Statewide Conservation Leaders to Rally in Columbia

By Jim Low, Missouri Dept. of Conservation

First posted on 06-06-2008

Teaming With Wildlife event will feature partnerships, volunteers and funding sources.

A Teaming With Wildlife (TWW) rally will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 7 in Monsanto Auditorium at the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center on the University of Missouri campus.

TWW is a nationwide coalition of more than 5,700 organizations and businesses that support increased public funding for wildlife and related education and recreation. Missouri has more than 200 TWW members.

“Missourians love wildlife and outdoor recreation,” said Dave Murphy, executive director of the Conservation Federation and a member of the Missouri TWW Steering Committee. “Each year citizens of our state spend several times more on fish, forest and wildlife-related activities than they do on all professional sports in Missouri combined. That sort of an economic engine deserves wise investments to keep it going, and by protecting the places we love, we also get clean air and water and beautiful places to enjoy with our families. That’s what Teaming is all about.”

Rally participants will learn about the latest developments in statewide efforts to protect all wildlife, fish and forestry resources via Missouri’s Comprehensive Wildlife Strategy. Project leaders from around the state will highlight partnership success stories and volunteer opportunities. Conservation funding sources will also be explained by representatives of state and federal agencies and other groups.

One of the key funding sources for conservation that would not be possible without the strong support of the TWW Coalition is the State Wildlife Grant program. Since 2001, Congress has appropriated nearly $550 million to the nationwide program, which is distributed to the states by a formula based on size and population. Missouri has received nearly $10 million during that period since the program began. State Wildlife Grants are an annual appropriation, so funding could be cut or eliminated entirely each year. However, because members of Congress hear from so many in the TWW Coalition, support and funding for the program has been fairly consistent.

“There’s a lot to like about the Teaming With Wildlife approach,” said Justin Johnson, executive director of the Missouri Prairie Foundation and Missouri TWW Steering Committee member. “The funding is used to target local conservation priorities in a proactive, non-regulatory manner, and oftentimes a private partner is involved and brings matching funds to the project. Over the years nearly every member of Missouri’s congressional delegation has endorsed increasing the funding level for State Wildlife Grants.”

Partnerships that will be featured at the TWW Rally cover all corners of the state and a wide variety of habitats.

“From Audubon Missouri’s Wildcat Glade project in Joplin to Ducks Unlimited’s efforts at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near St. Louis to the wonderful prairie grasslands conservation work being done by the Nature Conservancy and the Missouri Prairie Foundation, there is truly something for everyone under the Teaming umbrella,” said Gene Gardner, wildlife diversity chief of the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and Missouri TWW Steering Committee member.

The event also will feature photography by retired MDC wildlife photographer Jim Rathert. The keynote speaker is David Waller of the Georgia Wildlife Federation.

For more information about TWW, visit http://www.teaming.com