June 2004

Family Outdoor Skills camp for the deaf

Deaf and hard of hearing children learn the basics in fishing, canoeing and archery at Missouri Department of Conservation outdoor skills camp. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo)

Campers learn outdoors skills and enjoy family fun

JEFFERSON CITY--Dennis Garrison is a good source for solutions to overcoming barriers that prevent people with physical disabilities from enjoying outdoor recreation. The conservation agent with the Missouri Department of Conservation will tell you all it takes is a can-do spirit and the willingness to take on a challenge. Those are the tools he used to create the Family Outdoor Skills Camp for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children.

The two-day camp enables families with deaf or hard of hearing children to participate in outdoor recreational activities and learn the basics of a variety of outdoors skills. Garrison said the camp is a great learning experience for participants and its instructors.

"Often I come into contact with deaf people while checking permits," said Garrison. "It occurred to me that many deaf children seldom get opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. And I thought a lot of our staff could use training that would help them communicate with the deaf. Agents are always encouraged to find new ways to help Missourians enjoy the outdoors, so I thought a skills camp would be a good way to meet the needs of children and the department's goals."

The idea of the camp became a reality three years ago when Garrison enlisted the staff at the Missouri School for the Deaf in Fulton to assist with the program. The school provides interpreters who facilitate communication between camp participants and the Conservation Department employees who provide skills training.

Agent Garrison felt it was important to make the camp a family event because many of the children who attend the Missouri School for the Deaf are housed on campus.

"Because there are so few schools for the deaf in the state, a lot of children must leave their homes to attend school," Garrison said. "So we want the camp to be a place where the kids can enjoy time with their families. I can't think of a better way for a family to spend time together. My hope is that the parents will use the training they receive to increase opportunities for their kids to enjoy the outdoors."

Campers and their families will participate in a wide variety of outdoor activities, including traditional archery with a walk-through silhouette shoot, basic canoeing, fishing and scaling a 40-foot climbing wall.

The skills camp takes place August 21-22 at the H. Roe Bartle Boy Scout Camp in Osceola. Lodging, meals and supplies for the camp are provided free-of-charge thanks to funding from the Missouri Conservation Agents Association, United Bowhunters of Missouri, Compton Traditional Bowhunters and the Warsaw Shrine Club.

Registration for the skills camp is limited to the first 200 applicants. For more information, or to sign up for the Family Outdoor Skills Camp for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children contact: Tisha Holden at 573/346-2210 Ext. 222 or Pat Roam at 573/346-2210 Ext. 221.

- Arleasha Mays -

Commission to meet July 15 in Jefferson City

JEFFERSON CITY --The Missouri Conservation Commission will meet July 15 at Conservation Department Headquarters, 2901 W. Truman Blvd., Jefferson City.

The Commission will meet in closed executive session at 9:00 a.m. The regular open meeting will begin immediately after the executive session.

Commission meetings are open to the public. Items to be placed on the agenda for presentations or other business should be sent in writing to Director, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180; fax 573/751-4467, at least 10 working days before the meeting date. The deadline for the next meeting is July 1.

People requiring special services or accommodations to attend the meeting can make arrangements by writing to the same address, or by phone at 573/751-4115.

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LEWIS AND CLARK QUIZ

Question: On what present-day landmark did Lt. William Clark go prospecting for lead ore?

Answer: Sugarloaf rock, across the Missouri River from Hartsburg, Mo.

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Prairie renewal good news for wildlife and people

Missouri's prairie areas may not look exciting from the highway, but they sport a surprising diversity of wildlife and recreational opportunities. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo)

The Conservation Department's latest purchase of virgin prairie will help rare plants and animals, not to mention hunters and birdwatchers.

JEFFERSON CITY---Nothing in most Missourian's daily experience prepares you for a June sunrise on a virgin prairie in southwest Missouri. Landscapes that seem flat and featureless to motorists zipping along Highway 71 at high noon look vastly different when the morning's first rays paint fence posts rose red. Spidery coneflower blossoms glow incandescent magenta. Breezes tempt ranks of golden coreopsis into a sleepy waltz with demure white foxglove flowers.

