By Bob Brennecke Osage orange, also called hedge apple, bow-wood, French Bois d’Arc, naranjo chino, or horse apple, and monkey brain are a few of its names. This fruit, when cut open, has many small seeds surrounded by a sticky, milky sap-like liquid that can produce dermatitis in humans. The Osage orange is often trained as a hedge row along a…
Black-Eyed Susan Now that summer is officially here, splashes of yellow naturally dot the highways and byways throughout Missouri. It’s a sight I welcome more and more with each passing year. Those splashes of yellow I am referring to are Rudbeckia Hirta, better known as Black-Eyed Susan. This floral delight is a common Missouri native…
COLUMBIA — Thanks to a generous donation, more than 160 acres along the Missouri River in Boone County will become a place for the public to connect to the state’s unique landscapes, as well as a site for research and conservation, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) announced on April 26. The property, which is about 20 minutes…
By Bob Brennecke Osage orange, also called hedge apple, bow-wood, French Bois d’Arc, naranjo chino, or horse apple, and monkey brain are a few of its names. This fruit, when cut open, has many small seeds surrounded by a sticky, milky sap-like liquid that can produce dermatitis in humans. The Osage orange is often trained as a hedge row along a…
Missouri is home to 15 million acres of valuable forest. From 1880-1920 Missouri was one of the leading lumber-producing states in the nation. Huge sawmills processed shortleaf pine into lumber, shingles, and railroad ties. When the lumber boom faded away in 1920 a focus on regenerating the forests began. The Civilian Conservation Corps was developed in 1933…
By Brent Stock If you’ve spent any amount of time on the water or recreating on our public lands over the last two years, you’ve surely noticed an uptick in the number of folks out enjoying our beloved outdoor playgrounds. The global pandemic led to empty shelves at our local tackle shops, a one-year backlog…
100,000 pounds of trash. That’s the amount that James River Basin Partnership’s executive director, Brent Stock, estimates that river cleanups have removed from the James and its tributaries in the last 25 years. That’s an impressive number. And it speaks to the power of folks coming together in a common cause. Paddling With a Purpose,…
By Dennis Bresnahan Whenever I see a sign for a park or conservation area when I am driving around in a part of Missouri that I haven’t been in recently, or ever, I consider stopping to check it out. I usually get out my map, Missouri Atlas, or Missouri Conservation Guide and look up how…
