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Unique circumstances allowed a landowner committed to stream stewardship to team up with state and county officials and stop erosion.
META, Mo.--What started out as a hunting retreat turned into something of a crusade for Bill Ambrose. The principle at stake was responsible land stewardship; the challenge was curbing a force of nature.
Ambrose, who lives in Jefferson City, bought a 300-acre farm in Miller County as a hunting getaway. Included was 30 acres of fertile crop land inside a three-quarter mile bend in Little Tavern Creek. Aerial maps of the area show the creek was about 50 feet wide in the early 1980s. By the time Ambrose came along, it was twice that broad, and his field was correspondingly smaller.
"I bought the land as a getaway, but I really wanted it to remain a functioning agricultural unit, and I was losing the most productive farm land to erosion," says Ambrose. "Besides that, every cubic foot of topsoil that went into the creek was choking fish habitat in Tavern Creek and the Osage River. It was happening every time it rained. It was progressive."
Ambrose talked to other landowners in similar straits. What they told him wasn't encouraging. Several had tried to fix similar problems but in the end admitted defeat and accepted erosion as inevitable. Ambrose set his mind to stop the chronic erosion on his land. "I decided I would try it once," he says, "and give it my best effort before I gave up."
The size of the problem clearly called for major changes that would be costly. With land in the area selling for $700 to $1,000 an acre, there was a limit to how much money an individual could reasonably afford to devote to such an effort. So Ambrose contacted several government agencies, looking for a partner with an interest in soil or stream conservation. His first contacts were fruitless. Everyone applauded his desire to stop erosion, but no one had a program that would help. Then he contacted the Missouri Department of Conservation.
District Forester Noble Hargett and Fisheries Management Biologist Greg Stoner came to look the situation over. "Right away Greg got out his hip boots and waded into the stream to find out what was going on," recalls Ambrose. "When he came back he said he knew how to fix it and that the Conservation Department had programs to help." Stoner also had found a pool that harbored several 18-inch smallmouth bass, a clear indication that Ambrose's stretch of Little Tavern Creek was ecologically healthy and had fisheries resources that was well worth protecting.
Stoner is a smallmouth bass angler with a special place in his heart for small streams, and as a professional fisheries biologist, he knew that Little Tavern Creek was in the historic range of the Niangua darter. The decline of this tiny fish, an endangered species, has paralleled the degradation of water quality and habitat in small streams. Any solution that helped keep topsoil on Ambrose's land would benefit smallmouths and other fish by keeping their environs cleaner.
In major floods, Little Tavern Creek was gouging away at an exposed earth bank at the upper end of Ambrose's field. Swirling eddies at the bottom end of the bend were carving away the field's bottom margin. Eventually, these forces would reopen an old high-flow channel that a previous owner had blocked with an earthen levee to make the bottom tillable. Ambrose and Stoner needed to find a way to keep the creek in its existing channel. And for that, they needed more resources. They needed a partner.
The creek channel across from Ambrose's land held a large gravel bar a valuable resource to Miller County officials, who needed gravel for road maintenance. The county had heavy equipment that could help Ambrose accomplish his stream-bank stabilization goals. The Conservation Department had the expertise to design bank stabilization structures and obtain the necessary permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Miller County Commission mined the creek gravel, taking care to follow guidelines designed to protect water quality. In return, the county lent its heavy equipment to blanket the upper edge of Ambrose's field with 5,000 cubic yards of limestone blasted from a hillside on his land. A Conservation Department backhoe and dump trucks helped build six rock finger dikes to divert water from the lower bank. Each partner got something it wanted without having to bear the full cost of the project alone.
As soon as the finger dikes were in place, gravel and sediment began collecting behind them, rebuilding land that the creek once scoured away. Encouraged by this progress, Ambrose set to work planting 1,425 trees along the margins of the field to hold the existing banks in place against future floods. The Conservation Department let Ambrose use its mechanized tree planter, turning a long sweat-and-shovel task into a one-day project. The Conservation Department's new Private Land Services program paid 75 percent of the cost of hackberry, tulip poplar, sycamore, cypress, silver maple, pecan, river birch and Kentucky coffee tree seedlings.
The process hasn't been simple or cheap for Ambrose, and the job isn't finished. Ambrose still needs to fence pastures and provide alternative water sources so cattle don't trample the creek bank, starting a new cycle of erosion. But working with the Conservation Department has made the project manageable.
"Greg (Stoner) stuck with me all the way," says Ambrose. "I couldn't have done this without the help of the county and the Conservation Department."
Stoner points out that Ambrose's case was unique, with several partners who had an interest in fixing the problem and a landowner who was willing to make a long-term investment in land stewardship. "If you had to pay for surveys and engineering to get the necessary permits, then buy rock and pay for equipment time and everything else, it would be prohibitive," he says. "But this is an example of what a committed landowner can do when the circumstances are right."
