Summit on the Future of Missouri Outdoors

We have all heard the saying that "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." For the Conservation Federation of Missouri, the prospect of failing to preserve Missouri’s outdoor heritage is unacceptable. That’s why the state’s biggest citizen conservation group (representing 80,000 individuals at last count) has called a Summit on the Future of Missouri Outdoors.

Over the next two days, the state’s leading citizen and government conservation leaders will discuss challenges and opportunities facing the state’s wild and natural resources and the myriad recreational activities that depend on them. Summit participants will develop a prioritized list of actions necessary to ensure the future of everything from camping, hiking and nature photography to hunting, fishing and trapping.

Gov. Jay Nixon will kick off the gathering with an address about the importance of Missouri outdoors. Dr. Stephen R. Kellert, professor of social ecology at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, will deliver the keynote address on the subject “What need is there for outdoor experience in the lives of 21st century Americans.”

The Conservation Federation hopes the summit will provide a strategic vision to guide its long-term efforts.

If you are not familiar with the Conservation Federation, it is the organization that secured voter approval in 1936 for establishing the Missouri Department of Conservation. Show-Me State programs that have become international conservation models all trace back to the Federation’s enduring vision.

For more information about the summit and the Conservation Federation's Web site.

Find a Trails Day event online

June 6 is National Trails Day, but what, exactly, does that mean? It's not as if there really is someplace you can go for a formal celebration, right?

Wrong! I just learned that you can take part one of several organized events the weekend of June 6. The American Hiking Society is using its Web page as a clearinghouse for events in Missouri and nationwide.

Visit AmericanHiking.org and click on Missouri's part of the national map to get a listing of Trails Day events in the Show-Me State. Missouri has at least seven such events June 6 and 7. Locations include Columbia, Lebanon, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, Wildwood and Winona.

More events could show up on the Web site, between now and June 6, because the American Hiking Society encourages anyone who is planning an event to post it on their page.

How cool is that?

If solitude is more your thing, use the Missouri Department of Conservation's online Conservation Atlas Database to locate dozens of conservation areas with trails ranging from short paved, wheelchair-accessible paths to sections of the 300-mile-plus Ozark Trail, traversing rugged wilderness.

Jim Low is an MDC news specialist and Missouri Conservationist staff writer

Squirrel regs stand until ‘10; outlook good this year

Following the Conservation Commission meeting March 12, I sent out a “Conservation Action “report that included information about several regulation changes. Among those changes was an increase in the bag limit for squirrels. Unfortunately, I failed to note that THE CHANGE DOES NOT GO INTO EFFECT UNTIL 2010.

I sent out a correction after someone pointed out the omission, and I changed the information posted on the Conservation Department’s website to include the effective date. However, there was no way to retract the previous e-mail, creating the potential for a few hunters to be confused about the bag limit.

Squirrel season opens May 23 this year and runs through Feb. 15, 2010. THE BAG LIMIT REMAINS UNCHANGED FROM LAST YEAR -- 6 DAILY AND 12 IN POSSESSION.

Lonnie Hansen, the Conservation Department’s resource scientist in charge of squirrel management, notes that last year was a down year for squirrel numbers in the Ozarks. That was because of a reduced acorn crop in 2007. White oaks in the Ozarks produced a good crop of acorns last year, so squirrel numbers should rebound in that part of the state this year, making for better hunting.

Squirrels have a more diverse and dependable food base in northern Missouri, thanks to corn and other agricultural crops. As a result, squirrel populations are more stable there, and hunting is uniformly good from year to year.

Speaking of squirrels in northern and southern Missouri, you are more likely to encounter fox squirrels in northern and western Missouri because they are associated with open land. Gray squirrels are creatures of the deep forest, so the larger the tract of woods you hunt, the more gray squirrels you are likely to find. If you notice a shift in the number of fox vs. gray squirrels in your area, it might be related to changes in the amount of forest.

Hansen prefers to pan-fry young squirrels. He also fries older squirrels, but afterwards he puts them in a crock-pot with a can of cream of mushroom soup. He renders tough old squirrels tender and delicious by wrapping them in aluminum foil with seasonings and a few apple slices and slow-cooking them with indirect heat on the barbecue grill.

Hmmmm … time to go to the range and tune up my .22!

Jim Low is a news specialist and staff writer for the Missouri Conservationist.