Biodiversity Protection Boosting biodiversity is at the heart of our mission. We attack the goal from all directions — using prescribed fire to restore vulnerable habitats, modeling fish-friendly stream crossings and providing stewardship of Missouri’s rare, remaining grasslands, for example. Real impact comes through inspiring change, so we work with partners to train and empower others to implement solutions to protect the variety of plant and animal life that is crucial to our future.
ON THE GROUND A Shining Victory for Biodiversity The Topeka shiner is harder to see than the bison roaming Dunn Ranch Prairie, but the three-inch minnow is just as important to the biodiversity of Missouri prairies. An ongoing project creating new fish passages at culverts on Little Creek in Harrison County protects the stream banks from erosion, improves water quality and reconnects the little fish within its native habitat. TNC has been working with the Missouri Department of Conservation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to repatriate the silvery, striped minnow at Dunn Ranch Prairie, and the new stream project helps efforts launched throughout the Midwest to save the Topeka shiner since it was added to the endangered species list in 1998. Now, the little fish is on the rebound, according to a USFWS report released in 2021. That’s a victory for biodiversity, great and small.
WHAT’S TO COME A Grant for Good Fire
Our work to increase biodiversity, train more people to use “good fire” and help steward landscapes unique to Missouri got a huge boost thanks to a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service. TNC created a detailed plan with state and federal partners to coordinate land management across agencies and borders, particularly in regard to fire. The grant, with a partial match from TNC, will make it happen. Two new “habitat strike teams” will clear brush and potential wildfire fuel across key habitat corridors in southwest Missouri during the next four years. We’ll also work with partners on a statewide fire needs assessment, creating a playbook for working together in smart, highly coordinated ways. And we’ll run annual fire training workshops for three years, building new partnerships and ensuring even more people are ready to do this important work.
LEARN MORE about our Biodiveristy Protection strategy at nature.org/mobiodiversity
THIS PAGE TOP Participants of a TNC prescribed fire workshop © Doyle Murphy/TNC BOTTOM Perched culvert on Little Creek © Steve Herrington
8 MISSOURI: STRATEGIES & SOLUTIONS
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