Ambrose says he used to sit at home and fret when torrential rains fell. "I hated to see it rain because of the damage it did. Now floods actually help the stream bank repair itself. After a rain I can hardly wait to get down here to see how things have changed."
The Conservation Department has technical assistance and cost-share programs to help landowners manage stream corridors and enhance wildlife habitat. To learn more, contact the nearest Conservation Department office and ask to talk to someone in the Private Land Services Division.
- Jim Low -
The first documented nesting of a "fish hawk" in the Show-Me State is the direct result of efforts by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
WARSAW, Mo.--It isn't every day that a wildlife biologist sees dramatic, tangible evidence that their efforts have succeeded, so when Norman Murray saw a pair of ospreys tending a nest with chicks June 12, it was a sort of bonus.
Murray, a natural history regional biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, got a call from Gene Arnold, a Henry County landowner in January, saying an osprey had built a big nest on a utility pole on the Deepwater Arm of Truman Lake.
"That same day, I went to the site to see the nest and was pretty sure he was right, and it was an osprey nest" says Murray. "I couldn't confirm it until the birds returned, though."
The confirmation came March 27, as Murray kept vigil at the nest site while eating his lunch. Two ospreys also known as fish hawks because of their preferred foodwere performing their aerial courtship ritual and putting the finishing touches on a three-foot wide pile of sticks atop the power pole. During the following weeks he watched as the birds courted, mated and laid and incubated their eggs. Peering through a spotting scope on May 12, Murray finally made out the feathered shape of a chick in the nest.
Ospreys are smaller than eagles but considerably larger than Missouri's most familiar bird of prey, the red-tailed hawk. Distinguishing features include a slender silhouette in flight, with gracefully curved wings similar to those of sea gulls. Seen from below, they are white with dark patches where the wings bend. The birds are frequent visitors to Missouri during their spring and fall migrations, but the last documented osprey nesting in Missouri dates back more than a century.
Jim D. Wilson, an ornithologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, says ospreys were lost to Missouri decades before the pesticide DDT caused rapid declines in numbers of bald eagles and other birds of prey. Ospreys probably declined due to loss of habitat in the swampy lands of southeastern Missouri and along the state's larger rivers.
Creation of numerous large lakes in recent decades has increased the amount of suitable osprey habitat dramatically, but Wilson says the creation of habitat wasn't enough to bring ospreys back to Missouri. "The osprey isn't a pioneering species," he says. "They form very strong attachments to their birth places, and year after year they return to the same area where they were fledged. So once a population dies out, they basically are gone forever."
To get around this Catch 22, the Conservation Department imported ospreys from upper Midwestern states where breeding populations still thrived. From 1994 through 1998, they brought 29 newly hatched osprey chicks to special "hacking towers" at Thomas Hill Reservoir and Mark Twain, Pony Express, Truman and Montrose lakes. Kept in isolation from humans, the birds ate fish from Conservation Department hatcheries until they were strong enough to fly. By that time, they had formed firm bonds to the areas where they fledged. Conservation Department officials began watching for signs that the birds were reaching sexual maturity and rearing young of their own.
Through his spotting scope, Murray could see that the female osprey at Truman Lake bore no leg bands, which indicated she was a wild-reared bird. Colored leg bands and a numbered aluminum band on the male identified him as one of the chicks that fledged in 1996 at Pony Express Lake. In ospreys, it's the male that returns to its native area to nest, bringing their mates along.
Murray and Wilson plan to monitor the progress of Missouri's first native-hatched osprey chicks in the coming weeks and hope to be able to report successful fledging later this summer. Meanwhile, osprey restoration efforts will continue with the hacking of six to eight out-of-state chicks at Montrose Lake.
"It's tremendously exciting to see this species coming back to Missouri, where it has been absent for so long," says Wilson. "The opportunity for people at Truman Lake and other places to see ospreys soaring, fishing and rearing their young is part of the outdoor experience that we have been missing longer than anyone can remember. Hopefully, it will become more and more common as the years go by."
Wilson says the habit of building nests atop utility poles is very typical of ospreys. He asks that people who notice large bird nests in such locations report the sightings to the nearest Conservation Department office so the nests can be documented and monitored.
- Jim Low -
The Conservation Department has eliminated paper applications this year.
JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri deer hunters will find the application process for managed deer hunts simpler this year, according to Missouri Department of Conservation Wildlife Programs Supervisor Don Martin.
Martin says paper forms and stamps disappear from the managed deer hunt application process this year, with applications being processed through the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system or the Conservation Department's Web page.
"We introduced the IVR last year to handle applications for waterfowl hunt reservations, and hunters' experience with the new system was overwhelmingly positive," says Martin. Seventy percent of last year's waterfowl applications came through the IVR system, while 30 percent went through the Conservation Department's Web page. Nearly half the IVR applications took place on weekends or in the evening, providing convenient access for those whose jobs made it difficult to phone during normal business hours. The IVR and internet application systems experienced zero down time.
