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Eagle Days at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge Festival

Photo by MDC Staff, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and its partners offer the chance to discover a close connection with the bald eagle. The Eagle Days at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge Festival takes place from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, and Sunday, Jan. 20.

The festival will offer spotting scopes for eagle viewing, a live bald eagle educational program with hands-on exhibits, activities, children’s crafts, and Lewis and Clark living history demonstrations.

Read more from the MDC informational release for detailed information and directions.

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Posted on December 19, 2018 in Local Events

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New MDC Mobile App Offers Outdoor Activities At Your Fingertips

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) continues to give Missouri residents new and different ways to learn and enjoy the outdoors. Check out information from the MDC about the new mobile app!

Finding places to discover nature and enjoy outdoor activities in Missouri has just gotten easier. The (MDC) now offers its new, free mobile app – MO Outdoors. MO Outdoors users can quickly and easily find MDC outdoor offerings based on the types of outdoor activities they want close to home, work, or even while traveling.

MO Outdoors can help users find MDC conservation areas, fishing accesses, hiking trails, shooting ranges, and nature centers around the state based on their desired types of outdoor activities including birdwatching, camping, fishing, hiking, hunting, or shooting. Users can also mark “favorite” locations to quickly find them in future searches.

MO Outdoors also connects users to area regulations and season information, hours of operation, images, area closings, and interactive maps of area boundaries and features. The map function also displays features such as parking lots, boat ramps, and wildlife viewing areas, and allows users to easily navigate to the features using their device’s GPS. Users can also download maps for offline use.

MO Outdoors and MDC’s other free apps — MO Hunting, MO Fishing, and MO Con Mag – are available for download through Google Play for Android devices or the App Store for Apple devices.

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Posted on December 13, 2018 in Outdoor/Nature

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China’s Plastic Waste Ban Causes Recycling Issues For Local Communities

Check out this article, “The Disappearing Recycling Bins: Recent disruption of the US recycling industry and the path ahead – A Deep Ripple,” from Harvard University Blog – Science In The News (SITN), written by Zhen Dai. The article describes the reasons why China’s ban on plastic waste has affected recycling across the US.

Cities like Kirkwood, Mo, were forced to re-evaluate curbside recycling pick up when Resource Management shut down single-stream recycling processes due to the ban. Republic, for the time being, will handle Kirkwood’s single-stream recycling. Read the full story from the Webster-Kirkwood Times HERE.

“The Disappearing Recycling Bins: Recent disruption of the US recycling industry and the path ahead – A Deep Ripple” is a quick read and has informative links at the end to help better understand how China’s plastic waste ban is currently impacting local recycling efforts. Read the full article HERE.

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Posted on December 5, 2018 in Environment

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Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site hosts Christmas Candlelight Tours Dec. 14 and 15

The public is invited to enjoy an 1860s Victorian Christmas during candlelight tours of the Hunter-Dawson home. The house, aglow with the warmth of oil lamps and candles, will be decorated with fresh greenery, Christmas trees and 1860s style ornaments. Site staff will be wearing Victorian era fashions, and refreshments will be served. Daytime tours will be given Dec. 14 and 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with candlelight tours from 6 to 8:30 p.m. each evening. This event is free and open to the public.

Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site is located at 312 Dawson Road in New Madrid, in southeast Missouri. For more information, contact the site at 573-748-5340.

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Posted on December 1, 2018 in Local Events

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WebU Panel: “What did the Nov. 6 Election Mean for the Environment?”

by Don Corrigan

Democrats’ takeover of the U.S. House on Nov. 6 means that environmental issues will come to the fore, but that does not mean policies coming out of Washington, D.C., will be any greener. That is because climate change skeptics will still be in charge of the White House and the U.S. Senate where they will present roadblocks to environmental initiatives.

That assessment of post-election environmental politics came from Professor Amanda Rosen, who teaches political science at Webster University. She was on a panel entitled “What did the Nov. 6 Election Mean for the Environment?” at the university on Nov. 14. Other panelists included newly-elected St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy and Missouri Sierra Club Director John Hickey.

