I Am Conservation

I Am Conservation

Brett Jeffryes, disabled during service in the U.S. Air Force, owns 300 acres in Dallas County on the Little Niangua River. A year after he purchased the property in the early 1990s, a big rainstorm washed away some of the stream’s bank and started a continuous erosion problem that has resulted in 70 feet of lost topsoil and bank. Jeffryes received technical and financial assistance from the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation on a project to control erosion by constructing rock weirs and reinforced stream crossings. ”Working with the Department has been a good experience,” said Jeffryes. “It has been a blessing to have the weirs and they have stopped the erosion. It has been a learning experience and my disability adds a few more concerns that I made sure I addressed and planned out.” He said he wanted to preserve his property values as well as maintain the ability to fish from his wheelchair and improve stream health. ”It has been a good experience,” said Jeffryes. “I wish I had done it 15 years ago. I would have saved many feet of erosion and kept my property values higher.” Jeffryes said that after the positive experience of working with the Department, he is now considering a future wetland project on the property.

—photograph by David Stonner