att Faupel, St. Louis, who with his younger brother, Perry, discovered the Missouri champion cottonwood tree in January 2012, got some bad news the other day.
The monster tree at Columbia Bottom Conservation Area apparently fell victim to storms May 31.
“Pretty big bummer,” wrote Matt to TravTalk in an email. “The tree was the second largest [...]

On the eve of his retirement, Pioneer Forest Manager Terry Cunningham has been honored by the L-A-D Foundation for his 40 years of “exemplary service” to Pioneer Forest, headquartered in Salem. He received commemorative gifts and appreciative speeches during a recent barbecue
 
Cunningham began working for Leo Drey’s Pioneer Forest in 1972 as district forester, then [...]

April 15 Deadline to Apply for Youth Conservation Corps Summer Jobs
Rolla, Mo. – Monday April 15, 2013 is the deadline for male and female area youth 15-18 years of age to apply for seven summer jobs on Mark Twain National Forest through the Youth Conservation Corps.
The Youth Conservation Corps is a summer work program for [...]

Two items from the Mark Twain National Forest for our readers:
Bill Nightingale is Mark Twain National Forest’s new forest supervisor.
Before moving to Missouri, Nightingale worked in USDA Forest Service’s Eastern Regional Office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he was a program manager for the region.
Nightingale is a 1978 University of Minnesota forestry graduate. He [...]

By Tim Banek, Missouri Department of Conservation
Invasive plant species threaten the stability of ecosystems by reducing biological diversity and replacing beneficial native species. Overall, invasive species are the second largest threat to Missouri’s native plants and animals behind habitat destruction. However, they can be the primary threat in local instances
One of Missouri’s worst invaders is [...]

It’s been a while coming, but below are links to video taken of raft building at Deer Leap Recreation Area on Sept. 1 of the tie-raft reenactment: (about 2 and a half minutes) and a slideshow of the entire day (select shots out of the 300 plus we took: slide show time about 4 [...]

JEFFERSON CITY – 2012 is not likely to be remembered for outstanding fall color, but recent rains could save Missouri’s “season of splendor” from fizzling altogether.
Foresters with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) report that many trees already have shed some or all of their leaves in response to this year’s historic drought. However, [...]

Quarantine Expanded to Protect Missouri’s Trees from Invasive Emerald Ash Borer
(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) – Following this summer’s findings of the invasive Emerald Ash Borer in Platte, Madison and Reynolds counties, Missouri’s quarantine regulating the movement of many ash wood products has been expanded. The quarantine, an effort to reduce the spread of the one-half [...]

(Asst. Ed. note: This is a long and comprehensive and statewide look at the effects of Missouri’s drought on forests, fish, plants and wildlife issued by MDC. I’ve got goldfinches in the yard, and last night was surprised by a bunny only 4 feet away as I took vegetable garbage to the compost pile.)
JEFFERSON [...]

ROLLA, MO. — Mark Twain National Forest firefighters and partners have contained the 1,126 acre Potato Cave fire in Ozark County, about 9 miles southeast of Dora, Missouri.
Rain fell on the fire over the weekend. Firefighters will continue to patrol fire lines until they are sure there is no heat left within the fire [...]