All around, birds come to life. Sassy dickcissels challenge the breezy chorus of goldfinches, and a bobwhite quail sings his name to greet the day. As night's muted blue shadows ebb into wooded draws, a wild turkey gobbler awakes and casts his harsh rattle against the lightening sky. Mating season is growing long in the tooth, but the tom's prayer for late-season romance finds an answer in a hen's seductive yelps.

Anyone who thinks prairies are dull has never visited Clear Creek Conservation Area on the Vernon-Barton county line at the right time of day. As the morning matures, you can watch a procession of turkey hens and their fuzzy, days-old poults cross the horizon, enthusiastically catching protein-rich bugs on the run. Walk slowly and quietly around the area's five ponds, and you are likely to surprise a patrol of white-tailed deer topping off their tanks before bedding down for the day. Once the sun warms the air, you can divide your time watching majestic soaring red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures and the gaudy fluttering of regal fritillary, monarch and swallowtail butterflies.

This abundance of wildlife thrives on one of Missouri's rarest treasures--a virgin prairie. The land is not untouched in the sense that it has never been used for agriculture. These acres have been grazed by domestic stock, sometimes heavily. But the deep, rich prairie sod has never felt the steel of plowshares. Nor will it ever, thanks to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The agency bought the 682-acre nucleus of the area in 1987. Earlier this year, it added 209 acres at the area's northwest edge, making it one of the state's major prairie conservation areas. Wildlife Management Biologist Dave Darrow says he is excited about the management possibilities the addition creates.

"The addition hasn't been grazed in at least 10 years," Darrow said during a recent tour of the area. "It has been hayed every fall for years. We are pretty eager to see what it is going to do after a prescribed burn."

Fire is one of the most effective tools for restoring prairie to its natural diversity. The warm-season grasses and flowering plants that originally covered millions of acres in western and northern Missouri thrive on periodic burning.

When fire is excluded, scrubby trees and shrubs quickly take over land that historically was prairie and savannah--grassland with scattered trees. Excluding fire also favors introduced, cool-season grasses that can take over prairie areas, reducing their value to wildlife.

The south end of Clear Creek CA, described at the start of this story, shows what prescribed burning and other carefully planned management can do in areas where historic grasslands have survived largely unnoticed.

Darrow and his staff use a combination of burning, grazing and haying to simulate natural processes that once made southwest Missouri's prairies and savannas a wildlife paradise. He said he sometimes sees a dramatic response the year after the first burn on a new area. He already has found an unidentified wild orchid on the new acreage and is eager to see what other botanical treasures turn up after the first burn next year.

The orchid isn't a showy variety. However, the presence of a type of plant that is sensitive to disturbance is a sign that much of the prairie's original diversity and vigor might still be present, awaiting the right conditions to re-emerge.

Once the vegetation returns to a more normal condition, meadowlarks, kingbirds, scissor-tailed flycatchers, short-eared owls, upland sandpipers, Northern harrier hawks, Henslow's sparrows and even prairie chickens could return.

Prescribed burning will help open up some parts of the area that have developed dense stands of trees and shrubs since fire was excluded from the area decades ago. These "woodlands" will further increase the diversity of wildlife habitat and favor a greater variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Darrow plans to keep hiking trails mowed through the area to provide easy access for birdwatchers, nature photographers and sightseers. Hunters will benefit from a healthy prairie, too. Quail, rabbits, white-tailed deer and turkey already draw them to Clear Creek CA, and these activities will be enhanced as management proceeds.

Another bonus from prairie management is the harvest of blazing star, coneflower, ashy sunflower, sneezeweed, Indian paintbrush and other native plant seeds to speed up restoration of nearby prairie areas.

To visit Clear Creek CA, take Highway 71 south from Nevada or north from Carthage. Turn east on Highway C 4 miles south of the Barton-Vernon county line. Drive 4 miles east and turn left on NE 40th Lane, which is a gravel road. Take NE 40th Lane three miles north and turn left again. Watch for the parking lot on the right (north) side of the road.

