Volume 19, No. 3 November, 2001 Bonnie Stepenoff, Editor NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM OPENS

The new Missouri Civil Rights Museum opened its illustration of what’s best about our society. We want first major exhibit at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural to be part of it and will continue to be part of it.” John Heritage Center in Kansas City on October 26. More Cunning, director of the state park interpretation than a hundred people enjoyed a reception co- program, explained that DSP is holding public meetings sponsored by MPA that also marked the opening of to gather input on topics and themes to be featured in MPA’s annual meeting. MPA also co-sponsored the future exhibits. The museum will focus on the civil exhibit, “Marching Toward Justice: The History of the rights movement in Kansas City and in the state as a 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” Cheryl whole. “It is important to remember,” Cunning said in Simmons, Urban Affairs Coordinator in Kansas City an interview, “that it is an on-going movement. The for the DNR civil rights story is still being written.” Division of State Parks, worked Curator of the new museum is Tilmon tirelessly to bring Stewart, former curator of the Black the exhibit to the Archives of Mid-America, who joined the Watkins Center in staff October 9. Other state park staff time for the MPA members at the facility include Michael meeting. Pic "A" of ribbon cutting. Parks, tourist assistant; Yvette Bell, See jpg file to right. seasonal tour guide; and Rachel Pope, The highly student intern. The “Marching Toward successful event Freedom” exhibit will be open through helped launch a January 6, 2002, from 10am – 6pm promising new Tuesday through Saturday. There is no partnership charge. Plan to stop at the Bruce Watkins between state Center, 3700 Blue Parkway. parks and Kansas City Parks and Recreation, which had operated the center since its Cheryl Simmons Will Be Missed completion in 1989. DNR/DSP is responsible for exhibits and programming at the State Civil Rights Scarcely a week after engineering the triumphant Museum, which functions as an extension of the opening of “Marching Toward Justice” and Missouri State Museum in the State Capitol. KC participating in other aspects of MPA’s annual Parks and Rec continues to operate other programs of meeting in Kansas City, Cheryl the Bruce Watkins Cultural Heritage Center. Cheryl Simmons collapsed in church and Simmons worked out the details of the new died two days later on Tuesday, partnership and arranged focus group meetings with November 6. She was only 42. community leaders to determine the goals and mission “She was a wonderful person of the new museum. who worked hard on our behalf to During the opening ceremonies several speakers establish a divisional presence in paid tribute to Simmons as the driving force behind the the Kansas City metro area and exhibit, which commemorates U.S. Supreme Court to seek to expand our programs Justice Thurgood Marshall and those who fought for to inner city neighborhoods,” said civil rights. State Senator Mary Bland told the park director Doug Eiken. “This is a terrific loss and audience, “Marshall’s fight goes on through you, she will be missed by all of us who knew and through the people.” Stephen Mahfood, DNR worked with her.” Cheryl had been of particular director, spoke about plans for permanent exhibits in assistance to MPA in facilitating MPA’s Urban the Missouri Civil Rights Museum. In Mahfood’s Populations Outreach Project, which was words, DNR wants to make this “the best museum, an headquartered at the Bruce Watkins Center. Page 2 The Missouri Parks Association JOINT EFFORT ESTABLISHES PIONEER BACK COUNTRY By Greg Iffrig With picture perfect weather, Already part of this large area amid the changing colors of fall, is a thirteen -mile segment of the state officials, conservationists, Ozark Trail following the friends and family of the late permanent waters of Blair Creek. Roger Pryor, and many persons Pic "C" -- slide of group in Currently under construction is a active in outdoor recreation joined front of trailhead sign new twelve-mile long Brushy staff of Pioneer Forest on Sunday Creek Trail, a loop that will lead October 14 to dedicate the new hikers along an abandoned Roger Pryor Pioneer Backcountry. narrow-gauge rail line through the This 61,000-acre area of Pioneer l to r: Pioneer Forest Manager Clint rugged upper end of the Brushy Forest, the state’s largest privately Trammel, Randy Skeeter, Linda Pryor, Leo Drey, John Karel, Steve Mahfood Creek Valley to the Current River owned forest, is a landscape of and return through scenic landscapes. Found here are three Satterfield Hollow. Within the Ozark streams running south upper end of this hollow is a small The Roger Pryor Pioneer through the area, 15 miles of area where centuries-old white oak Backcountry is named after one of frontage on the Current River, and trees dominate the canopy. Other miles of extensive forested the state’s legendary long-distance trails are planned. hillsides. The tract is directly east conservationists who was a of Round Spring and