Note to Our Readers

Matching Medium to Message

Producing the Conservationist for our approximately 480,000 subscribers requires more than great information, art and photography—it requires a lot of paper. Though trees are a renewable resource, the ways in which forests are managed and paper produced are significant conservation issues.

Because we strive to match our medium to our message, by using resources in a sustainable manner, the Conservationist has been printed on 10 percent post-consumer content paper since 1989. This was a significant achievement for the time, as availability of quality recycled papers was low until the early 1990s, and 10 percent was then a high recycled content for the coated paper we require for high-speed printing.

However, production processes and availability have since improved, and we are proud to announce that we will be upgrading our post-consumer recycled content to 30 percent in the next few months. We have also acquired Forest Stewardship Certification for our paper.

The Forest Stewardship Council is a nonprofit, international organization established in 1993 to “promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests.” The council accredits and monitors independent certification bodies who, in turn, certify forest management practices and the chain of custody for wood products. A product can only carry the FSC logo if its entire chain of production can be reliably traced from forest to shelf.

Our FSC certification means that we can ensure the paper used to print this magazine comes from responsibly managed forests where conservation values are employed.

While readers shouldn’t notice any visible difference when we change papers, according to the Environmental Defense Fund’s Paper Calculator (For more information visit www.papercalculator.org) there will be a significant change in our conservation of resources. By upgrading from 10 to 30 percent post-consumer content, producing a year’s supply of our paper will require 3,545 less trees, 2,453 million Btu less energy and 1,292,337 gallons less water, as well as reducing solid waste by 213,830 pounds and CO2 emissions by 394,222 pounds.

We’re excited about these savings, but we’ll keep looking for more. In the meantime, if you’d like to help in our efforts to reduce waste and conserve resources, you can recycle your copies of the Conservationist. To find recycling centers near you, check out the Department of Natural Resources’ publication Recycling Dropoff Collection Services in Missouri Communities online, contact their Solid Waste Management Program at swmp@dnr.mo.gov, or call (800) 361-4827.

Readers who prefer to go completely paperless can find current and archived issues of the Conservationist online.

Another way you can help reduce waste is to notify our Circulation office if you are receiving duplicate copies of the magazine, or your address changes due to a move or 911 regulations. Circulation staff can be reached at (573) 522-4115 ext. 3856, or by e-mail at subscriptions@mdc.mo.gov.

Here at the Conservation Department, we are dedicated to bringing you a responsibly produced, quality magazine, and we welcome your feedback. Thank you for reading.

Nichole LeClair, managing editor, and Ara Clark, editor in chief