From July 1 through Aug. 15, hunters can apply for one of Missouri's 53 managed deer hunts the same way, by calling 800/829-2956 between 4 a.m. and midnight seven days a week or by visiting the Conservation Department's web page at
To apply by phone you need a 2000 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Information booklet, available by July 1 wherever hunting permits are sold. It contains application instructions and a complete list of managed deer hunts. You must use a touch-tone telephone to apply by phone.
At the conclusion of the process, applicants receive confirmation numbers. Successful hunters receive notice of their selection by mail. All will receive this notification by Sept. 10. After that date, applicants can check the status of their applications on the IVR system or the Conservation Department Web page using their confirmation numbers.
Only a Resident ($15) or Nonresident ($125) Managed Deer Hunting Permit is valid at a managed deer hunt. These permits were not required at Fort Leonard Wood in 1999, but they are this year. The number of deer that may be taken with a single permit depends on the hunt for which they are issued. In some hunts, up to three deer may be taken. Youth-only managed hunt applications will be handled on paper, as in the past. You can't apply for a youth deer hunt via the Internet or the IVR system. See the 2000 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Information booklet for details.
- Jim Low -
Someone with a fax machine and a knack for mischief is spreading misinformation about deer disease and plans to change deer hunting season.
JEFFERSON CITY--If you hear alarming news about Missouri's deer population or changes in the 2000-2001 deer season, take them with a grain of salt. Then check the 2000 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Information booklet for the gospel truth about this year's deer regulations.
Officials at the Missouri Department of Conservation's headquarters in Jefferson City got wind of the deer season hoax June 15, when a concerned hunter called to ask about changes in deer hunting regulations. Asked where he got his information, the hunter produced a copy of a fax sent to his place of business.
The fax says that disease has devastated Missouri's deer herd and that 85 percent of fawns born this year died. Furthermore, it says that the harvest of does in 1999 was excessive, and the Conservation Department is drastically restricting deer hunting this year. All these statements are false, according to Conservation Department Wildlife Research Biologist Lonnie Hansen.
Hansen, the Conservation Department's top deer biologist, says the state's deer herd is in excellent condition. In fact, it's larger than the Conservation Department would like in many areas. Furthermore, last year's doe harvest was just about right in most areas and it was below target levels in others. He says there is no evidence of unusual fawn mortality.
Hansen noted that Missouri did have a significant outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease in 1998, but the effects on deer populations were confined to relatively small areas. Statewide, he says, the deer herd was not affected significantly.
"It's a little puzzling why someone would put out this kind of bogus information," says Hansen. "Some people will be alarmed for a short time, but the truth will get around. The information printed in the fall deer and turkey brochure is still gospel. Nothing has changed, not the season length, not bag limits, not the availability of any-deer or bonus permits."
- Jim Low -
Someone with a fax machine and a knack for mischief is spreading misinformation about deer disease and plans to change deer hunting season.
JEFFERSON CITY--If you hear alarming news about Missouri's deer population or changes in the 2000-2001 deer season, take them with a grain of salt. Then check the 2000 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Information booklet for the gospel about this year's deer regulations.
Officials at the Missouri Department of Conservation's headquarters in Jefferson City got wind of the deer season hoax June 15, when a concerned hunter called to ask about changes in deer hunting regulations. Asked where he got his information, the hunter produced a copy of a fax sent to his place of business.
The fax says that disease has devastated Missouri's deer herd and that 85 percent of fawns born this year died. Furthermore, it says that the harvest of does in 1999 was excessive, and the Conservation Department is drastically restricting deer hunting this year. All these statements are false, according to Conservation Department Wildlife Research Biologist Lonnie Hansen.
Hansen, the Conservation Department's top deer biologist, says the state's deer herd is in excellent condition. In fact, it's larger than the Conservation Department would like in many areas. Furthermore, last year's doe harvest was just about right in most areas and it was below target levels in others. He says there is no evidence of unusual fawn mortality.
Hansen noted that Missouri did have a significant outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease in 1998, but the effects on deer populations were confined to relatively small areas. Statewide, he says, the deer herd was not affected significantly.
"It's a little puzzling why someone would put out this kind of bogus information," says Hansen. "Some people will be alarmed for a short time, but the truth will get around. The information printed in the fall deer and turkey brochure is still gospel. Nothing has changed, not the season length, not bag limits, not the availability of any-deer or bonus permits."
- Jim Low -
A new regulation is aimed at protecting endangered sturgeon species.
JEFFERSON CITY--The fate of Missouri's lake and pallid sturgeon populations rests in the hands of anglers who fish the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Anglers who avoid mistaken harvest of the fish improve the two species' prospects for recovery.
Lake and pallid sturgeons, which a century ago were common in Missouri's big rivers, seldom are seen there today. The lake sturgeon is on Missouri's endangered species list and Illinois; the pallid sturgeon is on the federal endangered list.
Unregulated commercial fishing and loss of habitat to river development are chiefly responsible for the species' decline. The fish were harvested in large numbers in the early 1900s for fish oil, meat and caviar. Construction of dams, channelization and navigation maintenance has destroyed spawning areas for pallid and lake sturgeon and reduced their food supplies.
