Some things are made to last, and then there is Brian Clapp’s fishing record.
Clapp, of Butler, captured the Missouri state record for yellow perch March 18 when he caught a 1-pound, 7-ounce fish measuring 13 inches. His fame was short-lived. Read the rest of this entry »

Missouri’s 21-day regular spring turkey season closed with 41,830 checked. This was 3.7 percent fewer than 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

From Elisa Kunz at Ozark National Scenic Riverways — (JS note: they seem to have fared better than the Mark Twain or state parks. One advantage to being in a valley in a windstorm.)

Eminence, Missouri- Park staff at Ozark National Scenic Riverways have cleared hundreds of trees from park roads and opened pathways for people to travel in the Shannon, Dent, and Texas counties. Read the rest of this entry »

This is neither complete nor comprehensive, but a combination of tornadoes, straight line winds and heavy rains over the Missouri Ozarks from May 7 to May 9 has left portions of the area battered and trying to dry out in the face of new storms expected for this week.
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On April 28, Forest Supervisor David Wittekiend signed a Decision Notice, selecting Alternative 2 to be used in the Non-Native Invasive Plant Control Project to be implemented on all national forest lands in the state. Read the rest of this entry »

Harry Truman was known as “give ‘em hell Harry”. On the 125th anniversary of his birth, spring storms killed three people, threw down trees, tore up roofs, and damaged vehicles across southern Missouri.

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The United States Geological Survey has funded nearly $250,000 in grants to Midwestern universities and agencies for further investigation of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, according to a news release May 1. Read the rest of this entry »

Jo Schaper

On a recent whirlwind 36-hour trip to Memphis, it rained pretty solid the entire time.

Because of the nature of the trip, we didn’t leave the 4-lane. I-55 took us along the eastern Missouri border and into the flatlands of the Little Delta. Read the rest of this entry »

If you get the idea that I like to wander around Missouri looking at the scenery, you might be right. I had time last month to check out Wakonda State Park, near LaGrange, in northeast Missouri. I had often wondered what reason for a state park at this not-so-scenic location, next to a landfill in the Mississippi River bottoms. Read the rest of this entry »

Mingo National Wildlife Refuge will get about $2.8 million for a new visitors’ center. The Neosho Fish Hatchery is on target for $1 million. Also set to receive funds are both Squaw and Great Rivers National Wildlife Refuges.

(JS Comment: Whatever you think of the Recovery Act, it’s good to see that some of the recovery money is going to fish, forests, wildlife, parks and federal cleanup projects in more rural areas, and not all of it is staying in the big city.)