-Jim Low-

Conservation Commission approves 2005 regulation changes

Changes effective March 1, 2005 will affect a wide range of activities.

JEFFERSON CITY--At its June 3 meeting, the Missouri Conservation Commission approved more than two dozen regulation changes to go into effect March 1, 2005.

The changes will affect hunting, fishing and nontraditional recreation. Some, such as fishing creel and length limits, apply only to particular conservation areas. Others apply statewide. Most of the changes will be included in 2005 hunting and fishing regulation guide booklets that are available wherever hunting and fishing permits are sold. Highlights include:

• Prohibiting the harvest of wild fruit-bearing ginseng plants with fewer than three leaves. The entire stalk, minus the mature fruits, must be kept with the plants until they are taken to the harvester's home or business. All seeds must be planted within 100 feet of the parent plants, starting in 2005.

• Extending the season closing date for commercial harvest of shovelnose sturgeon from Oct. 30 to Oct. 31, 2005.

• Prohibiting the take of shovelnose sturgeon on the Missouri River from the Carl R. Noren Access down river to the Chamois Access, starting in 2005.

• Reducing the daily limit of trout from five to four statewide, starting in 2005.

• Allowing the possession and sale of groundhog pelts throughout the year, starting in 2005.

• Allowing nonresidents with valid permits from other states to exhibit legally possessed wildlife at special events, not to exceed seven days, starting in 2005. Exhibitors must notify a Conservation Department agent in advance and may not sell or give away exhibited wildlife. Exhibitors must comply with all other Wildlife Code provisions, including confinement standards.

• Establishing open hours for unstaffed shooting ranges on conservation areas as one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset, starting in 2005.

• Allowing fall firearms turkey hunting on Weldon Spring Conservation Area (CA) under statewide regulations, starting in 2005.

• Allowing fall archery turkey hunting on Weldon Spring CA only by holders of an Archer's Hunting Permit who have been selected to participate in the area's archery managed deer hunt and only prior to taking a deer, starting in 2005.

• Allowing spring turkey hunting on Caney Mountain CA only by holders of a Spring Turkey Hunting Permit who have been selected to participate in the area's managed hunt, starting in 2005.

• Allowing firearms squirrel hunting on Caney Mountain CA under statewide regulations, except from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30, starting in 2005.

• Prohibiting waterfowl hunting after 1 p.m. at Lone Jack Lake CA, starting in 2005.

• Requiring hunters at Four Rivers CA to complete a Daily Waterfowl Hunting Tag, starting in 2005.

• Establishing fishing regulations within Stone Mill Spring Branch, starting in 2005.

- Jim Low -

LEWIS and CLARK QUIZ

Question: How many sewing needles and fish hooks did the Corps of Discovery take with them to trade with Indians?

Answer: 4,600 sewing needles and 2,800 fish hooks.

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Conservation Commission sets early migratory bird hunting seasons

Missouri hunters will have the same number of days to hunt doves and most other early-migrating birds this year. Details of the early teal season won't be known until the Missouri Department of Conservation gets results of population surveys later this summer.(Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo)

Teal season won't be finalized until spring population surveys are complete.

JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri hunters will have the same number of days to hunt doves and most other early-migrating birds this year. As last year, however, the length of teal season--or whether there will be an early teal season at all--won't be known until the Missouri Department of Conservation gets results of population surveys now underway.

At its meeting June 3, the Conservation Commission approved frameworks identical to last year's for most early migratory bird hunting seasons. They include:

• Dove--Sept. 1 through Nov. 9. Includes mourning, Eurasian collared and white- winged doves. Daily limit of 12 in the aggregate. Possession limit 24.

• Sora and Virginia Rails--Sept. 1 through Nov. 9. Daily and possession limit of 25 in the aggreate.

• Common Snipe--Sept. 1 through Dec. 16. Daily limit of eight. Possession limit 16.

