ShareLITTLE ROCK, Ark. –The Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock District has increased releases from its White River basin lakes to lower lake levels after the heavy rains in March. Now that the rivers downstream have begun receding, water is being released in a controlled fashion following pre-determined plans.
The releases are being [...]

ShareThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will reintroduce the colorful American burying beetle to a natural area in southwest Missouri as part of a partnership with the St. Louis Zoo to recover this native endangered species. The reintroduction will occur at Wah’kon-tah Prairie, a 3,030-acre site in St. Clair and Cedar counties, Missouri, jointly owned [...]

ShareFacts, figures and insight
Story and photos by Gary Arnold
Some of the headlines say that this F-5 tornado “tore a 6 mile long path through Joplin.” The 6-mile figure is given because that is the width of the city limits in the south part of town. The tornado was actually on the ground for [...]

Share One letter carrier’s view of the 2011 Joplin Tornado
Story and Photos by Gary Arnold
I was a city letter carrier in Joplin, Mo for 17 ½ years and retired effective October 1, 2011. For almost 15 of those years I was the regular carrier on the same residential walking route, including a [...]

ShareNEOSHO–Jeff Richards was hunting deer north of Neosho Monday night when he heard what he thought might be an injured hunter calling for help. When he went to investigate, he was amazed to find a pair of whooping cranes.
Whooping cranes are endangered, with fewer than 500 left in the wild. They also are spectacular, with [...]

ShareBy Tom Uhlenbrock
Missouri State Parks
PINEVILLE, Mo. – One of the first white men to explore the rugged Ozark hills of the far southwest corner of Missouri described it well.
“A tall, thick and rank growth of wild grass covers the whole country, in which the oaks are standing interspersed, like fruit trees in some well-cultivated orchard, [...]

ShareSteve Patten is a birder and photographer, an Alpine Shop associate and Facebook friend of Jo’s. Steve brought our attention to these two videos “by a neighbor of mine” called comptonphotographer of elk bugling during the rut earlier this week in the Boxley Valley, near Ponca (Buffalo National River) Arkansas.
Anyone seen what [...]

ShareJoe Jerek, communications person for the Missouri Dept. of Conservation passed along these two YouTube links on hellbender conservation efforts. One is from the St. Louis Zoo:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbkGQvrE7pc
And the other is from Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery at the foot of Table Rock Dam:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSgTXAn-Fq4
Enjoy.

ShareGargoyle Country: The Inspiring Geology of Springfield and Green County
Jerry D. Vineyard Watershed Press
No ISBN
137 pages. $24.95 (See text for ordering)
Reviewed by Jo Schaper
The name, “Gargoyle Country” comes from the pockmarked and strangely weathered shapes of local limestone (primarily the Burlington, although similar strata weather into weird shapes as well) seen along the bluffs, [...]

ShareBy Jo Schaper
It’s a tossup who likes maps and road trips better, Traveler readers or geologists. If you are both, well, it’s pretty bad.
I also don’t usually review books that Traveler doesn’t currently carry on its bookshelf. We’re making an exception for these two new publications, because they are about Missouri geology, by [...]