Highway 19. founder of the Missouri Parks One of the most interesting Association and for many years features of this backcountry is that Forest owner Leo Drey and his worked for the Missouri Coalition it is a managed woodland, family were on hand to celebrate for the Environment. The size of harvested using conservative, the realization of a decades-old this area makes it the largest single-tree selection techniques. dream, as DNR Director Steve contiguous block in Missouri Because every acre is continuously Mahfood announced, “The devoted to outdoor recreation. The forested, even recently harvested Division of State Parks will lease backcountry will attract all those sites are attractive for recreation. the area’s trails and trailheads in interested in primitive outdoor This large area will serve as an order to offer Missourians recreational pursuits, including day- educational tool to clearly show outstanding new opportunities to hiking, overnight backpacking, and that well managed and sustainably recreate in and learn from this long-distance trips through scenic harvested forests continuously and rugged Ozark woodlands. beautiful region of the Ozarks.” (See "Pioneer" on Page 7)

AMEREN DROPS CHURCH MOUNTAIN HYDRO PROJECT Only days before the deadline for the Environment, had joined its withdrawal. CEO Charles for comments to the Federal the coalition to safeguard the area. Mueller stated “the views Energy Regulatory Commission on expressed to us have caused us to Ameren Development Company’s Scores of MPA members and conclude that it is impossible to go application for a preliminary permit other conservationists had written forward with this project in an for the Church Mountain Pumped letters to FERC, with copies to environmentally sensitive yet cost- Storage Project, Ameren on Governor Holden and the effective fashion.” August 29 announced its intent to chairman of Ameren, in response cease all efforts to build the to an article on the issue in the MPA and the Missouri facility. MPA President Susan August Heritage. The letters, Coalition for the Environment had Flader and Audubon Missouri virtually all in opposition to the been preparing to file a joint Executive Director Roger Still, project, offered eloquent testimony motion to intervene before FERC speaking on behalf of all affiliates to Missourians’ concern about the in opposition to the project but of the Taum Sauk Coalition, lauded area and, for many, their decided not to file, instead Ameren’s decision as “an experiences hiking the Taum Sauk applauding Ameren for its exemplary corporate response to Trail, which would have been decision. Subsequently, MPA and Missourians’ concern about natural flooded by the lower reservoir. others have met with Ameren heritage and biodiversity values at And Ameren listened. Only hours officials to discuss the future of stake in the Taum Sauk area.” after Attorney General Jay Nixon the area and were heartened by Groups along the entire spectrum filed a motion on behalf of the Ameren’s intent to continue its of the conservation community in Department of Natural Resources lease with DNR for park trail Missouri, from the Conservation asking FERC to deny the permit, a development on the property as it Federation and Scenic Missouri to motion supported also by Governor continues to explore a range of the Sierra Club and the Coalition Bob Holden, Ameren announced options. November 2001 Heritage Page 3 THE HILLS OF ROARING RIVER: HOW SHALL WE LOVE THEM? by John Karel

One of the crown jewels of Missouri’s park system offered with the hope that all resources involved can is Roaring River in Barry County. Visitors to this be enhanced. park, or readers of Exploring Missouri’s Legacy, are already aware that Roaring River is dramatically One of the areas of expertise that guides the park scenic, set in the rugged, mountainous hills of the division in the stewardship of the natural resources at western White River Basin. It is centered on a natural Roaring River, and at other parks as well, is a feature of striking beauty, Roaring River spring, which relatively new field known as restoration ecology. generates the cold clear water that draws visitors from This is a field that has expanded around the country in far and wide to fish for the rainbow trout that have the last decade or so, but no state park system has been stocked in the spring branch for almost one shown more skill or determination in applying its tenets hundred years. Since Native American days, the than Missouri’s. valley along this branch, set deeply amid these glorious Restoration ecology endeavors to maximize hills, has been a haven for people to gather, recreate, biodiversity by restoring natural landscapes with and refresh their spirits. species and biotic communities that were present prior The human history of this 3,403-acre state park to Euro-American settlement but that have been includes rich local folklore, an eccentric donor, and a affected by recent human activities. A variety of wealth of log and stone buildings in the appealing rustic clues are used to determine the nature of such style of the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps. The