ($3.50) details 101 exceptional areas for viewing wildlife. Other books available include "Water Plants for Missouri Ponds" ($7.50) and "Wild Edibles of Missouri" ($4.50).
Visit an MDC nature center in Springfield, Blue Springs, Kirkwood or Springfield, and you'll have your choice of special items such as T-shirts and sweatshirts emblazoned with nature-related art, birdhouses, bird feeders, nature field guides, magnifiers, nature coloring books, and more.
Calendars, books and videos are available at MDC service centers around the state and at conservation nature centers. Prices given above do not include state sales tax for Missouri buyers. Discounts are available for quantity purchases of books, videos, the Habitactics CD-ROM and calendars. The following discounts apply: one to four items, no discount; five to 25 items, 20-percent discount; 26 to 50 items, 30-percent discount; 51 or more items, 40-percent discount.
You can buy books, videos, calendars and CD-ROMs by mail. Send check or money order to: Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180, or call toll-free 1-800-392-4115. Missouri residents should add 6.225 percent sales tax, plus postage and handling. For purchases up to $11, add $2 for shipping and handling. From $11.01 to $60, include $5 shipping and handling. From $60.01 to $100, include $6, and for orders over $100, add 5 percent of the order.
4. Governor's Treescape Awards Honor Green Communities
The MDC honors Missourians who have made their communities better, greener places to live.
JEFFERSON CITY -- The Missouri Department of Conservation will reward 28 public and private institutions for their efforts to spruce up Missouri's cities and suburbs with tree plantings. On November 22 at the Runge Nature Center in Jefferson City, MDC will honor the organizations that have won first place awards or citations of merit for participation in the Governor s Town Treescape Awards. The annual program recognizes tree planting projects that significantly enhance Missouri s urban forests.
Tim Frevert, Governor s Town Treescape Award coordinator, says the program helps MDC call attention to the important role trees play in our lives. While this award recognizes tree plantings that improve the appearance of a community, we want people to see trees as an asset. Trees help modify the climate by slowing down winter winds and they provide shade in the summer. They help to generate oxygen and trap tiny bits of pollutants to clean the air. Trees have great value and are worth maintaining, Frevert says.
Treescape awards are issued in 12 categories based on the type and size of institution, business or organization competing. These winners will receive first-place awards: Top of the Rock Golf Course, Branson (commercial/industrial); St. Louis County Parks and Recreation (government); Central Christian College of the Bible, Moberly (institutional); Nazareth Living Center, St. Louis (residential); Bowling Green Elementary School (primary schools); Fair Grove Schools (secondary schools); Community Betterment, Hamilton (volunteer group); City of Palmyra (municipal, under 2,500); City of Branson (municipal, 2,500-5,000), City of Brentwood (municipal 5,000-10,000); City of Creve Coeur (municipal, 10,000-20,000), and City of Blue Springs (municipal over 20,000).
The organizations and institutions receiving citations of merit are: Factory Stores of America, Branson; Williamsburg School; Southwest School PTO, Dexter; St. Vincent High School, Perryville; City of Plattsburg; City of Richmond Heights; City of St. Charles; Cape Girardeau Parks Department; Heartland Health Foundation, St. Joseph, Lonedell R-14 School; Gendale High School, Springfield; Northeast Middle School, Creve Coeur; City of Fenton; City of Crestwood; Kansas City Parks & Recreation, City of St. Louis Forestry Division.
Contact: Jim Low (News Services Coordinator) (571) 751-4115, ext. 243
HUNTING
Bag Limit
Opens Closes (Daily-Possession)
Bullfrogs 6/30/97 10/31/97 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*+# to be announced
Ducks and Coots*
North Zone 10/26/96 12/14/96 Five ducks daily with no more
Middle Zone 11/ 2/96 12/21/96 than 4 mallards (no more than 1 female),
South Zone 11/23/96 1/11/97 2 wood ducks, 2 redheads, 1 pintail,
Youth-only Duck Hunting Dates 1 black duck, 1 hooded merganser or
1 canvasback. Daily bag for coots is
15. Possession limits are twice the
South Zone 11/16/96 11/16/96 daily limit.
Furbearers 11/20/96 1/20/97 No Limit
Geese and Brant
Blue, Snow and Ross' Geese*+# Daily bag limits include no more than
North and Swan 10 blue, snow or Ross' geese; 2
Lake Zones 10/26/96 1/19/97 Canada geese; 2 brant; and 2 white-
2/17/97 3/9/97 fronted geese. Possession limits for
Middle and Schell-Osage Canada geese, brant and white-fronted
Zones: 11/ 2/96 11/ 7/96 geese are twice the daily limit. For
blue, snow and Ross' geese, the
South Zone 11/23/96 3/ 9/97 aggregate possession limit is three the
White-fronted Geese and Brant daily limit.
North Zone 9/28/96 10/ 6/96
10/26/96 11/ 3/96
11/29/96 1/19/97
Swan Lake Zone 10/26/96 11/ 3/96
11/29/96 1/19/97
Middle and Schell-Osage
Zones 11/ 2/96 11/ 7/96
11/29/96 1/31/97
South Zone 11/23/96 1/31/97
Canada Geese
North Zone 9/28/96 10/ 6/96
10/26/96 11/3/96
11/29/96 1/19/97
Swan Lake Zone 10/26/96 11/ 3/96 (Unless a quota of 5,000 geese is
11/29/96 12/29/96 reached before Dec. 29; a daily limit
of 10 shot shells.)
Middle Zone 11/ 2/96 11/ 7/96
11/29/96 1/31/97
Schell-Osage Zone 11/29/96 1/ 7/97
South Zone 11/23/96 1/31/97
Groundhogs 5/ 6/96 12/15/96 No Limit
Pheasants and
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) 10/13/97 10/26/97 (See Wildlife Code)
Woodcock*+ 10/15/96 12/18/96 5-10
FISHING
Trout Parks 3/ 1/97 10/31/97 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 6/30/97 10/31/97 8-16 (See Wildlife Code)
Paddlefish 3/15/97 4/30/97 2-4 (See Wildlife Code)
Nongame Fish Stream Gigging 9/15/96 1/31/97 20
(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
#Complete waterfowl details will be found in the Migratory Bird Hunting Digest,
to be available from permit vendors and MDC offices in early October.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEETING
December 13 MDC Headquarters, Jefferson City, MO
(For additional information contact the Department Director.)
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