Up Front With Sara Parker Pauley

As I write the April Up Front column, we are wrapping up the 86th annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources conference. The conference brings together professionals from all sectors to discuss and exchange ideas on conservation policy and efforts in North America. It has been a week mixed with discussions over current conservation challenges but also of celebrations of the collective work of partners to meet many of these challenges.

“The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other,” executive Thomas Stallkamp noted.

This month’s issue highlights similar celebrations of the department’s conservation work, accomplished with partners. We are able to celebrate our first successful elk season in modern history because of the collaboration with Kentucky, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and many other partners (see story on Page 22). And we welcome home the brown-headed nuthatch to Missouri’s restored pine woodlands, thanks to collaborative efforts with Arkansas, the U.S. Forest Service, University of Missouri, and others (see story on Page 10).

We certainly would not have the conservation success we’ve enjoyed in Missouri without private landowners stewarding their land and providing habitat for our fish and wildlife. And this trend continues. It was heartening to learn that a recent online Grow Native! Native Landscaping webinar we hosted drew over 800 viewers — a record from our perspective!

Mother Teresa knew the importance of collaboration. “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things,” she said.

Sara Parker Pauley, Director

SARA.PAULEY@MDC.MO.GOV