The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

From the State Director

"We share the conservation successes highlighted here with generous donors, visionary private landowners, and committed partners. Year in and year out, they enable The Nature Conservancy to think big and achieve lasting results on a scale that makes an impact.  Thanks for all you do to support conservation of the lands and waters that sustain life in Missouri and beyond."

- Todd Sampsell, Missouri State Director 

Statewide Success

• Achieved conservation benchmark of over 145,000 acres protected. Working with partners and private landowners, the Conservancy has restored and protected irreplaceable freshwater, grassland, and forest resources in ways that meet the needs of native wildlife and local Missouri communities.
• Secured passage of conservation easement legislation in Missouri. After three years of hard work by Conservancy staff members, lobbyists, and partners, Missouri adopted a modern conservation easement statute that allows private landowners to protect the conservation value of their land.
• Provided guidance for routing and construction of electrical transmission lines from Kansas wind farms to Missouri customers in order to minimize and mitigate disruption of ecologically sensitive areas. 

Missouri Freshwater Success

• Purchased the largest remaining stretch of privately-owned river frontage in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Thanks to quick work on a tight timeline, the Conservancy secured a vulnerable, high priority 175-acre tract with nearly 1.5 miles of frontage along the Current River.
• Convened key partners to create a Conservation Action Plan for the Meramec River watershed that outlines threats to the river, priority strategies, and action steps. An initial demonstration project was also completed: improved stream crossing and cattle fencing on private ranching land in the watershed. 

Missouri Grassland Success

• Reintroduced bison to Dunn Ranch. A busy year of intensive capital improvements including construction of a corral, fencing, and parking areas for bison viewing, culminated in the release of 36 bison onto 2,500 acres of restored native prairie.
• Continued successful prairie restoration at Dunn Ranch by removing trees from 200 acres and seeding 460 acres with a rich mix of native plant species, many of which are collected on-site. Prior to bison reintroduction this year, a prairie assessment was conducted so that staff will be able to monitor how bison behavior, like grazing and wallowing, affects the landscape.
• Established a native nursery at Dunn Ranch to propagate over 1,000 specimens of Prairie Violets, Bird’s Foot Violets, Prairie Phlox, Butterfly Milkweed, and other species.
• Worked with local landowners to identify priority nesting and rearing habitat for native grassland birds, like the Greater Prairie Chicken. GIS data and field surveys revealed high priority sites for habitat restoration on private lands within the 70,000-acre Grand River Grasslands. 

Missouri Forest Success

• Expanded capacity to address conservation threats posed by rural roads in priority watersheds like the Current River. Staff was trained on techniques for environmentally sensitive maintenance of dirt and gravel roads to enable state-of-the-art remediation of substandard roads and to share best practices with partners.
• Applied prescribed fire to over 2,800 acres of Ozark forest land, including Chilton Creek Preserve. The Conservancy’s fire management at Chilton Creek is part of a unique 100-year study of prescribed fire effects on Ozark landscapes that is being conducted by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

 Thank you for your support!