CONSERVATION ACTION

December 13, 1996

report of news and decisions of the Missouri Conservation Commission
Contact: Shannon Cave or Jim Low, (573) 751-4115;
E-mail: Shannon.Cave@mdc.mo.gov
Available for computer download from BBS, phone: (573) 526-1689

General news

The Conservation Commission met December 13 at the Conservation

Department Headquarters in Jefferson City. The open meeting began

at 10:15 a.m. with all Commissioners present:

John Powell, Rolla, Chairman

Ronald J. Stites, Plattsburg, Vice Chairman

Randy Herzog, St. Joseph, Secretary

Anita B. Gorman, Kansas City, Member

The Commission presented a plaque expressing its appreciation to Ms. Minna Alvina Waldmann, Chesterfield, for her donation of the 54-acre August G. Beckemeier CA. This urban wild acres area includes springs, waterfalls, and rich variety of wildflowers, and will be developed to provide a hiking trail and viewing areas overlooking the Missouri River bottoms.

Commissioners accepted a report of public comment received about mineral prospecting on Department lands, and set the next meeting for January 15 in Jefferson City.

Hearings

Martin F. King, University City, discussed a resolution adopted by the Conservation Federation of Missouri to prohibit use of natural bait in the Current River trophy trout area.

Lee Walker Falk, Webster Groves, presented a funding request from Project Ever Green -- the preservation of a 6.5-acre strip of mature woods in the City of Webster Groves.

Regulations

Commissioners approved opening to fishing on March 31, 1997 the 40-acre Little Compton Lake, near Carrollton, and 45-acre Port Hudson Lake, near Gerald. They also approved expanding urban deer management unit 58 for the 1997-98 deer season and reducing the boundaries of units 8 and 9. This change will add Smithville Lake and surrounding land into urban unit 58.

Area Names

The Commission named "White Alloe Creek Conservation Area" a 66-acre tract recently acquired from Park College, Platte County. The area is located in the creek valley and local Indians used that name for the French fur trader who operated in the vicinity.

Land Acquisitions

The Commission acquires land only from willing sellers, based on identified conservation needs and current property value appraisals. Payments in-lieu-of-taxes are made annually to compensate local governments and schools for lost revenues. Approval was given the following acquisitions:

• accept fee-title conveyance from the USDA Farm Services Agency (formerly Farmers Home Administration) of two adjoining tracts of land totaling 844 acres in Howard County. They contain 2.5 miles of frontage on Moniteau Creek.
  
  
• accept as a gift 175 acres south of Bates City, Lafayette County, from the Harriett P. Copple Declaration of Trust. It will be named the "Ferguson-Herold Conservation Area."
  
  
• purchase from the Platte County Commission (for administrative costs only) 27 tracts adjoining Little Bean Marsh CA and totaling 12.86 acres. The tracts were heavily damaged in the 1993 flood and acquired by the county with funding from Community Development

Block Grants.

• purchase 146 acres on St. John's Ditch in New Madrid County as a public fishing access, located six miles south of Sikeston at the junction of highways I55 and 80.
  
  
• purchase 38 acres in Butler County as an addition to the Wilhelmina Conservation Area (CA). It will provide public access from County Road 221, and has 0.7 miles of old St. Francis River frontage.
  
  
• purchase two tracts totaling 729 acres located on the Grand River, four miles west of Brunswick in Chariton and Carroll counties to provide recreational opportunities and partially offset historic wetland and habitat losses in the area.
  
  
• purchase 365 acres in Howard County, near Rocheport, to enhance restoration of the floodplain. The site is bordered on the north by Katy Trail State Park, on the east by Moniteau Creek, and on the south by Salt Creek and the Missouri River.
  
  
• purchase 41.5 acres in Clay County as an addition to Cooley Lake CA, providing a scenic overlook of the area and enhancing restoration of wetland habitat.
  
  
• purchase seven tracts totaling 1,347 acres in Stone, Christian, Douglas, Phelps and Ripley counties that will be traded to the U. S. Forest Service for land that improves boundaries and management of existing Conservation Areas.
  
  
• purchase 464 acres in Reynolds County as an addition Webb Creek CA, consolidating existing holdings and reducing boundary maintenance costs.