presettlement landscapes; and when the still-evolving natural history of Roaring River is likewise rich and diverse. An unusually large number of native plant and animal species make their homes at Roaring River, including many that are rare, threatened, or endangered— in the nation, the state, or the park system. The park is Pic "D" is a slide of a view also home to one of the of river valley and hills. original units of the Missouri Wild Area system: Roaring River Hills Wild Area. This 2045-acre portion of the park is one of a series of eleven such areas in Missouri state parks set aside by formal designation to preserve forever their Roaring River hills and valley through cedars. wilderness-like qualities as a resource of permanent value and benefit. restoration techniques are fully applied, the results can be dramatic. Typically, such restoration projects Recently, several of the key values embodied in the employ the use of prescribed fire, or even mechanical hills of Roaring River have seemed to come into removals of trees or brush that have colonized areas conflict, causing considerable discussion among park that were once open or grassy before human efforts to division staff, the State Parks Advisory Board, the restrict wildfire. Examples of restored landscapes in Missouri Parks Association and other citizen groups, Missouri parks include unglaciated upland prairie at all of whom support the natural and cultural heritage , wet bottomland prairie at Pershing, values of our state parks. The issue is complex, western Ozark glades and oak savanna at Ha Ha having to do with the desirability of maximizing Tonka, and igneous glades and savannas at Taum biodiversity, on the one hand, and preserving the Sauk Mountain. Related efforts apply to natural area wilderness character of the designated wild area, on protection and recovery programs for specific rare or the other. The background review that follows is endangered species or habitats. The Missouri Parks Page 4 The Missouri Parks Association

Association supports these programs and is proud of renew that elemental American encounter with our the prominence our park staff has achieved in this native wilderness. The key satisfaction in that field. experience is the sense of contact with untamed wildness – landscapes that are not overtly managed by At the same time, the tri-partite mission of humans but rather are affected primarily by the raw Missouri’s park system emphasizes a careful balance forces of nature. This experience has become highly between natural resources, cultural resources, and cherished by many Missourians and is considered a outdoor recreation. Most of the time these priority form of recreation, though many would also consider it missions reinforce and complement one another, but on to be at least as much a cultural or even a spiritual occasion initiatives from one mission conflict with experience. Many find it of great comfort that our values from another. Then we must use prudence as society has mustered the reverence and self-discipline we sort out the most critical resources and the most to leave some land, as much as possible, alone. Even important long-term benefits for the people of from a scientific perspective, it can be argued that we Missouri. As an example, park planners may find that have yet much to learn from such land, that we are a site that offers a choice location for a modern wisest not to assume that we have arrived at all the campground turns out to have also been used by native answers about natural communities and biodiversity. Americans and is thus now of archaeological Wilderness can serve as an instructive comparison to importance, or perhaps the site is home to a rare lands we manage more actively. species of plant or animal. We are fortunate that when such issues arise our park staff is trained to The Wild Area program in Missouri dates back to evaluate them with skill and sensitivity. But some the 1970s, when the nation as a whole was deliberating situations are easier to resolve than others. Such a about how to apply the benefits of the Wilderness Act tough situation confronts us now in the hills of Roaring to qualified lands in the eastern states. Congress River, and the values at stake are of direct concern to recognized the need, and finally acted. Each eastern all of us. state, including Missouri, developed its own proposals and struggled to build the needed political support. In Many would argue that one of the original and the end, a very broad coalition of civic and powerful contributions to world civilization coming conservation groups worked with the Missouri from the American experience has been the concept congressional delegation in the 1970s and early 1980s of wilderness preservation. When the settlers first for the designation of a total of eight Missouri areas. encountered North America, wilderness was a In the course of this lengthy campaign, it became condition against which most of them struggled, to apparent that the universe of wildland resources in our establish homes, livelihoods, and communities. As the state was severely limited, and that of this limited settlement of our