Efforts to restore lake sturgeon began in the mid 1980s. Using fertilized eggs obtained from Wisconsin, the Missouri Department of Conservation artificially spawned the bony fish at Blind Pony Hatchery near Marshall. The Conservation Department stocked more than 100,000 fingerlings in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers from 1984 through 1996.
A reintroduction program for the pallid sturgeon began in the early 1990s. This time, wild fish captured by commercial fishermen provided brood stock. Again, Blind Pony Hatchery sent the artificially reared fish back to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
Since 1986 the Conservation Department has received numerous reports of pallid and lake sturgeon being caught and released. Those reports are both a source of comfort and concern. The catches are evidence that the stocked fish are surviving well, but biologists are concerned that some of the fish may be mistaken for shovelnose sturgeona more common speciesand harvested.
The shovelnose is the only sturgeon that can be harvested in Missouri waters. Its numbers have remained fairly stable, due to its ability to adapt to habitat changes and spawn at a relatively young age. Unlike lake and pallid sturgeons, which take 17 to 25 years to become sexually mature and spawn only once every five years, shovelnose sturgeon mature in five to seven years.
It is easy to distinguish a lake sturgeon from the other species. Its rounded snout, the mottled skin color of young fish, dark gray skin color of older fish and shark-like tail set it apart from the other two species. The lake sturgeon also is the largest of the three, reaching eight feet long and weighing more than 200 pounds.
Shovelnose and pallid sturgeons have flattened, shovel-like snouts. Size, color and the arrangement of whisker-like barbels in front of their mouths distinguish the two fish.
Pallid sturgeon have skin-like scaleless bellies, and their barbels are attached closer to the mouth than to the tip of the snout. The bases of the barbels form a slight crescent. Pallid sturgeon usually are grayish, and they can reach lengths greater than three feet and weigh more than 10 pounds.
Shovelnose sturgeon have scalelike plates on their bellies, and their barbels are attached at about the same distance from the mouth and the tip of the snout. The bases of the barbels form a straight line. Shovelnose sturgeon usually are reddish brown or buff colored and they rarely exceed three feet in length or weigh more than five pounds.
A new regulation to reduce the risks of pallid sturgeon mistakenly being harvested as shovelnose sturgeon took effect March 1. Anglers must release all shovelnose sturgeon 30 inches or longer, measured from the tip of the snout to the fork of the tail.
Commercial or sport fishermen who want more information on how to identify sturgeons may obtain a poster with key characteristics from Conservation Department offices statewide.
- Arleasha Mays -
Fine-tuning pesticide use allowed these Monroe County farmers to keep their drinking water healthy while boosting crop yields.
MONROE CITY--It wasn't too long ago that the Department of Natural Resources informed this northeastern Missouri community that its drinking water contained too much atrazine, a common herbicide used on crops by area farmers. Since then, about a dozen farmers, working with the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) have changed the way they farm and ensured clean water for the town.
Last year the farmers in the watershed implemented a herbicide program on their corn and sorghum acres. The result was a dramatic reduction in atrazine concentrations in the Rt. J reservoirthe town's drinking water supply lakefor the critical period from April through July. Atrazine levels dropped 72 percent from levels measured during the same period from 1995 to 1998. The figure is especially significant because the farmers are reducing the chemical while actually raising more crops than before.
Atrazine in drinking water is a human health issue. According to Instant Reference Sources, an on-line information service, atrazine ". . . has been shown to produce breast cancer in laboratory rats, and chronic toxicity studies noted changes in the brain, heart, liver, lungs, ovaries and endocrine glands. Atrazine has also exhibited immunotoxic effects."
Atrazine in water will kill fish, but apparently at only the highest concentrations. Three parts of atrazine per billion parts of water is considered the upper limit for safe drinking water.
Troy Huntley of the NRCS in Macon says Monroe City actually has two sources of drinking water, the Route J reservoir and South Lake. They are connected by a pipeline. The Route J lake is considerably larger, and South Lake serves as a holding pond for water going into the treatment plant. Monroe City was given time to develop a solution for the runoff of the herbicide from crop fields into their lake, and they formed a steering committee to work on the problem. Farmers, business and community leaders filled out the committee.
"The committee produced a watershed management plan," Huntley says. "It outlined the existing conditions, areas that needed improvement and what might be done to address the atrazine issue. They also considered other environmental and water-quality related concerns."
Huntley says his office got involved in the effort about two years ago, looking for a way to save the city's water supply while allowing farmers to continue to be productive. The committee's comprehensive plan considered some work done by the University of Missouri that looked at managing atrazine runoff and innovative application methods and rates for farms with clay pan soils.
