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to MDC Home Page1. Orchid found near Kirksville is new to Missouri
2. Quail numbers rebound, rabbit and grouse still low
3. Celebration planned for Fountain Grove's golden anniversary
4. Conservation news tip
5.
Outdoor Calendar
And why do so few nonhunting totemic societies exist to work directly for the benefit of individual nonhunted species, endangered or otherwise, unless the passion hunters feel for the hunted is an especially powerful, valuable and unique force in the realm of conservation. -- Thomas McIntyre, "What the Hunter Knows" from A Hunter's Heart
Lisa Hooper didn't even have to leave home to prove that the age of discovery isn't past.
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. -- Lisa Hooper wasn't out to rewrite the book on Missouri plants. But when she took a stroll on her family's 110-acre home place last May, she spotted a plant that delayed final arrangements for the first volume of a book about Missouri plants and caused a stir among fanciers of wild orchids.
Hooper, an assistant professor of biology at Truman State University, has more than a casual interest in plants. So she was intrigued when she recognized the foot-tall plant with pale green flowers as an orchid, but couldn't determine its species. She consulted "Flora of Missouri," the bible of Missouri botanists, but was unable to find her plant.
"After looking in several other books I got to be pretty sure what it was," says Hooper. "Then I went to George Yatskievych to confirm it."
Yatskievych, a botanist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, was just putting the finishing touches on the first volume of "Flora of Missouri" when he got Hooper's call. He and another orchid expert, Bill Summers, drove to Kirksville and confirmed Hooper's suspicion. Her home was also home to about a dozen long-bracted green orchids, Coeloglossum viride var. virescens. The plant had never before been reported in Missouri.
"Missouri is pretty well botanized, and orchids are the prima donnas of plants," says Hooper. "It's neat that they were there. For me it was fun to find something I couldn't just key out."Hooper says she wasn't too surprised to find the orchids on her property, because the long-bracted orchid was already known to exist in central Iowa and northern Illinois. They are inconspicuous plants, and unlike most orchids, they tend to grow singly, rather than in large colonies. A few scattered plants at the southern fringe of the species range would be easy to miss. She says it's possible that bracted green orchids are growing in other parts of northern Missouri, perhaps huddling beneath stands of scrubby shingle oaks and junipers as hers was.
Hooper says she doesn't plan to take any special measures to encourage the orchids, which seem to be thriving without human attention. Although its rarity makes it a possible candidate for listing as a Missouri rare or endangered species, MDC Endangered Species Specialist Craig Ten Brink says the agency needs to study its status before considering the listing.
The orchid family is one of the most diverse groups of flowering plants. Most orchids grow in the tropics, where thousands of species flourish. Missouri, with its temperate climate, has only about three dozen species. Some Missouri orchids are large and strikingly beautiful and grow only in remote locations, while other small, delicate varieties thrive in surprising locations such as roadsides, cemeteries, meadows and lawns. You can find detailed information about these plants in "Missouri Orchids," a 92-page book with color photos and a key to identification. To order a copy, send $5 plus $2.31 shipping and sales tax to: Missouri Orchids, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180.-
jim low-
Quail numbers are up dramatically from last year in some areas, but
rabbit and ruffed grouse populations remain low.
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- There is some good news, some bad news and more of the same news for upland game hunters in Missouri this year. But whether you hunt quail, rabbits or ruffed grouse, there are public areas where you can go with a reasonable hope of finding game.
The best news is about quail. Wildlife Research Biologist Tom Dailey says 1997 quail population indices in north-central Missouri are four times what they were just last year. In the state's northeastern region, quail numbers doubled compared to 1996, and indices remained high in the western prairie region from Kansas City to Joplin.
Statewide, however, quail numbers remain below the long-term average, partly because of the dismal quail picture in the Ozarks. "Things still are not good for quail, but the birds have rebounded in areas where there is suitable habitat," said Dailey. Given favorable weather in the spring and early summer and a mix of brushy cover for loafing and more open, weedy areas where they can find seeds, quail have a remarkable capacity to bounce back.
Likewise, says Dailey, rabbits quickly take advantage of good conditions to recover from population lows. This year, however, the news about rabbits isn't as good as for quail. Rabbit numbers statewide are about the same as last year, nearly 30 percent below the 10-year average. The reasons are the same as those that account for low quail numbers -- cool, wet spring weather coupled with loss of weedy and brushy areas where cottontails raise and feed their young.
The bright spots in Missouri's rabbit picture also are the same as for quail. North-central and northeastern Missouri and the western prairie region all have fairly good numbers of rabbits, but the rest of the state, particularly the Ozarks, is still far below normal cottontail population.
Interestingly, MDC surveys of quail hunters show that the average daily bag has remained almost unchanged for decades. Dailey says this is partly because there are fewer quail hunters than 30 years ago, so there still are enough quail for hunters who search them out. Also, even though habitat has been lost to fescue planting, clean farming and overgrazing in many areas, quail numbers still are strong where brushy cover, weedy fields and woodland borders abound.
