Events

Welcome Summertime with a guided public tour of the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery! Join a Naturalist to learn the difference between the Rainbow and Brown Trout raised at the hatchery, then visit the raceways and discover the amazing trout-raising process! And for just a quarter, you can feed the fish, too! Tours will meet at the large trout aquarium inside the Conservation Education Center.

Tours will be held four times daily at 10am, 11am, 1pm, and 2pm on Tuesdays through Fridays, beginning May 26th and continuing through Friday, September 4th. (The Hatchery will be closed for state holidays on June 19th and July 4th.)

All ages are invited, and no registration is required. For questions, call us at 417-334-4865 ext. 0, or email Shepherd@mdc.mo.gov.

View Greg Renner's personal collection of antique duck decoys made in Missouri.

Nature printmaking is the art of creating lifelike images on paper or fabric with found objects from nature. MDC Naturalist Pat Whalen exhibits nature prints from his personal work and programs he presents at the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center. His prints will be on display in the west wing hallway through August. 

Gloria Gaus is a Missouri landscape painter whose plein air and studio oil paintings follow the seasons across the state’s rivers, wetlands, and open prairies. Her collection of Missouri landscapes is on display through August 28. 

Look for book pages posted along Runge’s Naturescape trail and enjoy a seasonal children’s book as you walk and explore. Book begins at the trailhead across from the parking lot.

Visit Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center's Art Gallery this month to view the work of artist Wiley Longmire.

Wiley is a landscape artist, a graduate of Kirkwood High School in May 1974, and earned his associate's degree in art from St. Louis Community College in May 1984.

His specialty consists of watercolor paintings of forests and rivers, mostly in St. Louis and rural eastern Missouri. He also loves to paint from various locations in the Midwest USA.

Discover what’s for dinner at Burr Oak Woods as the nature center’s amphibians, fish, and turtles enjoy their feast every Tuesday and Friday. The snakes are fed on the second and fourth Wednesday (August 12 & 26).

These beautiful orange butterflies make a long and dangerous journey as they migrate across North America. Fly in to learn what makes the Monarch Butterfly so loved and so special!

Do your little ones enjoy being in nature? Appreciate the natural world through a story, songs, movement, and play as you sit under the canopy for a “nature” adventure, which are the many native bees in Missouri. Come see the topic we are exploring this month. Younger children and siblings are welcome.

Meet the naturalist at the West End Picnic Site. Please dress for the weather.

Ever wonder what it takes to keep the education center reptiles, amphibians, and fish happy? Join us as naturalists introduce and feed several Missouri amphibians and reptiles. No registration is required.