Farmers in the Route J lake watershed are now applying a pound or less per acre of the chemical, about half the previous rate, and only after crops sprout. By putting the chemical on the fields about 30 days later than normal, farmers avoid some heavy spring rains and apply the chemical to drier soils. With drier soils, rain is more likely to penetrate rather than rapidly run off, as it might do with the saturated soils that occur earlier in the spring. The canopy of emerging crops also helps impede runoff.
A dozen growers in the watershed are farming about 2,000 acres. Last year the corn and milo acres were up almost 70 percent, but with less chemical per acre the total atrazine application was no more than in previous years. Atrazine in the water supply lake is down almost three-fourths. Thanks to the efforts of some concerned farmers, one community can count on the purity of its drinking water, and the environmentincluding fish and wildlifebenefits, too.
- Jim Auckley -
Reservations are required for Nature Center programs by hunting book scribe.
JEFFERSON CITY--Writer, documentary producer, actor and hunter James A. Swan will appear at the Conservation Department's four nature centers June 22 - June 25. In the free 90-minute programs Swan reveals the common experience that provides for an understanding of hunters and nonhunters alike.
As an actor, Swan has appeared in numerous feature films and television series, including "Murder in the First," "Jack," "Angels in the Outfield," "BiCentennial Man," "Nash Bridges" and "Jesse Hawkes." The San Francisco Examiner named him one of the 90 people to watch in the '90s.
Swan, author of a book titled "The Sacred Art of Hunting," is something of a spokesperson for those who love to hunt. He has authored six other books about man and nature, including "Dialogues With the Living Earth," "Nature as Teacher and Healer," "In Defense of Hunters" and "The Power of Place."
For many, Swan captures the essence of why people hunt and how they are connected to the earth. After the programs at the nature center, copies of Swan's books will be for sale and he will be autographing them. The program is recommended for ages 10 years and older. Reservations are required.
Swan will appear at:
-- Burr Oak Woods Conservation Nature Center in Blue Springs at 7 p.m. June 22. Call 816/228-3766 for reservation.
--Springfield Conservation Nature Center in Springfield at 7:30 p.m. June 23. Call 417/888-4237 for reservations.
--Runge Conservation Nature Center in Jefferson City at 7 p.m. June 24. Call 573/526-5544 for reservations.
--Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood at 1:30 p.m. June 25. Call 314/301-1500 for reservations.
- Jim Auckley -
Both cold- and warm-water hatcheries are using creative strategies to cope with reduced water levels.
JEFFERSON CITY--Continuing dry weather is hurting the Missouri Department of Conservation's fish hatcheries. The cold-water trout program is safe for now, and fishing at the state's four trout parks remains good, though anglers may find themselves pursuing smaller fish late in the season or next year. But a program to restore two endangered fish has been put on hold pending the return of normal water levels at one fish hatchery.
Rain May 24 through 26 brought only 1 to 3 inches of moisture to the fish hatcheries, not enough to correct a situation that has been building since last fall. Runoff into lakes that supply two warm-water hatcheries was insignificant, and spring flow at the state's cold-water hatcheries, where the Conservation Department rears trout, has not increased measurably. To compound the problem, air temperatures hovering around 90 in the waning days of May increased water temperatures to uncomfortable levels for rainbow trout in some streams.
"As a result of critically low water at Blind Pony Hatchery we decided not to raise pallid and lake sturgeon, which was a disappointment to us," says Steve Eder, a fisheries field operations chief with the Conservation Department.
Blind Pony is located near Sweet Springs in west-central Missouri.
The pallid sturgeon and lake sturgeon are fish of Missouri's big rivers. The pallid sturgeon is on the federal endangered species list, while the lake sturgeon is listed as endangered in Missouri. The Conservation Department released more than 100,000 lake sturgeon from 1984 through 1996, and nearly 10,000 young pallid sturgeon in the 1990s in hopes of establishing self-sustaining populations. The program appears to be succeeding, with fish surviving and spreading into tributaries of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
"The situation is getting critical at Lake Paho Hatchery, where all we have is channel catfish," Eder says. "We harvested five of the nine ponds of catfish prematurely and had to move them to Lost Valley Hatchery. Those fish are to be used for a research study, so we wanted to protect those for sure."
This means handling the fish more and added expense to transport them from Lake Paho, which is near Princeton in northwest Missouri, back to lakes where they eventually are stocked. If dry weather continues, hatchery managers may have to stock some fish earlier and at smaller sizes than they would like.
The Conservation Department depends on the cold water flowing from springs at four of the hatcheries where it raises trout. Those springs are running at 25 to 50 percent of normal flow for this time of year.
The Conservation Department's largest trout hatchery, Shepherd of the Hills at Branson, appears to have an unlimited supply of water, sitting as it does in the shadow of the dam that backs up sprawling Table Rock Lake. But there is concern there for the growth rate of the trout.
"Table Rock Lake is about 10 feet low," says Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery Manager James Civiello, "and that means we have less pressure to generate water flow for our fish. Typically we are shipping trout to the state parks as well as stocking Lake Taneycomo, but the parks are cancelling their orders because of low water and we have to carry more fish. We have to watch the density of fish in our rearing pools and consider growth rates. Luckily, we are getting good quality water nowit's in the mid 40s and has good dissolved oxygen, and that's helping us get by."
