One of the goals of the Conservation Project partnership between Missouri State University and the Missouri Department of Conservation is outreach. Over the past couple of years, due to COVID-19, outreach has been very hard to accomplish.
This year is starting out differently. On September 16th, 2021, Clint Dalbom, Conservation Project Coordinator with Missouri State University, presented seven presentations at the University of Missouri – Southwest Research Center located in Mt. Vernon, Mo. There were 300 high school students and instructors who were in attendance during these presentations.
The overall goal of this event was to discuss the management applied to the ground over the past seven years at MSU’s Journagan Ranch and how this has affected the bobwhite quail population.
On the same day, one school, who was unable to attend the Career Day at the Southwest Research Center, attended a field day tour of the habitat practices on Journagan Ranch. Marty Lueck, Ranch Manager for Journagan Ranch, took approximately 32 students from Ava High School on a tour that highlighted management practices. This included rotational grazing that incorporates native warm season grasses that are on Journagan Ranch.
Lueck jokely said to students, “…had you gone to the Southwest Research Center, you would have heard this talk today. By coming here, you were able to see it firsthand”.
When speaking to Dalbom about the event, he said “Exposing over 300 individuals to what occurs at Missouri State University is great for the environment and good for the college. Spreading the conservation message to the future generations of landowners and potential land managers about how to apply conservation to our environment in a way that can possibly bring an important wildlife species back to the Missouri landscape is vital for the industry. It is good for everyone!”