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Wine Benefits Hellbenders: Stone Hill’s Hellbender Red Is Governor’s Cup Wine Finalist

by Don Corrigan

Missouri Environmentalists and Nature Lovers are elated that Hermann’s Stone Hill Hellbender Red Is a Governor’s Cup Finalist in the annual state wine competition. The wine is among the top 11 Best of Class Honorees.

The final winner of the cup was another Stone Hill selection, the Dry Red 2022 Cross J Norton. However, the Semi-Dry Red Stone Hill 2022 Ozark Hellbender followed close on its heels in the competition held in July.

Other wines in the 11 Best of Class Honorees included a Riefenstahler from Adam Puchta Winery; a Traminette from Defiance Ridge Vineyards; a Semi-Dry Rosé from Montelle Winery; and, a Sparkling Brut from Les Bourgeois Vineyards.

Missourians have cheered the St. Louis Zoo’s work to save the endangered Ozark hellbender. The amphibians’ fans can make a toast to the zoo scientists’ efforts now with a glass of award-winning Hellbender from Stone Hill Winery.

“I fell in love with Ozark hellbenders a few years ago when I ran across them at the Saint Louis Zoo,” Stone Hill Winery’s Nathan Held told EE in 2023. “I’ve always loved animals and conservation, so making a new wine dedicated to hellbenders seemed to make sense.”

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Posted on August 11, 2024 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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Roadway Improvement Underway In Columbia Bottom Conservation Area

Photo by Dan Zarlenga, MDC.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is beginning construction of a new road on Columbia Bottom Conservation Area in Spanish Lake.  When completed, the road will create a more direct connection from the area entrance to the boat ramp on the Missouri River.  MDC estimates the construction project will be complete by spring 2025, depending on weather.  The contractor will begin staging equipment on the area by the end of July.

The construction project will significantly improve public access to the boat ramp when completed. The current route to the ramp is six miles; more than half of the travel is on gravel roads.  The new route will only be two-and-a-half miles long, with just one mile of gravel road.

“The new road will provide quicker access to the river for the public as well as emergency services. The current road will still be accessible for those wishing to access other parts of the area,” said Clinton Owenby, MDC Regional Resource District Manager.

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Posted on August 10, 2024 in Home, Outdoor/Nature

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Discover Missouri’s Nature Up Close with MDC at the State Fair

Discover Nature with MDC at the Missouri State Fair Aug. 8 – 18. Visit MDC’s Conservation Building and enjoy special programs such as the Raptors of Missouri presentation with Dickerson Park Zoo on Aug. 8. Photo: MDC

Discover nature with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia Aug. 8 – 18. Visit the MDC Conservation Building from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and the MDC Xplor Zone for kids from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to see live fish and other native animals such as snakes, turtles, and amphibians.

Learn about and see displays of native plants that help butterflies and other important pollinators. Ask MDC staff conservation-related questions, get educational materials, and have fun.

Join MDC on Friday, Aug. 9, for Missouri Department of Conservation Day — a full day of fun and excitement sponsored by MDC!

For more information, visit mostatefair.com.

Enjoy these free conservation-related programs at MDC’s outdoor pavilion: See schedule below.

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Posted on August 5, 2024 in Home, Local Events

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Missouri Prairie Foundation Annual Dinner to be held August 17, 2024

Missouri Prairie Foundation invites you to a celebration of prairies on Saturday, August 17, 2024 in Columbia, Missouri at the Stoney Creek Hotel. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Chris Barnhart, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Missouri State University. Doors open at 5 p.m. for the silent auction, drinks, and social hour, followed by dinner at 6 p.m., and subsequent presentation of awards and Dr. Barnhart’s presentation, “Conserving Prairie Royalty: The Regal Fritillary.”

Tickets are $75 each for Missouri Prairie Foundation and Grow Native! Professional members, $85 for the general public, and free for MPF Lifetime members. Tables for six will be available for purchase for $450 by MPF or Grow Native! members, and $400 for MPF Lifetime members. The deadline to register is August 8.

Registration for the 2024 Annual Dinner is now open.

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Posted on August 3, 2024 in Local Events

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EE’s Roving Correspondent! – Corrigan Pilloried On HMS Endeavour After Capt. Cook Mix-up On British Tour

Corrigan and Boston Globe reporter Brian MacQuarrie climbing to the ruins of Whitby Abbey on the North Sea Coast.

by EE Staffers

EE’s Corrigan served time in a pillory aboard the HMS Endeavor after he confused Captain Cook with Captain Hook of the legendary Peter Pan myth. Endeavor’s crew was miffed, noting Cook is real, Hook is a fake.

Corrigan was in the midst of a whirlwind global reporting tour in June in the United Kingdom with Mizzou J-School Alumni Brian MacQuarrie and Keith Schmidt. The three were on Mizzou’s London Reporting Program last century.

The HMS Endeavor is anchored near the English harbor at Whitby, a favorite haunt of the legendary Captain Cook. The ship’s crew pointed out that Hook was a mythical pirate with a hooked arm. Not so with Cook.

“Cook was a real seaman, a brilliant navigator. He was a favorite of Americans during his time sailing around the world,” said an indignant Endeavor crew member. “Americans need to know that their own Ben Franklin admired Cook.”

EE’s Don Corrigan being punished for his many transgressions aboard Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour in Whitby.

Corrigan was unable to research the authenticity of those remarks while placed in the pillory. The wooden device secures the head and hands of scoundrels and has been used for public humiliation for centuries.

