Note To Our Readers

Endless Outdoor Adventures Await You

Some of my earliest outdoor adventures were with my family and friends. I was fortunate to grow up in a family of outdoor enthusiasts. We relished spring turkey season, spent the summer floating crystal clear Ozark streams, hunted squirrels under hickory trees in August, and fished for crappie in the dead of winter. Today, my boys are blessed with the same outdoor experiences.

The Department can definitely help if you want to learn more about the Missouri outdoors. Each year the Department offers over 1,000 Discover Nature courses, hunting classes, and fishing clinics for individuals of all ages. There is still time to sign up for bird watching field trips, frog gigging clinics, fishing classes, and other outdoor skills classes.

The Department’s updated website has a user-friendly Events page that lists a variety of upcoming Department activities. Late summer is a great time to sign up for a hunter education class. Make the course an adventure and go as a family, or take a group of kids from the summer baseball or softball team.

This month’s Conservationist has an excellent article on the Department’s Discover Nature Schools program. The program is in 100 percent of Missouri school districts, and it provides youth of all ages the opportunity to learn about our state’s valuable fish, forest, and wildlife resources and the benefits of wise management.

Department nature centers, shooting ranges, and conservation areas also provide citizens an opportunity to experience the outdoors. This month’s Conservationist highlights a few unique conservation areas around the state. With over 1,000 conservation areas, 75 public shooting ranges, and 13 nature and interpretative centers around the state, your Department of Conservation is close to home. The Department’s website can help you find the place you’re looking for. Browse it at mdc.mo.gov.

Get out and start your own Missouri outdoor adventure.

—Aaron Jeffries, deputy director