I Am Conservation

I Am Conservation

“Two of my passions are prairie restoration and wildlife habitat,” said Tom McCutcheon, with his wife Phebe on part of their land in Saline County. Tom said the original 160 acres has been in his family since 1905. He and Phebe purchased an additional 507 acres 20 years ago. Tom said one tract of 150 acres is managed for grasslands, while another is managed for timber. The rest of the farm is in agriculture and livestock production. “I love the land,” said Tom, “and I spend a lot of time working on it, trying to control any erosion that might occur, and to get as good a stand of prairie grasses and forbs as I can get.” When it comes to his woods, Tom said, “What I’m really trying to do is control invasives and get a mature hardwood forest with a large variety of trees.” Tom and Phebe not only exercise their passions for wildlife habitat on their own land, but they give back to the community by being active members of the Boone’s Lick Chapter of Missouri Master Naturalist, Quail Forever, Missouri Prairie Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Arbor Day Foundation. As master naturalists, Tom and Phebe help the Missouri Department of Conservation gather prairie seeds that are milled and sown on other Department lands. “They are trying to do the same thing I am doing — reestablish prairie.”

—photograph by Noppadol Paothong