Grand River Grasslands Site Manager Hired

ST. LOUIS — August 31, 2007 — The Nature Conservancy recently hired Randy Arndt as the Grand River Grasslands site manager. The Grand River Grasslands is a 70,000-acre grassland landscape that straddles the Missouri-Iowa border. The Conservancy’s 4,000-acre Dunn Ranch anchors the prairie restoration site.

As site manager, Arndt will develop and implement conservation activities within the Grand River Grasslands, where the Conservancy works closely with private ranchers, as well as the Missouri Department of Conservation, Iowa Department of Natural Resources and other partners to restore a functional tallgrass prairie.

“Randy is a great fit for this position,” said Doug Ladd, director of conservation science for the Conservancy in Missouri. “Not only did he have the technical know how and experience that we were looking for, but he is passionate about protecting and restoring this landscape.”

Arndt is a seasoned, certified wildlife biologist offering over 28 years of experience in public and private land management. He is also the owner and operator of Arndt Family Farm, wholesale producers of Missouri native grass and forb seed. Arndt has extensive knowledge in native grass and forb seed production. Every year, Arndt Family Farm harvests up to 400 acres of native grass and 10-20 acres of native forbs and custom cleans between 20,000 and 40,000 pounds of native grass and forb seed. Arndt’s expertise in this area will be beneficial to the critical and complicated restoration efforts in developing a functional, sustainable prairie landscape in the Grand River Grasslands area.

Arndt received a bachelor of science in natural resources and a master of science in wildlife management from Ohio State University. He worked for the Missouri Department of Conservation for almost 30 years, overseeing land development and restoration efforts across the state. Arndt is the recipient of numerous awards for achievement in conservation and wildlife management, including the Conservancy’s Prairie Conservation Award.

Arndt’s experience in extensive land management and restoration efforts as well as in preparing and implementing large annual budgets, negotiating agricultural contracts and building strong, lasting partnerships with private landowners will help him successfully meet restoration milestones for the Conservancy.

The Grand River Grasslands remains the only known opportunity to restore and conserve a functional tallgrass prairie landscape on deep loamy soils in the Central Tallgrass Ecoregion, a region spanning six Midwest states.

“Recently, we observed six broods of prairie chickens with six to ten chicks per brood while out in the field spraying idle cropland,” said Arndt. “Finding these chicks here is further evidence that we have the only greater prairie chicken population to be remaining steady and, in this case, increasing in Missouri. This is a strong indication that our restoration efforts are progressing in the right direction.”

The Grand River Grasslands provides necessary minimum area habitat requirements for grassland bird species, such as the greater prairie chicken. Several breeding areas for prairie chickens, called leks or “booming” grounds, are located on the Dunn Ranch preserve. From the high-quality cores of Dunn Ranch/Pawnee Prairie in the south to Ringgold Wildlife area in the north, this area serves as a critical conservation corridor along the Iowa/Missouri border for prairie chickens and other grassland birds. Keeping this area in grasslands with the help of area ranchers and other landowners is vital to the continuation of grassland dependent species.

Arndt and his wife live in Albany, Missouri, about 25 miles from Dunn Ranch. They have three grown children.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.

Together with our members and conservation partners, The Nature Conservancy in Missouri has protected more than 138,000 acres of critical natural lands since 1956. Visit us on the Web at nature.org/missouri.