"Release of water from Table Rock Dam is what makes Lake Taneycomo a cold-water fishery," says Civiello. "Currently there is a reduced amount of hydoelectric power generation, and that translates into higher water temperatures in Lake Taneycomo. We have reports of surface water temperatures as high as 75 degrees. Without adequate releases from Table Rock over the next several weeks the situation could worsen.
"These higher temperatures prevent stocking in the lower reaches of Lake Taneycomo. The summer months call for heavier releases of trout. The upper reaches of the lake with the best water quality and higher densities of trout can not support all of the trout we need to release this summer. The only solution to this problem is more rain and more frequent releases from Table Rock Dam."
The Conservation Department rears up to 2 million trout per year. The agency is now operating all of the cold-water hatcheries as one system in the face of continued low flows from springs. Fisheries workers are shuffling fish from critical spots to hatcheries that have roomand water flowto support them.
The flow from Bennett Spring at Bennet Spring State Park is about 60 million gallons per dayabout half its normal flow. This reduces the number of fish the Conservation Department can keep there, even with aerators running long hours to keep dissolved oxygen levels high enough to sustain the fish. Hatchery manager Ron McCullough says that when the water is low, oxygen in the water is low and the fish don't eat as well. "We are having more difficulty getting fish up to release size, especially the fish we will be stocking later in the year," McCullough says.
"It's a day-to-day situation," McCullough adds. The hatchery staff is taking extra precautions, such as cleaning protective screens frequently to keep water flowing freely in hatchery pools. "No one has been in this territory before with the spring branch being this low for this long," McCullough says. "Some of the older residents say they have not seen the spring this low since 1954. I have been here for 24 years and have not seen it this low; we need more rain."
At Roaring River State Park, normal flow is about 42 million gallons a day at this time of year, but the spring is currently producing only 8 or 9 million gallons. Hatchery personnel have had to move some trout to Lake Taneycomo and ponds at another hatchery. All of those fish came back after rain in the area improved spring flow, but the park has had only about 7 inches of rain since the first of the year.
"The rain at the end of May helped us stop recirculating water," says Roaring River Hatchery Manager Jerry Dean, "but I imagine we will have to move fish again pretty soon.
"We are making the most of available water by sealing up leaks in the hatchery falls," Dean adds. "We are looking at other things we can do if the water flow goes lower. Our first option would be to move fish around in Missouri's hatchery system. So far we have not had to make any changes in numbers of fish we stock or in the way we stock them at Roaring River. Fishing is still good here and at the other trout parks. The real concern may be for the growth rate of trout that will be stocked late in the season or next year."
At Montauk State Park, Hatchery Manager Larry Marcum is quick to refute the rumor that fishing at the park may close. He does say there has been a little more than 7 inches of rain since the first of the year. "Normally we use about 40 percent of the water in the park to run the hatchery," Marcum says. "Right now we are using all of the water, and it still isn't enough. Normally Montauk Springs runs about 43 million gallons per day and it is down to 18 million gallons. Bluff Spring usually runs 10 million gallons per day and it is down to five."
These springs are the headwaters of the Current River, and according to a gauge on the lower river it appears to be more than a foot lower than the previous record set in 1954. People who have lived near the Montauk State Park since the 1930s say the Current River was the lowest they had ever seen it last fall.
"Montauk Spring is producing enough water now for us to run our big hatchery pools, and they are in pretty good shape," Marcum adds. "This is the first time that anyone can remember that the mill dam over on the river, where the intake for some of our pools is, has quit running. Because of that we have noticed we have some leaks. We are in the process of patching those to save every bit of water that we can. We have five of our 20 pools shut down right now. Shepherd of the Hills is holding two lots of fish for us until we get some rain."
Fishing will continue to be good at Montauk this summer, though anglers will be fishing in a lower, smaller stream than they are used to. "It may not be until next year that this water problem will hit us in the face," Marcum says. "Our water has high nitrogen and lower dissolved oxygen, with some of the pools running only two-thirds of the water that we would normally have. We are not able to feed the fish and get the growth from them that we normally would.
"We don't have enough fish on hand for next year, because we don't have enough water. Next year is going to be a problem, but we don't know to what extentwe could get 4 inches of rain tomorrow." Marcum says he would prefer an inch a day for a week or more, water that could soak into the groundwater system and be chilled before coming up in the springs at Montauk. A big rain all at once might only make the water in the stream warmer.
Like farmers with crops in the ground, Missouri's hatchery managers can only look at the clouds and say a silent prayer. In the meantime, there are still plenty of fish to be caught by enthusiastic anglers.
- Jim Auckley -
The Conservation Commission approved early migratory bird hunting seasons at its May meeting.
JEFFERSON CITY--The Missouri Conservation Commission approved early migratory bird hunting seasons at its May meeting, tentatively setting a 16-day teal season and a split dove season for the second year.
