Missouri Wildlifer program assists area landowners in preserving habitat

The University of MIssouri Extension, in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Conservation, held the fifth class for the Missouri Wildlifer program on Tuesday night at the Bowman Building. Managers and landowners were present in order to learn to conserve wetland habitats.

Managing wetlands is one of the key points that the Missouri Wildlifer program institutes as part of its curricula.

The program is broadcast statewide at participating sites in Reeds Spring, Park Hills, Salem, Mexico, Poplar Bluff, Nevada and Portageville, all located in Missouri. On Tuesday, the Missouri Department of Conservation in conjunction with the University of Missouri-Extension held its fifth teleconferencing class regarding the Missouri Wildlifer program. Each session is quite comprehensive, the participants receive a fresh packet of handouts on top of the quite extensive binder compilation of handouts that were given to them when they started the class. The program was originally developed on the national level, with its base out of South Carolina, but now the state of Missouri is offering it through the University of Missouri in Columbia. The program operates on many levels and has attracted many landowners and managers from Kansas City to Taberville. The class is conducted in seven three-hour sessions that are taught via televideo conferencing.

The participants are attracted to the program for two main reasons, habitat restoration and conservation and hunting continuation, which coincides with the habitat restoration aspect of the program.

Mike Messick of Kansas City, Mo., saw the class information in the Missouri Conservationist and decided to participate.

When asked why he was there, Messick said, " I hunt a lot in different parts of the state and I help to manage land. I am taking this class like any other, to get smarter."

Messick is not the only land manager who participated in the program, nor is he the only hunting enthusiast.

Steve Sitler, also of Kansas City, Mo., became interested in the program through an advertisement in the Missouri Conservationist as well. Sitler said, "All my life I've been hunting. I prefer the outdoors to people."

Sitler and Messeck signed up for the class at the same time, in fact it was as Sitler noted a "mutual decision."

Sitler said, "The state of Missouri Conservation Department hires some of the best and brightest, they are a source of integrity and enhanced knowledge."

Sitler is interested in improving the habitat and promoting an area that is hunter-friendly. Local landowners were present as well, Loel Wilson of Nevada and Don Guffey of Taberville were there to find out about improving local habitats as well.

Wilson, an amateur birder enjoys watching and listening to songbirds. Wilson plans to apply the principles that he is learning in the workshop to his land. However, he said, "it's very labor intensive, not something you do overnight."

The nationally developed program, had to be narrowed down to the state of Missouri, because the habitat varies greatly from other areas of the country. Josh Cussimanio of the Missouri Department of Conservation, was also present at the session. Cussimanio said his role was to answer any questions posed by participants.

Cussimanio works at the Four Rivers Conservation area in Rich Hill. It's a waterfowl and wetland area with 14,000 acres of conserved habitat. Currently there are 14 different species of duck, four different species of geese, shorebirds, herons and eagles in the winter.

Cussimanio explained that the current Wildlifer program is great in that it is currently geared toward the diverse habitats of Missouri. When he attended classes previously, they were nationally syndicated and were not always applicable to the concerns of the Missouri landowner or land manager.

Topics such as pine forest management were discussed, which does not apply to this area of the country, Cussimanio said.

"Missouri is really diverse, it has everything from Eastern Oak Hickory forests to Western Tallgrass Prairie and in between in the south eastern area or the Bootheel there are wetlands," said Cussimanio.

When managing a wetlands it is important to "understand and know your wetland," he said.

Materials provided by the department of conservation describe many different types of wetland areas, emergent marsh, successional seasonal marsh, shrub swamp and Greentree reservoir. When managing a wetland, you are trying to mimic natural wet and dry cycles while tweaking them to meet specific interests. Department documents also say that there isn't "any cookbook way to manage wetland, each site is unique and will require an individual management strategy … determine a level of tolerance and manage accordingly."

Briefly, Bob Dobbins a Wetland biologist, NRCS and Mike McClure, Wetland services biologist, Missouri Department of Conservation, developed a handout that describes other tips for managing wetlands, available from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The program currently has 15 participants and focuses on the biological and ecological aspects of habitat restoration and conservation, as described by Mary Reinert, coordinator at the Nevada Telecenter.

Reinert is very enthusiatic about the program, especially its affilation with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the University of Missouri Extension.

For more information on the Wildlifer program and other upcoming events contact Reinert at (417) 448-1212.