Approval to

• Convey 1 acre of Osage-Tavern Access to the Miller County Commission in exchange for abandoned right-of-way, allowing construction of a new bridge across Tavern Creek and improved entrance road work.
  
  
• Amend an existing memorandum of understanding with the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, National Park Service, under which the Department would provide a cash grant toward development of public use facilities at the Two Rivers and Powder Mill Accesses on Current River in Shannon County.

Approval to negotiate or enter into agreements with

• City of Kansas City to develop a boat access to the Missouri River, arboretum of native plants, trails and reforestation along the river on 145 acres between the Heart of America and Paseo bridges.
  
  
• Henry Shaw Ozark Corridor Foundation, Eureka, to identify existing plant and wildlife communities along the 24-mile I-44 corridor from Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center to the Shaw Arboretum.
  
  
• Gateway Trailnet, Inc., St. Louis, to conserve wetlands and habitat around Grasso Spring and establish the Grant's Trail Wetlands Education Area.
  
  
• Student Leadership Environmental Adventure Program, St. Louis, to provide an Environmental Adventure Program to educate St. Louis City 7th grade students about natural environments in Missouri.
  
  
• St. Louis Orienteering Club to develop and produce a detailed orienteering map of Rockwoods Reservation.

Approval to advertise and sell an estimated

• 1,289,986 board feet of mixed hardwood sawtimber from 394 acres of the 3,882-acre Dickens Valley CA in Reynolds County.
  
  
• 834,915 board feet of mixed hardwood sawtimber from 194 acres of the 13,383-acre Indian Trail CA in Dent County.
  
  
• 536,156 board feet of mixed hardwood sawtimber from 182 acres of the 19,275-acre Current River CA in Shannon and Reynolds counties.
  
  
• 391,500 board feet of mixed hardwood and pine sawtimber from 199 acres of the 37,146-acre Angeline CA in Shannon County.

Approval to enter into Community Assistance Program (CAP) agreements with

• St. Charles County, under which the Department would provide a cash grant reimbursement for public use developments on County property along the Mississippi River.
  
  
• Crawford County Commission, under which the Department would provide a cash grant reimbursement for public use developments at the County's Bird's Nest area on the Meramec River.
  
  
• Nevada R-V School District, Vernon County, under which the Department should provide fishery management and a cash grant reimbursement for public use developments at a small fishing pond and wetland area on the District's Outdoor Learning Center.
  
  
• City of Clarksville, Pike County, under which the Department would provide a cash grant reimbursement for public use developments on City property along the Mississippi River.
  
  
• City of Overland, St. Louis County, under which the Department would provide fishery management and a cash grant reimbursement for public use developments at a small lake in the City's Wild Acres Park.
  
  
• Chillicothe R-II School District, Livingston County, under which the Department would provide fishery management and a cash grant reimbursement for public use developments at a small lake on the Litton Agri-Science Learning Center.

Approval to amend existing CAP agreements with

• St. Louis County Parks and Recreation Department under which the Department would develop the Pelican Island Access on the Missouri River, and the City would assume its management and maintenance as part of the County's Sioux Passage Park.
  
  
• Missouri Department of Mental Health, under which the Department would provide a cash grant reimbursement for additional public use developments at the lake on the Marshall Habilitation Center in Saline County.
  
  
• City of LaBelle, Lewis County, under which the Department would provide a cash grant reimbursement for additional public use developments at LaBelle City Lake.

Awards

Twenty-five years service awards were presented to Francis M. Ryck, Jr., Michael G. Haeffner, and Thomas P. Ronk, Jefferson City; Leroy W. Davis, Salem; Richard W. Sperber, Rock Port; Richard G. Whiteaker, Kirksville; Michael F. Korte, Pacific; and Linda S. Rodick, California.

Thirty years service awards were presented to John L. Boyles, Hannibal; George M. Cotner, Salem; V. Charles Suppes, Marshall; Noble L. Hargett, Camdenton; and Shelby G. Jones, Jefferson City.

A Thirty-five year service award was presented to Floyd V. Dry, Rogersville.

A special 2,000 Hours of Volunteer Service Award was given to Gail D. Oehrke, Jefferson City, for his service at the Runge Conservation Nature Center.

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