Environmental Echo

A bald eagle approaches a tree in this image by local bird photographer, Paul Moffett. Moffet will present Birds of the Mississippi/Missouri Confluence, on Friday, June 2 from 7-9 p.m., at Powder Valley Nature Center.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) welcomes local bird photographer Paul Moffet to Powder Valley Nature Center for a special presentation, Birds of the Mississippi/Missouri Confluence, on Friday, June 2 from 7-9 p.m.  Moffet will present examples of his work on the large, high resolution video array in the nature center’s auditorium.

Moffett is also Powder Valley’s featured artist for the month of June.  His work will be on display in the nature center’s exhibit hall.

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Photo: Missouri Department of Conservation

Calling Missouri birders who know their birds by sight and sound! The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) needs volunteers to assist with five vacant bird-observation routes in Missouri as part of the 2023 North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) May 27 – July 7.

The five Missouri BBS routes that need volunteers are:  Cassville in Barry County, Centertown in Cole County, Kenneth in Dunklin County, Sticklerville in Sullivan County, and Bland in Gasconade and Osage counties. Volunteers will need to conduct their survey one day during the May 27 – July 7 survey period.

BBS is a long-term, large-scale, international bird monitoring program that started in 1966. The purpose of the BBS is to track the status and trends of North American bird populations. Each year during mostly June — the height of the bird-breeding season for most of the U.S. – BBS volunteers collect bird-population data along roadside survey routes to help. For more info on the BBS, visit pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/.

Each survey route is 24.5 miles long with stops at half-mile intervals. At each stop, volunteers conduct three-minute point counts where they record data on the bird species and numbers they see or hear within a quarter-mile radius. Surveys must start one-half hour before sunrise and take about five hours to complete. Volunteers need only conduct their survey route once during the survey period.

For more information or to volunteer, contact MDC Resource Scientist and MDC BBS Coordinator Janet Haslerig by email at Janet.Haslerig@mdc.mo.gov or call 573-522-4115, ext. 3198.

Read more about what is needed to become a volunteer below.

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by Don Corrigan

Turtles, Frogs and Armadillos are not the only “roadkill” in the St. Louis region because of a poor traffic safety environment. Humans also have become roadkill, with fatalities increasing at an alarming rate.

Last year, 173 people were killed and 14,930 people injured in traffic crashes in St. Louis City and County.

In St. Louis City, 78 people died from traffic violence – more than double the number of ciy traffic fatalities a decade ago. In the county, the number of pedestrian fatalities over a three-year span from 2020-2022 was up 228% from a decade ago.

These and other key findings are part of St. Louis Trailnet’s “2022 St. Louis City and County Crash Report.” The report is an analysis of traffic violence in the region. It lays out solutions for residents to address these tragedies.

“The data reinforces the already-clear link between poorly-designed roads, high speeds and deadly conditions for people outside of cars,” said Sam McCrory, Trailnet’s Community Planner and primary author of the report.

“Last year, city leaders finally committed to long-term solutions, but we also need immediate responses across the region. We cannot continue waiting around for change while people die on our streets,” he added.

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MDC Herpetologist Jeff Briggler (left) holds the first zoo-reared Ozark hellbender to reproduce in the wild. Pictured with Briggler is MDC Ozark District Supervisor John Ackerson (middle) and National Park Service Natural Resource Manager Victoria Grant (right). All photos courtesy of MDC Herpetologist Jeff Briggler.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) announces a significant milestone in population recovery efforts of the endangered Ozark hellbender. A zoo-raised hellbender has successfully reproduced within the Current River.

“We are very excited to announce this news,” said Missouri State Herpetologist Jeff Briggler. “This is the first documented event of a zoo-raised animal fathering a clutch of eggs in the wild.”

Rivers in southern Missouri and adjacent northern Arkansas once supported up to 27,000 Ozark hellbenders. Today, fewer than 1,000 exist in the world – so few that the Ozark hellbender was added to the federal endangered species list in October 2011.

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