nation proceeded, there began to resource, not all was on federal land. Critical portions grow the notion that the rapidly dwindling pockets of of Missouri’s remaining wildlands, including some of untrammeled wilderness might have value to the the most beautiful and representative, were on state American spirit—that such wildland was after all the parklands. Missouri conservationists worked with the raw material out of which we had built our nation. Department of Natural Resources to develop a policy The impulse to set such areas aside derives from whereby such wild areas could be recognized and our conservation tradition and love of expansive protected in an enduring way, and also made scenery, but also, perhaps even more deeply, from our accessible for use and enjoyment by the people of American cultural experience of encountering the Missouri in such fashion that their wilderness qualities original untamed landscape—an encounter that was in would remain unimpaired for future generations. A part, to be sure, a confrontation, but was also a program was developed based as closely as possible profound and satisfying engagement. Every region on the federal system. experienced a version of this encounter, and the This policy was adopted by DNR in 1978, after history of every state, including Missouri, has been which state parklands were surveyed to see what shaped by it. As we inexorably triumphed over the areas might be suitable for inclusion in the new Wild wilderness, a rough national consensus eventually Area System. As a result, over the next several years emerged that the remnant vestiges of wild land did a total of ten areas were designated, including Roaring have value, and in 1964 Congress embodied this River Hills. In part owing to the restrictive criteria, the consensus in the Wilderness Act, which established system has been conservative, with few enlargements the National Wilderness Preservation System. This except in 1995 when the newly acquired Goggins system included only federal lands, and at first was Mountain was added as the eleventh area, bringing the applied almost exclusively in the mountain West. total acreage of the system to nearly 23,000 acres. A significant percentage of Americans had This system, now approaching its 25th anniversary, come to value highly the opportunity occasionally to November 2001 Heritage Page 5

represents a thoughtful and serious commitment on the One such area, in fact the area where park part of the State of Missouri to its citizens. biologists feel that cedar colonization has been most extensive, is Roaring River Hills. Although generally In order to conserve the fragile resource of forested, Roaring River is at the western edge of a wilderness on these specially designated lands, DNR natural region of the Southwestern Ozarks known as has adopted special guidelines for their management, modeled on those for federal wilderness areas. Our state areas are generally smaller than federal wilderness, and as a result some criteria and management techniques are necessarily modified, but the principles and the goals are the same: to maintain for the visitor the sense of encounter with a landscape that has been shaped by the forces of nature—in the words of the Wilderness Act, “untrammeled by man”—and to do so in a spacious setting with ample opportunities for solitude and primitive types of recreation. This system has been popular, but it has also remained modest in scope, recognizing that Wild Area policies are restrictive of other uses and of Roaring River State Park showing wild area in light gray and natural area in dark management prerogatives. They place gray highlighting. a special burden on managers to preserve the wilderness atmosphere, and that is the White River Hills. One of the most distinctive another reason that there have been few additions to characteristics of this region is the broad extent of the system since its founding. open glades on the limestone and dolomite slopes. Fire treatments have been applied to glade areas at Roaring One of the management tools that has been River and in the wild area for several years, but the considered to be compatible with the Wild Area policy fires alone have not had the result of clearing away the is prescribed fire. Although controlled fire can be, and cedars. It is felt that this is due in part to the fact that is considered by some, a human intrusion, fire is the cedars are so dense and robust they tend to resist presumed to have been a factor in native ecosystems fire. Some park staff have proposed that in order to in Missouri for thousands of years, and several Ozark restore the open glades inside the Roaring River Hills landscapes, including glades and savannas, are Wild Area, treatments should be applied that would dependent upon periodic fire to retain their require a waiver of wild area policies: the physical characteristic appearance and species composition. removal of the cedar trees, possibly by commercial Since fire has been excluded from most Missouri logging operations. This has already been tried on landscapes for many years, such fire-related glade areas at the park outside the wild area. ecosystems