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Letters to the Editor

Submissions reflect readers’ opinions and may be edited for length and clarity. Email Magazine@mdc.mo.gov or write to us:

Missouri Conservationist
PO Box 180
Jefferson City, MO 65102

Beavers

I appreciated the July 2022 article about beavers (Beavers, Page 16). They are truly amazing animals that are often misunderstood and treated as pests or threats.

Paul Goodwin, Springfield

More About Beavers

I learned a great deal from the beavers article. I didn`t realize that the work beavers do helps provide habitat for plants, animals, birds, and insects. They also benefit humans by improving water quality.

Tom Reddick, Desloge

Let’s Shoot the Smoke

I loved reading Shooting the Smoke by Holly Dentner (July, Page 22). My great-grandfather, James Dreasler, worked and lived at Coot Mountain Lookout Tower. I never got to meet him, so reading about what his day-to-day would have been like brought me closer to him. Thank you.

Katherine Jaster Huffman, via email

Being history minded, I enjoyed the brief history on MDC’s fire towers. I look forward to reading Bob Frakes book, Remembering Missouri’s Lookout Towers: A Place Above the Trees, which I have downloaded to my Kindle.

I always look forward to the Missouri Conservationist. I have been receiving it for most of my life. I am now 85.

Charles Nagel, via email

Great article about the fire towers. We lived close to one in Miller County, near Ulman. You forgot to mention in this article that the agency would come to the high schools in the area and get student volunteers to help control fires. This occurred when I was in high school in the 1950s.

Jim Elliott, via email

My grandpa was a towerman for more than 30 years. My cousins and I have so many wonderful childhood memories of the tower where he worked. Talk about shenanigans — it’s probably a good thing that tower can’t talk. Maybe someday someone would like to know what’s it’s like for a kid to spend holidays and summer vacations around a lookout tower.

Debbie Reed, Mountain View

A Month to Remember

I have been a subscriber to your magazine for many years. While it is always informative and well written, this issue (July) was top of the line.

Every article held my interest — I couldn’t put the magazine down until I was finished. The article about snakes (Dopplefangers, Page 10) along with the amazing photos was mesmerizing. The beaver article was equally well written. Finally, the article Shooting the Smoke about the history of our fire towers reminded me of the time I was young enough to climb halfway up one. I had a relative who was a volunteer firefighter at the time. I cannot imagine how these men climbed these towers on a regular basis. Kudos to them.

Keep up the great work.

Gloria Cingano, Imperial