All migratory bird seasons are subject to final approval by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which sets frameworks within which states must conduct hunting seasons for migratory birds. The FWS extended the season for blue-winged, green-winged and cinnamon teal from nine to 16 days in 1998. It allowed the same season length this year, and the Conservation Commission set the season for Sept. 9 through 24. Conservation Department waterfowl biologists note that without a significant change in droughty conditions between now and Sept. 9, the 16-day teal season won't do hunters much good. Unless there is water in wetland areas, teal and other waterfowl won't linger in Missouri.
Shooting hours for teal are from sunrise to sunset. Bag limits are four teal in the aggregate daily and eight in possession.
Also for the second year, the Commission approved a split dove season Sept. 1 through 30 and Nov. 1 through 30. The daily and possession limits are 15 and 30 respectively.
Hunting seasons for rails and snipe are unchanged from the 1999-2000 season, and shooting hours remain one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Seasons and limits are:
--Sora and Virginia rails: Sept. 1 through Nov. 9 (70 days), 25 daily or in possession.
--Common snipe: Sept. 1 through Dec. 16 (107 days), eight daily, 16 in possession.
- Jim Low -
Boats, sport utility vehicles and a wide array of other used equipment will be sold to the highest bidders June 17.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.--Equipment to help you get away from it all and enjoy the outdoors is among the surplus property the Missouri Department of Conservation will auction June 17 at its maintenance center at 2630 N. Mayfair in Springfield.
Many late-model vehicles are among the auction items. The sale will feature at least 18 4 X 4 pickup trucks and two half-ton, two-wheel drive pickups. Several vans, utility vehicles and cars also will be available for purchase.
Other items up for bid include several flat- and v-bottom boats, tractors, an all-terrain vehicle and a riding mower.
Items may be added or deleted before the sale. A complete listing and terms of sale will be available at the registration desk the day of the sale. All property must be paid for on the day of the sale and before removal. The Conservation Department will accept personal checks with proper identification. For a list of sale items, call the Conservation Department General Services Division at 573/751-4115 ext 3675.
- Arleasha Mays -
Wanderlust and warmth put box turtles at risk this time of year. Conservation officials urge motorists to spare them safely.
JEFFERSON CITY--Highway safety officials urge motorists to "drive defensively," keeping an eye on other drivers to avoid accidents. The Missouri Department of Conservation suggests that motorists also watch for box turtles, especially this time of year.
Missouri has two species of box turtles. The three-toed box turtle is primarily a woodland species and is found everywhere but the extreme northern part of the state. The ornate box turtle is found in all but the southeastern corner of the state, but is more adapted to grassland and is most common in western Missouri. Three-toed box turtles usually have three toes on each hind foot, while ornate box turtles usually have four toes per hind foot and bear more prominent designs on the tops and bottoms of their shells. From a speeding automobile, the two are indistinguishable.
Conservation Department herpetologist Tom Johnson is less interested in teaching people to distinguish turtle species than he is in helping them compensate for the hard-shelled creatures' self-destructive habits. Box turtles and several other turtle species often venture onto highway pavement to bask in the sun. Sunning is a biological imperative this time of year, when turtles need solar energy to raise their body temperatures enough to digest their food efficiently.
Sex also puts box turtles in harm's way. Spring is their mating season, and males in search of mates are especially mobile this time of year. Their wanderings inevitably take them across highways.
The combination of plodding turtles and fast-moving vehicles often proves deadly for turtles. Johnson says thousands of turtles die in encounters with cars each year. This could eventually cause problems for long-lived species like box turtles. They don't begin reproducing until six or seven years of age, and predators claim many of their eggs and young.
Johnson says box turtles aren't endangered in Missouri, but he worries about the species' long-term welfare. "We don't have much information about historic numbers of box turtles or population trends over the years as we do for some other species," says Johnson. "But it stands to reason that as cars and highways become more numerous we might reach a point where automotive mortality could cause numbers of these harmless creatures to decline."
While box turtles might not be high-profile species in terms of economic value, Johnson says they are an integral part of Missouri's natural world. "It's as hard to calculate the ecological importance of animals like box turtles as it is to put a dollar value on their aesthetic value. As long as humans have lived here, there have been turtles for children to discover and wonder over. A world without them certainly would be poorer for their absence."
Johnson suggests that Missouri drivers do what theycansafelyto avoid hitting box turtles. A turtle's life isn't worth the risk of swerving wildly or veering suddenly in traffic. But if you keep turtles in mind and watch for them, it's usually possible to steer clear of them without risk to human safety. If you see one turtle, keep your eyes peeled for more. Good turtle habitat may have populations of up to 10 or more turtles per acre.
Those attempting to aid turtles also should do so cautiously. Don't stop on or near the road to help a turtle cross a highway. If you do move one, take it in the direction it was headed when you found it. Put it at least 15 feet off of and headed away from the road to reduce the chance it will wander back into danger.
