ShareTraveler can’t cover, nor even wants to report every movement of Governor Jay Nixon and his wife Georgeanne. It’s part of their official duties to be there for ribbon cuttings, press announcements, job creation and so forth, all across the state. Even so, this one struck a chord.
Gov. Jay Nixon and First Lady [...]

ShareNow this is the kind of college sports Jo likes to see: The 2011 Central Region Championship of the National Guard FLW College Fishing Tournament is being held Oct. 6-8 at SIU-Carbondale. (Did you know southern Illinois were a part of the Ozarks? Yes, they are!) Attendance is free, and looks like as much fun [...]

ShareBy Jo Schaper
Photos and captions courtesy of Shea Bergman, Missouri Dept. of Conservation.
How do you take 33 Urban Ranger Corps inner city youth (and six of their leaders)* on a three-day, 48-hour canoe trip with two nights of camping on the Current River?
Ask Shea Bergman, Steve Jacobsen, Brandon Pope and Pat Whalen of the [...]

ShareHow long has it been since you’ve chased and caught lightning bugs? Over 2,000 species of fireflies, lightning bugs, glow worms, whatever you call them, ring the planet and they seem to be decreasing in numbers.
Near as anyone can tell, people are afraid of the dark, and the fireflies are paying the price.

SharePowder Valley to host St. Louis premier of Mother Nature’s Child June 24
By Dan Zarlenga, MDC
KIRKWOOD, Mo — The Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center will host the St. Louis-area debut of a film selected to be part of the recent 2011 Environmental Film Festival in Washington D.C. The screening kicks [...]

ShareAbout a month ago, Traveler extended the call from the Division of Geology and Land Survey for classrooms to do short videos on the upcoming Central US Shakeout earthquake drill.
The results of that call for videos are now online at http://www.youtube.com/shakeoutmissouri. The first entry, a black and white flick called Silent Movie, is the [...]

ShareThree state parks in or near the Bootheel have announced special events: two for this weekend, April 16, and one for a week from Saturday, April 23.
First, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., will be a guided spring wildflower walk at Morris State Park. Morris preserves a segment of gravelly Crowley’s Ridge five miles [...]

ShareThis year’s weather and the youth turkey harvest were nearly identical to last year’s.
Fortune smiled on young hunters during Missouri’s spring youth firearms turkey season April 9 and 10, enabling them to shoot an impressive 3,898 turkeys
This was the second year in a row of warm, sunny weather for the youth season, encouraging hunters age [...]

ShareIf you planned to head for Alley Spring for a quiet, relaxing day near the Mill on April 29, you might consider rearranging your schedule.
by Jo Schaper
Between 400 and 500 local 4th and 5th graders are expected for the Jacks Fork Watershed Committee/NPS Junior Ranger Day that Friday to teach the youngsters about [...]

ShareIn a story picked up by the AP, one Springfield family who lost a father and son to drowning on Lake Stockton a year ago has now taken their campaign to the Missouri House to raise the age for mandatory lifejackets on Missouri waters from 7 currently to age 16.
The father and son, Brian and [...]