Clancy said that most environmental progress is going to take place at the local level, not in Jefferson City or Washington, D.C., which remain in control by politicians who are hostile to most environmental initiatives. Locally, the City of St. Louis has resolved to become a city powered by renewable energy and St. Louis County voters passed a measure on Nov. 6 to protect their parks and to prevent them from being sold without voter approval.

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Posted on November 19, 2018 in Environment, Local Events

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City of St. Louis Could Build on Previous Healthy Food Access Legislation, MCE

Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) released information about a local bill that would help regional farmers bring fresh food to the areas of St. Louis that need it most. MCE, an advocacy group, helps to bring awareness to Missouri’s environmental issues, including local access to fresh and affordable locally grown foods.

Please take a look at the latest updates below from MCE. Also, check out their website for informative information about local environmental issues.

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Posted on November 14, 2018 in Environment, Home

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How Will The Midterm Elections Impact The Environment?

Webster University and the Sierra Club Missouri Chapter will host a panel discussion about how this year’s midterm elections will effect the environment.

The event will be held Wednesday, November 14, 2018, starting at noon.

For a list of speakers, lunch details, parking information and how to register for the event please click read more below.

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Posted on November 10, 2018 in Local Events

‘Yes For Our Parks!’ Campaign Wants To Protect St. Louis County Parks

Posted on November 5, 2018 | Leave a comment

Below is a letter from a concerned citizen and advocate for Prop 2. Please take a moment to read why she and several environmental and park preservation organizations started the ‘Yes For Our Parks!’ campaign to promote voter passage of Proposition 2 on the November 6 ballot in St. Louis County.

“If approved by voters, it will protect our County parks from being sold or disposed of without a vote of the people and provides county voters with a say over major changes to our parkland.”

Read about the ‘Yes For Our Parks!’ campaign HERE. Or to read Linda Fenton’s letter urging citizens to vote yes on Prop 2 please click below.

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Missouri Bluffs Subdivision Lawsuit Update

The Katy Land Trust has been working to keep the proposed Missouri Bluffs subdivision construction from moving forward. On July 25, 2018, Great Rivers Environmental Law Center filed suit in the St. Charles County Circuit Court on behalf of Weldon Woods, Inc., and Mark Kaiser, asking the Court to void the rezoning allowing a huge subdivision to be built on wooded bluffs overlooking the Missouri River.

The Katy Land Trust has released an update about the effort:

As you know, on July 25 a lawsuit challenging the St. Charles County Council’s decision to allow the Missouri Bluffs subdivision to proceed was filed by Weldon Woods Inc. The St. Charles County Planning and Zoning Commission voted 8 to 1 in opposition to the development, yet the County Council disregarded their recommendation. The Council’s action triggered this lawsuit.

On behalf of Weldon Woods Inc, Great Rivers Environmental Law Center has been hard at work on this case since they filed it last summer. Yesterday, October 29, the most recent hearing was held at the St. Charles County Courthouse and a trial date for the case was set for March 12, 2019.

Read more below…

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Posted on October 31, 2018 in Environment

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Powder Valley Nature Center to close Nov. 3-5 for managed deer hunt

Photo: MDC

Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center and its grounds will be closed Saturday, Nov. 3 through Monday, Nov. 5 to accommodate a managed archery deer hunt on the area.  During this time, the nature center building and grounds, including the surrounding trails, will not be accessible to the general public.  Powder Valley will resume normal operational hours again starting Tuesday, Nov. 6.

The goal of the three-day managed hunt is to help balance deer populations which have grown beyond what Powder Valley’s 112-acre habitat can provide for, according to MDC Urban Wildlife Biologist Erin Shank.  Using data from winter survey counts, Shank estimates the deer population is approximately five times what can comfortably exist there, given the area’s size and proximity to residences and roadways.

While visitors enjoy seeing deer and the animals are an important part of the area’s wildlife population, excessive numbers cause negative impacts to other plants and animals, which also draw visitors and are equally important to the area’s biological diversity.

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Posted on October 29, 2018 in Outdoor/Nature