Trying to help a turtle by adopting it isn't a good idea. Turtles have specific diet and habitat needs that are difficult to meet. Captive turtles seldom are healthy.
To learn more about box turtles and the other 15 turtle species found in Missouri, write to "Missouri's Turtles," Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180.
- Arleasha Mays -
Sometimes conservation involves cutting down trees instead of planting them.
CLINTON, Mo.--When 22-year-old Laura Legros of western Pennsylvania was told she would be working for wildlife conservation in Missouri, she had no idea it would involve cutting down trees. "I grew up with Arbor Day and the notion that conservation was planting trees," she said. "Now all of a sudden I'm cutting trees down. But the Conservation Department explained prairie restoration techniques to us, and we understand completely."
Legros is a member of the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), a program that is part of Americorps, President Clinton's initiative for national community service. The program is similar in some ways to the old Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s. It is made up of teams of peoplemostly young adultscommitted to community service.
The Conservation Department gave the Missouri Prairie Foundation a grant to improve prairie chicken habitat, and the foundation hired the NCCC group to do the work. Their project at the Hi Lonesome and Green Ridge grassland focus areas south of Sedalia was to improve prairie chicken habitat. That involved removing trees, eradicating exotic plants and preparing fire lines for prescribed burns.
Prairie chickens, endangered in Missouri, are grassland birds. In presettlement times, periodic fires swept the prairies and kept them largely clear of trees and brush; native grasses and other herbaceous plants thrived after the fires and prairie chickens found all their habitat needs met on the resulting prairie. Settlers converted most of the prairie's rich soil to crop land. They also suppressed wildfire, which allowed trees and bushes to march up from the valleys and engulf rolling terrain that had been prairie for thousands of years. Prairie chicken numbers dwindled as their habitat disappeared. Today, Missouri's greater prairie chicken population is in danger of disappearing altogether.
A NCCC crew of 10 people and a leader based in Denver, Colo., worked with the Conservation Department for six weeks this spring, earning money for college while giving back hard-won turf for prairie chickens. The NCCC program is so popular, there is a waiting list for those who want to join.
Some of the best remaining swaths of big bluestem and other native grasses are along railroad rights-of-way. These linear prairie areas were never plowed, and periodic fires kindled by sparks from trains favored the deep-rooted native plants. Prairie chickens use these sites for nesting. The Americorps team improved prairie chicken habitat by removing nonnative trees and brush along the margins of the Katy Trail.
"I didn't know about prairies, because we don't have anything like that back at my home," Legros said. "All ten of us have been using chainsaws every day," she added. "We have also done some prescribed burns. We've actually seen some prairie chickens. That was really cool.
The Americorps team found other rewards for their work, too. "The Indian Paintbrush was blooming, and that was really pretty," Legros said.
Steve Clubine, a grassland biologist with the Conservation Department, worked with the team. "There were eight guys and three girls, and they were from all over the country," Clubine said. "There are two teams in Missouri; this one came to us, while the other went to St. Louis to work on the Katy Trail. Their job here has been prairie chicken habitat restoration. The trees are cut but the native shrubs, including plums, dogwoods and native roses, are left for hardcore cover; it's just the invasive trees, such as American elm, black cherry, mulberry and honey locust, that they are cutting down.
"Those trees are there because of the lack of fire. We do leave the cottonwoods that you would expect to find on the prairie; we are taking out trees that are not indigenous to the prairie and trying to open up corridors for freedom of movement by prairie chickens."
One team member estimated they have cut 2,000 trees. Some of these came off of the Katy Trail in the Green Ridge grassland focus area between Windsor and Green Ridge. The team also worked at Hi Lonesome Prairie, where trees at the northern end of the area formed a barrier to grasslands on surrounding land.
Clubine said there is little prairie chicken nesting cover in the Green Ridge grassland focus area. He notes the ribbon of grass30 feet on each side of the Katy Trail and two or three miles longis some of the only nesting cover in an area of five or six square miles. He expects that removing trees and brush and burning the right-of-way will allow prairie plants like big and little bluestem grass, Indian grass, ashy sunflower and compass plant to return. "You get the prairie plant community right back," Clubine said. "It's just been shaded out, invaded with fescue and stagnant for decades."
- Jim Auckley -
JEFFERSON CITY--The Missouri Conservation Commission's next meeting will be held June 28 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City. The public portion of the meeting will begin immediately after a closed executive session at 8:15 a.m.
Commission meetings are open to the public. Items to be placed on the agenda for presentations or other business should be sent in writing to Director, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180; fax 573/751-4467. Requests must be received by June 15. People requiring special services or accommodations to attend the meeting can make arrangements at the same address, or by phone at 573/751-4115.
Commissioners are: Howard L. Wood, Bonne Terre, chairman; Ronald J. Stites, Plattsburg, vice-chairman; Randy Herzog, St. Joseph, secretary; and Anita B. Gorman, Kansas City, member.
- Jim Low -
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