By Jo Schaper

It’s always good to hear that someone you know has been recognized for a life well-spent doing good things.

At their December meeting the Missouri Conservation Commission approved the nomination of Dr. Oscar “Oz” Hawksley for the Master Conservationist Award given by the department. In doing so, Oz joins 58 other noted Missourians such as Marlin Perkins, Peter Raven, Leonard Hall, Leo and Key Drey, John L. Morris, Andy Runge, Ed Stegner, Mrs. Pat Jones, Elizabeth Schwartz and others less well-known in this elite group of persons so honored since 1942.

The text of his nomination reads thus:

“Dr. Oscar “Oz” Hawksley dedicated his life to sharing his knowledge and appreciation of the outdoors. Following a tour of duty overseas during World War II, he received a Master’s Degree and Ph.D. from Cornell University with emphasis on Wildlife Management, Fisheries Biology and Conservation Education. During his career as a professor at Central Missouri State University (now known as University of Central Missouri), Dr. Hawksley developed numerous wildlife conservation courses as well as the first ethology course in Missouri. For nearly 30 years, Dr. Hawksley sponsored and conducted field trips to help students develop outdoor skills and understand the ecological significance of Missouri’s unique habitats.

Dr. Hawksley is a founding member of the Ozark Wilderness Waterways Club and American Whitewater, a fellow of the National Speleological Survey and part of the group that founded American Rivers, a national organization instrumental in saving threatened rivers. As a long-time member of the Missouri Prairie Foundation, he has been active in prairie preservation and established a 7-acre demonstration prairie in Warrensburg, MO, that is available for studies and teaching at the University and the local public schools.

One of Dr. Hawksley’s most significant contributions to conservation in Missouri was the publication of Missouri Ozark Waterways, a guide to canoeing that encouraged the wide use of Ozark streams for recreation and produced a widespread interest in their preservation.”

Nearly everyone knows about Missouri Ozark Waterways. But most people don’t know, and this nomination doesn’t cite the fact that Oz was one of the founding members of the Missouri Speleological Survey, (MSS) the statewide organization which has located, surveyed, studied and collected data on Missouri’s 6300 plus caves since its founding in 1956. Dr. Hawksley was a professor at CMSU at the time, and he provided guidance to Frank Dahlgren, a caver and machinist from St. Louis, and Jerry Vineyard, an enthusiastic geology student, later deputy state geologist, to get the scientific examination of Missouri’s caves, in cooperation with with the Missouri Geological Survey, underway.

More about the award can be found here. More about the MSS is online at their website and the history of the organization here.

Some years back, the MSS gave Oz an honorary lifetime membership, something the organization has done for very few of its members. The award was a wooden paddle, with the old MSS logo woodburned in the blade. Hawsley was on the trip where the photo that became the logo originated; there seems to be some dispute whether he took the photo, or if he was the fellow in the rubber raft in the cave. In any event, after the presentation, someone asked him if he liked the award, and his answer was, “It’s a very nice award, but a waste of a good paddle.”

Congratulations, Dr. Hawksley. You deserve it.