have often seen changes in their vegetation, and especially in the Ozarks an increase in The kind of operation that would result from such a eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana). A focus of waiver would certainly challenge the values that the restoration ecology in state parks generally has been to wild area was established to protect. It would in fact control red cedar and re-open old glades. be considered by most people to be highly irregular on state parklands in general. For many visitors, there is Some of these cedar-grown glades are located in a great aesthetic and philosophical gap between, on the designated wild areas, and DNR policy has permitted one hand, the effects of a fire which, even if the use of fire in these areas to maintain or restore the prescribed, mimics the natural process that shaped the glades. This practice has not been particularly glade community, and on the other the outright physical controversial, though there are still debates among removal of the native cedar trees. During the professionals about the exact role of fire in operation there would be vehicles and machinery presettlement Missouri, and even about the degree of inside the area, accompanied by the high decibel whine naturalness of that fire, since much of it seems to have of chainsaws; following the event there would be originated with Native Americans. visible for many years the telltale stumps of the cut cedars and other scars of the harvesting operation. Page 6 The Missouri Parks Association

Presumably, we would see on the newly cutover areas 2). There are still open glades in the Roaring River a resurgence of glade vegetation and glade-associated Hills Wild Area; use prescribed fire in a more wildlife, including coneflower, collared lizards, and aggressive way to retain and gradually expand these road-runners; and possibly also we might see on those glade areas. If some stands of red cedar manage to same areas a corresponding decrease in cedar- grow to maturity, it seems reasonable to assume that associated wildlife, such as the prairie warbler. they will prove of aesthetic and scientific interest in their own right. All of this could be quite controversial. For those who value wilderness, the most troubling effects would 3). Most importantly, we urge that this issue be be on the quality of the Roaring River Hills Wild Area considered from a bioregional perspective. The park is as a sanctuary dedicated to the human need for areas bounded on the east and south by Mark Twain “untrammeled by man.” Even if our goal in the cedar National Forest lands, and the bulk of the public land in removal operation is to recreate landscape scenery the White River Hills ecoregion is Forest Service- and biotic communities that we are certain existed owned. We propose that a multi-agency task force be before white setters came to southwest Missouri, we formed that will work with the Forest Service to would obviously have laid a heavy hand on the land to manage its glade lands for biodiversity and apply a full bring this about. This would strain, if not tear, the range of restoration techniques. This approach could fragile sense of wilderness we seek to protect in this be modeled on the cooperative program in the eastern area, and which the state has pledged to provide. Ozarks known as “Pine Knot,” which is intended to restore old growth shortleaf pine savannas on a sizable More troubling still is the precedent that could be scale. This would capitalize on the expertise that has set. Whenever in the future the conservative been developed by park staff, and would expand guidelines for wild area management prove to be DNR’s role in interagency partnerships. It would also irksome or inconvenient for some competing do more to ensure a continuing resource of glade- purpose—perhaps less noble than landscape associated biodiversity in southwest Missouri than restoration, such as a powerline right-of- way, road or anything we might do at Roaring River alone. reservoir, or any of the myriad landscape-altering endeavors to which we humans are so prone—we will This proposed general approach has been by this precedent have weakened our ability to defend submitted to the park division and to the State Parks the whole system, and thus our capacity to provide a Advisory Board. It is presumably under consideration, secure resource of wilderness for future generations. MPA has supported the wild area program from our inception, and we have also applauded and encouraged the restoration ecology program in the state parks. We support both programs and know that in the long run they are mutually reinforcing; after all, biological diversity ultimately came forth from wilderness. We would like to assist the park division in the resolution of this dilemma. In doing so, we urge that all parties acknowledge the integrity of the motivations for the cedar removal project at Roaring River, and also that all parties acknowledge the values Roaring River State Park (black) and Mark Twain National of the wild area resource that are placed at potential Forest land (gray) in the White River Hills Ecoregion. risk by the proposed project.