• American Woodcock--Oct. 15 through Nov. 28. Daily limit three. Possession limit six.

The population status of the blue-winged teal will not be known until late June. If the blue-winged teal breeding population index is below 3.3 million, teal season will be closed. If the population index is at least 3.3 million but less than 4.7 million there will be a nine-day teal season Sept. 11 through 19 with a daily limit of four and possession limit of eight. If the population index is 4.7 million or greater there will be a 16-day season Sept. 11 through 26 with the same limits.

The Commission also approved changes and clarifications to the Wildlife Code of Missouri, effective March 1, 2005. These include reducing the statewide daily limit on trout and the daily limit in trout parks from five to four. Further details of regulation changes will be outlined in the 2005 hunting and fishing regulation guide books, available next year.

- Jim Low -

Bi-state poachers hit with heavy fines

Cooperation between Missouri and Iowa game agents culminated in more than $20,000 in fines and other penalties.

JEFFERSON CITY--Shooting deer illegally in Iowa and bringing them to the Show Me State to be checked as legal kills may have seemed like a slick idea to three Missouri men, but the scheme cost them more than $20,000.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources learned of the three's activities in February through an anonymous tip on their Turn In Poachers hotline. The Missouri Department of Conservation got wind of the violations through its Operation Game Thief (OGT) hotline, and the two agencies coordinated their investigations.

Conservation officers discovered that the trio had used archery gear to take five deer without permits in Iowa. They brought the deer back to Missouri, where they checked them as legal archery kills, thereby breaking laws in two states.

James A. Sheats, Jr., 34, of Eldon; Robert D. Reeves, 34, of Lebanon; and Jeff R. Farris, 25, of Camdenton, were charged with hunting without permits and taking deer unlawfully.

The three paid a total of $1,029 in fines for the Iowa violations. Under Iowa law, violators can be assessed as much as $4,000 damages for the value of each deer taken illegally and can forfeit equipment used to commit violations. The three paid $16,000 in damages and forfeited $2,500 worth of equipment for a total cost of $19,523. In Missouri, Farris and Sheats each paid $154.50 in fines. Reeves' Missouri case has not been resolved yet.

Besides the monetary penalties, all three have had their hunting privileges revoked for three years. Conservation agents also confiscated deer mounts and antlers that scored 132, 148, 151 and 205 on the Pope and Young scoring system.

The three actually got off relatively easy. Transporting illegally taken deer across state lines is a violation of the federal Lacey Act. Under that law, their fines could have been $100,000 per count.

Morgan County Conservation Agent Kurt Heisler is one of the Missouri officers who worked on the case. He said it illustrates the importance of private citizens in stopping poaching.

"Conservation agents can't be everywhere all the time," said Heisler. "We rely heavily on the help of people who are outraged by poaching. Picking up the phone and calling the nearest sheriff's department or Conservation Department office is the best way to put a stop to game theft."

One of the deer had been entered in the records of the Pope and Young Club. The club honors hunters who take outstanding deer with bows and arrows. Pope and Young spokesman Glen Hisey said the club takes wildlife violations very seriously. He said that any record kills involving wildlife violations are removed from the club's books, and the person who entered it is permanently barred from the club's record book.

OGT is sponsored by the Conservation Department in cooperation with the Conservation Federation of Missouri. The toll-free hot line allows citizens to make anonymous reports of game and fish violations. The program also offers cash rewards for tips leading to the arrest of game law violators or forest arsonists. The OGT number is 800/392-1111.

- Jim Low -

LEWIS AND CLARK QUIZ

Question: Where did Meriwether Lewis nearly lose his life in a fall from a precipice overlooking the Missouri River?

Answer: In the vicinity of Tavern Cave near the present-day town of St. Albans, Mo., St. Charles County.

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River's uses, value the subjects of year-long survey

Fishing, wildlife watching and other river-based activities are the focus of an ongoing Missouri River recreation survey by the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Survey clerks at river accesses are asking river users about their activities so the agencies can assign dollar figures to the river's noncommercial values. (Missouri Dept. of Conservation photo)

How much is the Missouri River worth to you?