“After finally being released from the pillory, I was able to confirm the information about Ben,” said Corrigan. “Ben Franklin did advise American sailors not to hassle Cook, even when battling the Brits in the 1770s.

“Franklin wrote a directive to colonial ship captains instructing them ‘to treat Cook and his crew as common friends to mankind,’ if ever encountered at sea. Do not attack him,” Corrigan noted.

Some reasons why Ben Franklin regarded Cook as a “friend of mankind” – who deserved special treatment:

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Posted on July 30, 2024 in Home

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“American Flatulence” – New Podcast Covers Environmental Threats From Methane

By EE Staffers

Environmental writer Don Corrigan recently appeared on the podcast, “Best Part Of The Book,” hosted by Mark Perzel. Veteran broadcaster Perzel keeps the interview lively and fun, but it occasionally veers into serious environmental territory.

For example, Perzel asks about increasing concerns over the cattle industry’s growth worldwide – and the resulting hikes in methane, a gas that contributes to climate change. The methane comes from cattle flatulence.

As weird as it sounds, “farts” are indeed a source of global warming. When cows fart, they release CH4 into the atmosphere. In America, about 20% of the methane emitted in the country comes directly from cows.

Although methane isn’t the number one cause of global warming, in the aggregate, it’s a serious contributor. It’s also a source of emissions that could be addressed easily with science and technology.

Here’s a link to the podcast; it’s a real  gem:  https://link.chtbl.com/BestPartOfTheBook

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Posted on July 26, 2024 in Home, Opinion

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“In Search of Manhood” – Toxic Masculinity Can Translate Into A Toxic Environment

by Don Corrigan

Study environmental disasters in America and inevitably you will find toxic men behind the scenes. They’re the “deciders” who mindlessly release dangerous materials into the air, into our rivers and lakes, into caverns, caves and landfills.

Examine the various histories of lead contamination, dioxin dispersal, plastics pollution, radioactive waste dumping, and chemical releases and inevitably you will find the male CEOs in the top offices and the men in the board room.

The Mr. Burns character in the animated FOX-TV series, The Simpsons, is a recurring character and not just a cartoon fantasy. He exists. Mr. Burns is the devious, greedy, billionaire owner of a pollution-generating nuclear energy operation.

He is assisted at all times by loyal, sycophantic advisers. Burns is between 80 and 120 years old. He is a stereotype of corporate America with his desire to increase his own wealth and power – and displays an inability to feel sympathy for underlings or victims of his perfidy.

The threat from toxic contamination of our environment will never, ever completely go away until we can reduce the toxicity of men in power – and actually redefine what real men should be.

McFarland Publishing will publish, In Search Of Manhood: American Men’s Movements Past and Present, in August. The book looks at popular culture characters that can only be described as “toxic.”

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Posted on July 21, 2024 in Home, Opinion

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MDC Purchasing Select Species of Tree Seed From Landowners

Photo: MDC

The Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) George O. White Tree Nursery in Licking is currently purchasing seed from the public for a variety of tree and shrub species within southeast Missouri.

“The nursery conducts seed collections annually, and collected seeds are grown into bare root seedlings,” said MDC Community Forester Jennifer Behnken. “The nursery will stop accepting seed once the quota has been reached for that tree or shrub, so please contact us beforehand if you have questions.”

In southeast Missouri, collected seeds can be brought to MDC’s Southeast Regional Office (Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) and the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center (Tuesday – Saturday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)

Seeds currently being accepted are below (prices are by the pound of fruit):

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Posted on July 20, 2024 in Home, Local Events

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Save Family Farms: Stronger Economies and Healthier Environments

by Jack Farish

The Missouri Rural Crisis Center (MRCC) is about fighting for rural people, according to Tim Gibbons. Motivated to fight injustice, Gibbons began working with MRCC in 2005, and now serves as director of communications.

“Our work is focused on farm and food justice,” said Gibbons. “We came out of the 1980s farm crisis as a collection of farmers who were already organizing in Missouri.”

The farm crisis Gibbons mentioned began in the late 1970s with an unprecedented economic and technological boom.

“Farmers were buying land and new technology,” Gibbons said. “But then we entered a rural recession. Farmers had loans they couldn’t pay for and the USDA, the dominant lender at the time, was foreclosing on farms.”

The Rise of Corporate Agriculture

By the 1980s, a new economic reality, in combination with new legal policy and industrialization of agriculture, began to discourage the family-farm model.

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Posted on July 14, 2024 in Environment, Home, Outdoor/Nature

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The Audubon Center: Not Just For The Birds!

Photo by Rob Schultz. Provided by Ken Buchholz.

By Jess Holmes

Nestled away in an eastern tendril of St. Charles County is avian education center that isn’t just for the birds. The Audubon Center at the Riverlands’ floor-to-ceiling windows display the tall, grassy banks of the Mississippi—a large variety of birds fluttering and gliding throughout the expansive green space.

Visitors can meander the 8.5 miles of hiking trails and learn about the importance of a premier migratory bird sanctuary. Throughout the seasons, more than 300 bird species can be found where this crucial piece of land meets river. The center even provides guests with seasonal checklists, so they know which flying friends to look for.

Natural beauty aside, The Audubon Center, directed by Ken Buchholz for the last eight years, is doing wonders for surrounding communities, Florissant and Ferguson, in particular.

The Center’s mission is “to connect people to the beauty and significance of the Mississippi River and the Great Rivers confluence, to inspire conservation of the river’s rich diversity in birds, wildlife, and other natural resources, and to support healthy, vibrant communities.” They’re doing just that.

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Posted on June 26, 2024 in Environment, Home, Outdoor/Nature