MPA president Susan Flader and this writer have and will serve, we hope, as a starting point for further developed an alternative proposal for consideration by dialogue. the park division. It is intended to respond to concerns about the glade ecosystems of southwest Missouri and In the meantime, we encourage all readers to give also to retain intact the policies that govern and define this issue thoughtful reflection. MPA pledges to work the Wild Area System. It is offered as an outline, an toward a solution that respects both biodiversity and approach to a solution: wilderness as precious resources, a solution that will protect and enhance all native species and ecosystems 1) On the 1300 acres of Roaring River State Park and will also protect the fragile resource of wildness outside the wild area, continue to use aggressive that still haunts the remote hills of Roaring River. techniques, including cedar removal, to reclaim known glade habitats. November 2001 Heritage Page 7 PARTNERSHIPS THEME OF ANNUAL MEETING Partnerships, synergy, and urban initiatives were architect George E. Kessler; lively discussion of major themes of the MPA annual meeting in Kansas construction underway underway at the Liberty City October 26-28. The opening reception at the Memorial; and a tour of the Thomas Hart Benton Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center celebrated Home State Historic Site. the cooperative effort of the city and the state to explore and interpret African-American history. In his address at the annual banquet Saturday evening, Roger Still, Executive Director of Audubon In his annual “State of the Parks” address Saturday Missouri, challenged MPA members to think long-term morning, DSP Director Doug Eiken proposed better and large-scale in facing extraordinary threats to our and stronger partnerships between public agencies, natural heritage. He called for a broad-based “culture private support groups, and the general public as a way of conservation,” in which many organizations work of enhancing existing operations and launching new together as they did on the recent Church Mountain initiatives in an era of decreasing revenues and issue. As examples of large-scale thinking, he cited heightened expenditures for security since September the Nature Conservancy’s program to protect one 11. As a step in this direction, a Missouri State Parks hundred thousand acres in the Ozarks and encouraged Foundation is being organized as a viable and active Missourians to protect their grassland habitat by joining partner working with MPA, local friends groups, and with other states in the Prairie Passage program, others. Eiken praised MPA for supporting outreach creating a corridor from Minnesota to Texas that initiatives in Kansas City’s urban core and indicated restores and interprets our grassland heritage. that DNR’s newly strengthened Outreach Center, to which the Historic Preservation Program has been At the annual membership meeting on Sunday, transferred, will be much more active, interfacing with MPA elected five new members to the board of urban populations through the St. Louis Urban directors: Bonnie Stepenoff, director of the historic Outreach Center, the Kansas City Discovery Center, preservation program at Southeast Missouri State and Springfield’s National Wildlife Museum. University, Cape Girardeau, joins the board as editor of Heritage; David Bedan of Columbia, retired from At a panel discussion on the role of parks in DNR with experience in four different divisions, has metropolitan Kansas City, Cheryl Simmons and Shalon been active in many conservation organizations and is Curls, MPA’s Urban Populations Outreach webmaster for MPA; Carol Grove of Columbia is an Coordinator, reported on the summer 2001 UPOP architectural historian active with the Missouri program, in which more than 500 inner city youth Alliance for Historic Preservation and the MoDOT participated. Most of the participants had never scenic highways commission; Yvonne Homeyer, an previously visited a state park, Curls reported, adding attorney, is president of the St. Louis chapter of the that for some the experience could be life changing. North American Butterfly Association and active on Corwynn Romberger of the Center for Management many conservation issues; and Terry Whaley of Assistance offered advice on fund-raising for UPOP Springfield is executive director of Ozark Greenways and other programs, stressing the need to develop and former park director of Fenton. Harriet Beard of collaborative strategies and break down the barriers Kirksville was reelected to a second three-year term. between the public sector, private corporations, and non-profit organizations. Sandra Aust of the Kansas All current officers were reelected to another one- City Parks and Recreation Commission spoke about year term: Susan Flader, President; Jim Goodknight, recent drastic budget cuts and