"Some private landowners have done an excellent job of managing their land for quail," says Dailey, "and quail management is an increasingly important priority on conservation lands. Where quail and rabbits' needs are being met, we see a good response."
Dailey said public areas with strong quail and rabbit populations include Bois D' Arc Conservation Area west of Springfield, William R. Logan and William E. and G.P. White CAs in Lincoln County, Whetstone Creek and Reform CAs in Callaway County, Blind Pony Lake CA west of Marshall in Saline County, James A. Reed Memorial Wildlife Area west of Lee's Summit in Jackson County and several prairie areas between Kansas City and Joplin.
These public hunting areas typically are hunted heavily early in the season. Quail season runs from Nov. 1 through Jan. 15, with a daily limit of eight and a possession limit of 16. Rabbit season runs from Oct. 1 through Feb. 15, with a daily limit of six rabbits and a possession limit of 12. Only two of the daily limit may be swamp rabbits, which are found in southeastern Missouri.
While quail and rabbit depend on a mix of open, weedy areas and brushy borders to sustain them, Missouri's ruffed grouse need a different mixture. Grouse are creatures of the woodland edge. They need mature forest for mating and nesting, brushy second-growth forest for escape cover and lush open areas like clearcuts where they can find nutritious seeds and insects. Habitat lacking any of these three components won't support ruffed grouse.
Missouri is at the southern edge of the ruffed grouse's historic range, and loss of habitat, along with unregulated hunting, eliminated the species from the Show-me State by the early 20th century. The MDC completed a 30-year restoration effort last year with the release of 61 grouse in Camden County and several sites in southwestern Missouri. In all, the MDC has released more than 5,000 wild ruffed grouse at 78 sites in 37 counties.
These birds have prospered to varying degrees, depending on how well the sites fit their needs and how the forest in those areas has been managed. MDC Wildlife Research Biologist Eric Kurzejeski says ruffed grouse numbers in the southern half of the state are particularly low. An example is Daniel Boone CA in Warren County, which has one of the oldest and has traditionally had one of the strongest grouse populations in the state. This area currently has the lowest grouse count since standardized surveys began in 1974. In the Ozarks, Kurzejeski says hunters "are going to do a lot of walking between grouse."
On the bright side, grouse populations on areas in northern Missouri are doing well. Kurzejeski says Frank Reifsnider State Forest in Warren County has good hunting prospects this year, as do nearby Little Lost Creek CA and Union Ridge and Sugar Creek CAs in Adair County.
Grouse season runs from Oct. 15 through Jan. 15 in all or part of 19 counties. The area currently open to hunting includes Carter, Crawford, Iron, Madison, Oregon, Reynolds, Ripley, Ste. Genevieve, Shannon, Adair, Sullivan, Putnam, Schuyler and Washington counties, those parts of Boone, Callaway, Montgomery and Warren counties south of I-70 and that part of Macon County north of Highway 36. The daily limit is two birds, with a possession limit of four.-
jim low-
An open house Oct. 11 will mark half a century of waterfowl conservation, wildlife watching and duck hunting at this wetland conservation area east of Chillicothe.
MEADVILLE, Mo. -- Thousands of Missouri waterfowl hunters cut their teeth
on duck and goose hunting at the Missouri Department of Conservation's Fountain
Grove Conservation Area near here. The area provided marshlands that attracted
waterfowl during decades when Missouri's wetlands were few to none and declining.
Hunters from all over the state drove hours through the night to be on hand
for a predawn drawing that put them in blinds on one of the Midwest's best
waterfowl marshes.
This year marks Fountain Grove's 50th anniversary, and the public is invited
to help celebrate. From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 11 Fountain Grove will host
activities including guided boat tours on the area, live river otter programs,
wildlife viewing along an auto tour route, a wetland boardwalk trail and
a musical program called "Critter Rock." The river otter programs
are especially entertaining and ideal for children. Other activities that
day will include shooting skills simulations and exhibits on waterfowl hunting
and wetland management. Demonstrations will include the firing of cannon-launched
nets used to capture waterfowl for banding. The day's activities will conclude
with the dedication of a state of-the-art wetland restoration area at 4
p.m.
The event is free, and no reservations are required. Fountain Grove Conservation Area is southeast of Chillicothe, 12 miles east on U.S. 36 to Meadville, then south on State Road W for 5 miles to the area entrance. For more information or a map, contact the MDC's Chillicothe office at (816) 646-6122.-
jim auckley-
Limited time won't allow inclusion of the following story in full. This brief synopsis and contact information should enable you to pursue the topic if you consider it worthwhile.
MDC, UE ink contract for fish stocking at Lake of the Ozarks
The Missouri Department of Conservation and Union Electric recently signed an agreement whereby the MDC will stock hybrid striped bass and possibly other fish at Lake of the Ozarks. UE, a private electric power utility, has stocking responsibilities associated with its federal license to operate their hydroelectric plant at the lake.
News Services Coordinator
(314) 751-4115, ext. 243
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