JEFFERSON CITY--How much would you pay for an hour of solitude? What is it worth to float down the river that transported Meriwether Lewis and William Clark into the realm of legends? Does a Missouri River sunset have a cash value?

Those are some of the questions the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission hope to answer with a 13-month survey of river users. On Jan. 3, survey clerks hired by the two agencies began making the rounds of access facilities on the Missouri River from St. Louis to Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota.

At each spot, they are counting the number of vehicles present and asking the people they meet why they came to the river, how far they traveled to get there, how long they spent there and how much the experience was worth to them.

The survey will include people who live by the river year-round and those who have summer homes there. Such residents will receive calendars in the mail and will be asked to use them to record their river-related activities.
Another goal of the project is to estimate the number of people who visit the river because of the Lewis and Clark bicentennial. Knowledge gained through the survey will help the state get a handle on how people use the Missouri River and how they value it.

Conservation Department statistician Steve Sheriff said questions about the monetary value people place on the river have made some people think the agency is thinking about charging people to use the river or river accesses. He said that is not true. The information is valuable for its own sake, and it is not the kind of information that would be useful in even thinking about such a charge.

"Putting a dollar value on the barge shipping or the commercial fish harvest from a river is fairly easy," said Sheriff. "It is harder to assign a cash value to a day of duck hunting, three hours of fishing or 15 minutes of admiring the sunset. Those things do have value, but unless you quantify those values, there is no way of properly assessing them. This effort will provide information about how people use and value the Missouri River."

Sheriff said that clerks asking for information at Missouri River accesses are easy to identify by the safety vests or at Lewis and Clark events by their brown vests. He said people who are asked for information about their visits to the river, you are among the few fortunate visitors to contribute valuable information about public use on the river. The survey takes less than five minutes to complete even for a large group.

If you have questions about the survey or how the information gathered will be used, call Sheriff at 573/882-9909, ext. 3221, or Rochelle Renken at ext. 3242.

- Jim Low -

Conservation Department challenges Missourians to follow in Lewis and Clark's footsteps

The legendary explorers recorded their discoveries in journals. Now you can, too.

JEFFERSON CITY--People who are fascinated with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's epic journey across Missouri can recreate the achievement in miniature through the Missouri Department of Conservation's "Journaling with Lewis and Clark" program.

The program takes participants on a journey of discovery to eight Conservation Department interpretive facilities scattered around the state. Participants will get to visit Burr Oak Woods Conservation Nature Center (CNC) in Blue Springs, Columbia Bottom Conservation Area (CA), The Discovery Center Urban Conservation Campus in Kansas City, Lost Valley Fish Hatchery near Warsaw, Powder Valley CNC in Kirkwood, Runge CNC in Jefferson City, Shepherd of the Hills Conservation Center in Branson and the Springfield CNC in Springfield.

At the first site they visit, participants receive a blank journal and a "charge" like the one that President Thomas Jefferson gave Lewis to guide the Corps of Discovery. In the charge, Conservation Department Director John Hoskins explains how to complete the program.

Modern-day voyagers record information about a different animal at each site. After having their booklet stamped, they receive a distinctive enamel lapel pin for that site. When they have visited all eight sites, they receive a lapel pin depicting the colorful Carolina parakeet, a now-extinct bird that Lewis and Clark recorded finding in immense numbers in Missouri.

Besides the pins, participants get informational resources about Lewis and Clark. These include reprints of Missouri Conservationist magazine articles about the Corps of Discovery, a map of the expedition's route through the Show Me State and a Lewis and Clark Discovery Guide.

Those who visit all eight interpretive facilities also are entered in a drawing for a set of camping equipment. The prize will be awarded in a drawing in September 2005.

- Jim Low -

LEWIS and CLARK QUIZ

Question: Near what central Missouri creek did the Corps of Discovery stop on June 5, 1804, to mend the mast of their keelboat?

Answer: Modern-day Perche Creek, which they called Split Rock Creek. The site is at the south end of Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area.

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