identified public-private Vice President; Barbara Lucks, Secretary; and partnerships as the “only salvation” for the urban park Eleanor Hoefle, Treasurer. A special resolution of system, while Dale Bergerhofer of the Kansas City thanks was extended to retiring directors Robert Discovery Center discussed the ways in which the Jameson, Neil Lombardi, Jr., Glee Heiligtag Naes, Missouri Department of Conservation and DNR were Osmund Overby, Mary Phillips, Mary Ellen Rowe, and working together to provide educational and outreach Helen Murray White. programs in the city. State Senator Ronnie DePasco called for a state park in the urban core of Kansas City, specifically nominating Kessler Park and Cliff Drive, a suggestion that occasioned considerable ("Pioneer" from Page 2) discussion about the relative needs and allocation of resources as between urban and rural parks. maintain high values for wood products, protect biological diversity, and permanently support a variety A Saturday afternoon driving tour led by Booker of recreation opportunities such as hunting, fishing, Rucker highlighted urban parks and historic properties, hiking, camping, and swimming. The goal of the in many of which DNR/DSP has played or has been Pioneer Forest management method has been to move asked to play a role. The tour included a stop at the every acre of the forest into a condition where the McConahay Building,which once housed the offices of characteristic Ozark species of oak, hickory, and pine Walt Disney’s 1920 enterprise, Laugh-O-Gram Films; are larger and older and where such trees are much a drive along scenic Cliff Drive, designed by landscape more prominent in the forest canopy. Page 8 The Missouri Parks Association MPA HONORS EMPLOYEES OF THE YEAR OSAGE BEACH VIOLATES AIRPORT LEASE Four employees of the handled a crisis when a sewer line Division of State Parks received broke after a flood. DNR officials recently learned employee of the year awards at that the City of Osage Beach, the MPA annual banquet at the Jenny (Graham) Frazier, which since March 1999 has Rockhill Tennis Club in Kansas real estate/contracts manager in leased and operated the Lee C. City on Saturday October 29. the Planning and Development Fine Airport at Lake of the MPA President Susan Flader Program, was named central Ozarks State Park, undertook presented each with a plaque, an destructive land clearance and engraved clock, and a check in earth moving at the end of the recognition of outstanding north runway without receiving service to the park system. approval from DNR. City administrators had apparently Field employee of the year certified to MODOT and the was Jean King, clerk typist at Federal Aviation Administration Sam A. Baker State Park since that they had obtained the 1987, who developed work required permits. DNR has sheets and computer programs issued a Notice of Violation and that were used as models by will meet with Osage Beach other units, and who has always l to r: State Parks Director Doug Eiken, Racine Myers, Jean King, Jenny (Graham) Frazier, officials in the near future to willingly extended herself to help Kurt Senn, MPA President Susan Flader determine a course of action. colleagues and the public. The city will likely be required to office employee of the year. The pay damages and undertake Racine Myers received the award recognized her patience and mitigation, and its federal funding award for maintenance and diplomacy in facilitating several is apparently at risk. construction employee of the year land acquisitions, including the for his unusual service maintaining purchase of the state park at the MPA is particularly concerned the bison and elk herds at Prairie confluence of the Missouri and about this violation, as it has long State Park. His dedication and Mississippi rivers. favored discontinuing airport quick action enabled him to operations, which it believes are recapture the elk that had escaped In a surprise presentation, incompatible with the park mission from the park shortly after their Roger Still of Audubon Missouri (See Heritage, July 1999). MPA 1993 reintroduction. and John Karel of MPA jointly through its attorney had made a presented a special “Thinking Like formal request to the city to be Facility manager of the year a Mountain” award to MPA notified in advance of any meetings was Kurt Senn, now site President Susan Flader in or opportunities for public input into administrator at Confederate recognition of her extraordinary the decision-making process on all Memorial, who was recognized leadership in the successful matters related to airport for his work as assistant site campaign to save Church construction, and no notice had administrator at Mastodon State Mountain from a proposed hydro been received. MPA is considering Historic Site, where he deftly development by Ameren. options for further action.

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