Written By:  Joanie Straub

Learn about eagles, owls and falcons at Runge on April 18.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Discover nature and learn more about eagles, owls and falcons at Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) Runge Nature Center’s Wings over Water watershed education program from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on April 18.

Staff from the World Bird Sanctuary will tell the story of these amazing birds and fly them over the audience, dramatically illustrating the importance of protecting the birds, their habitat and Missouri’s water resources. The program is free and open to the public.

Key Messages: 

We help people discover nature.

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Written By:  Joe Jerek

Franklin, Greene and Callaway counties lead harvest numbers.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – According to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), young hunters ages 6 to 15 years harvested 3,915 turkeys during Missouri’s 2013 youth spring turkey hunting weekend, April 6-7. The total included 2,933 adult gobblers, 72 bearded hens, and 910 juvenile gobblers. Top harvest counties were Franklin with 106 birds checked, Greene with 77 and Callaway with 76.

Key Messages: 

Conservation makes Missouri a great place to hunt and fish.

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Written By:  Candice Davis

Report hog-release activities through Operation Game Thief at 800-392-1111.

PIEDMONT, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) continues the fight against invasive feral hogs in Missouri. In its Southeast Region, MDC and public- land partners have eradicated 165 hogs from Southeast Missouri (SEMO) public lands in Reynolds, Iron, Wayne, Stoddard and Pemiscot counties. An additional six hogs were reported taken by private landowners.

“We’ve had a large eradication effort which began early this year,” said MDC Wildlife Management Biologist Mark McLain.

Key Messages: 

We work with you and for you to sustain healthy forests, fish and wildlife.

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A new discovery about the malaria-related parasite Toxoplasma gondii -- which can threaten babies, AIDS patients, the elderly and others with weakened immune systems -- may help solve the mystery of how this single-celled parasite establishes life-long infections in people. The study places the blame squarely on a family of plant proteins, known as AP2 factors.

Taking an approach similar to that used for discovering new therapeutic drugs, chemists have found several compounds that can boost oil production by green microscopic algae, a potential source of biodiesel and other "green" fuels.

Scientists have found that the plant species making up an ecosystem are better predictors of ecosystem chemistry than environmental conditions such as terrain, geology, or altitude. This is the first study using a new, high-resolution airborne, chemical-detecting instrument to map multiple ecosystem chemicals.

Written By:  Bill Graham

Space is limited. Pre-registration is required by April 29. Lunch will be provided.

Sedalia, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Ha Ha Tonka Chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation will host a MULEY outdoor skills event for youth from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, at the Sedalia Rod and Gun Club. The event is free. Youths ages 8 to 18 are invited, and those under age 13 must be accompanied by an adult.

Space is limited. Pre-registration is required by April 29. Lunch will be provided.

Key Messages: 

Conservation makes Missouri a great place to hunt and fish.

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Written By:  Bill Graham

The April 27 event is free and open to youths ages 15 and under.

Warsaw, Mo. – Children love to get outdoors and fishing is a wonderful way for them to interact with nature. To learn how, attend the 12th annual Kids Fishing Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, at the Lost Valley Fish Hatchery near Warsaw. The event is free and open to youths ages 15 and under.

Key Messages: 

Conservation makes Missouri a great place to hunt and fish.

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Written By:  Dan Zarlenga

Fifth grader Julie Thompson wins statewide contest.

WILDWOOD, Mo. — Julie Thompson, a fifth-grade student at Babler Elementary School, recently won the 2013 Missouri Arbor Day Poster Contest. There were more than 1,200 entries from fifth-grade students all over Missouri.

Julie was honored at a ceremony on April 5, Missouri Arbor Day, at her school. She received a $100 Visa gift card from Forest ReLeaf of Missouri and a framed certificate from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). She also planted a commemorative tree on the school grounds to recognize her achievement.

Key Messages: 

Missourians care about conserving forests, fish and wildlife.

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Enormous amounts of energy are wasted in greenhouses where our food is grown as a result of the plants receiving too much and the wrong kind of light. This can also stress and damage the plants. Researchers are working on a globally unique method to measure how much and what type of light plants want.

Scientists have described technology that accelerates microalgae’s ability to produce many different types of renewable oils for fuels, chemicals, foods and personal-care products within days using standard industrial fermentation.

Genes from the family of bacteria that produce vinegar, Kombucha tea and nata de coco have become stars in a project -- which scientists today said has reached an advanced stage -- that would turn algae into solar-powered factories for producing the "wonder material" nanocellulose. They have now reported on advances in getting those genes to produce fully functional nanocellulose.

Written By:  Jim Low

Mature gobblers and jakes are more plentiful this spring.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Hunters hoping to bag mature gobblers during the early season should cultivate patience and watch wild turkey hens, according to the Show-Me State’s top turkey expert.

Resource Scientist Jason Isabelle oversees turkey management for the Missouri Department of Conservation. Like other hunters, he has been watching the weather and thinking about how it will affect hunting conditions during the spring turkey hunting season April 15 through May 5. Those considerations go all the way back to last year’s record drought.

Key Messages: 

Conservation makes Missouri a great place to hunt and fish.

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Written By:  Bill Graham

Lee’s Summit, Mo. – Two trophy crappie topping three pounds were nice, but angler Lindsay Cundiff believes more big ones swim in the same waters. Cundiff caught the two whopper crappie in early February from lakes at the Missouri Department of Conservation's (MDC) James A. Reed Memorial Wildlife Area.

This April, he’s back on the banks casting jigs and hoping for another lunker crappie.

Key Messages: 

Conservation makes Missouri a great place to hunt and fish.

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Researchers have managed to breed for the first time in captivity a marine animal known as the snakelocks anemone and have also begun breeding a species of sea cucumber although this process is still in its initial stages. Both species have great culinary potential and possess excellent nutritional properties.

Seeds of the model cereal plant Brachypodium distachyon are now available to the international scientific community.

Written By:  Melanie Carden-Jessen

Heritage Day events include demonstrations, music and an old fashioned fish fry.

WINONA, Mo -- The Missouri Department of Conservation's (MDC) Twin Pines Conservation Education Center will host its 6th Annual Heritage Day on Saturday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to help Missourians discover nature and a bit about the Ozarks way of life. The day’s events include demonstrations, music, and an old fashioned fish fry.

Key Messages: 

We help people discover nature.

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Scientists have discovered why bees copy each other when looking for nectar -- and the answer is remarkably simple.

A fruit falls to the floor in a rainforest. It waits. And waits. Inside the fruit is a seed, and like most seeds in tropical forests, this one needs an animal—a good-sized animal—to move it to a new place where it can germinate and grow. But it may be waiting in vain. Hunting and poaching has decimated many mammal and bird populations across the tropics, and according to two new studies the loss of these important seed-disperser are imperiling the very nature of rainforests.

A workshop on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation was held in Singapore Botanic Gardens, jointly organised by BGCI and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity