Permit Changes Follow Public Comments by a Citizen-Led and Citizen-Driven Missouri Conservation Department

The Missouri Conservation Commission met December 18 and 19 at the Department of Conservation headquarters in Jefferson City.

The Commission received an update on communications received during the public comment period regarding proposed permit changes and then approved the following recommendations made by Director John Hoskins:

• End advancement of proposed increase in resident landowner acreage requirement for no-cost deer and turkey permits from 5 to 80 acres.


• End advancement of proposed elimination of land-lessee no-cost deer and turkey permits privileges.


• End advancement of proposed resident permit price increases.


• End advancement of proposed senior “forever” permit.


• Delay implementation from Fall 2009 to Spring 2010 of proposed recommendation regarding verification of land ownership when seeking no-cost deer and turkey permits.


• Continue support for consistent Hunter Education and age requirements for all mentors.


• Continue support of standard minimum age of six years for deer and turkey permits.


• Continue support of recommendations to simplify youth permits and discount costs of youth deer, turkey and trout permits by 50%.

An additional news release is available on the Department's Web page.

The news release includes:

"Public input, according to the Commission, has again proven to be an essential component of regulation development. Following the recent public comment period on proposed permit changes, several recommendations included in the original package have been sidelined or modified. 'We have a rich history of being a citizen-led and citizen-driven Conservation Department,' said Commission Chairman Chip McGeehan. 'Citizen involvement and trust are essential parts of conservation success in our state, and we thank the many Missourians who have shared their opinions on the proposed permit changes. We will continue to seek points of view from all of our stakeholders, listen, and respond in ways that best protect Missouri’s resources and serve all Missourians.'"

Need more information on hunting or outdoor activities in Missouri? You can find lots more about hunting in Missouri on the Department of Conservation Web pages.

Clarity for the Best Long-Term Results for Fish, Forests, Wildlife, and Conservation in Missouri

I spoke last week at the public meeting of the Missouri Conservation Commission about how the human dimensions of conservation, that is social, economic, and opinion information, has been used to shape the decision-making and outcomes of fish, forest, and wildlife management in Missouri. By human dimensions, I mean a wide variety of demographic, opinion, survey, participation, focus group, public meeting, and public comment information. It's what a business would call market information; information that can be used to make decisions based on facts.

This week I was reading again parts of the monograph by Jim Collins, Good to Great and the Social Sectors, and I believe many of the ideas in the book show clearly why human dimensions information is so valuable to improve conservation decision-making.

For example, Collins writes that great companies have a "deep understanding of three intersecting circles: 1) what you are deeply passionate about, 2) what you can be the best in the world at, and 3) what best drives your economic engine."

Now consider the human dimensions information that many Missourians participate in nature-related recreation. Many more are interested in Missouri's fish, forests, and wildlife. Add to those thoughts the highly talented Department of Conservation employees who are both deeply passionate about the resources they manage for Missourians and knowledgeable about fish, forests, and wildlife. They can be the best in the world at managing nature in Missouri. Now, as the third ingredient, add the economic engine of volunteers, partnerships, and the sustained funding of the Conservation Sales Tax that Missourians voted to establish in 1976 and I believe we have a recipe to achieve, as Collins writes, "pockets of greatness," for conservation in Missouri.

Human dimensions information also helps Department staff to, in the words of Collins, "attain piercing clarity about how to produce the best long-term results," for nature in Missouri. And this is very important, since the budget of the Department is limited and small, at less than one percent of the total State of Missouri annual budget. I believe that human dimensions information helps the Department to be accountable, to improve its performance, and will continue to be useful in the future.

More information about the success of the Missouri Department of Conservation is available in the 2006-2007 Annual Report.

Your Opinion Counts for Deer Management in Missouri

Your opinion certainly counts for the staff of the Missouri Department of Conservation. The Department of Conservation wants to hear from Missouri hunters about their opinions for deer management in Missouri. A series of 16 public meetings are being conducted to allow anyone the opportunity to provide comments. There will be two meetings in each of the Department's eight regions throughout the state.

You can read about the meetings on the Department's Web pages.

You can provide comments online if you can't attend a meeting.

You can hear about deer management efforts and why the Department wants to hear from hunters from online videos posted by Department staff on YouTube and MySpaceTV.

You can read about the meetings and efforts on the Department's blog, Fresh Afield.

You can read about the effort from an online fact sheet that includes a mailing address and comment card.

You can contact a regional office at the locations described on the Department's Web pages.

The video on YouTube:




And on MySpaceTV:

Deer Management Public Forums - 2008

Add to My Profile More Videos

Attend the Excellence in Missouri Conference to Learn How to Improve Quality and Performance

The Excellence in Missouri Foundation will hold it's annual conference on November 14-16, 2007. The conference is a great place to learn about the criteria of performance excellence used for the Missouri Quality Award and how other businesses and organizations are improving quality, customer satisfaction, and their operational performance.

The conference will include speakers from the 2006 award recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

What does this have to do with the next generation of conservation in Missouri? One of the strategic goals of the Department of Conservation is to continue to operate effectively with accountability for public funds and respect for Missouri citizens. The criteria of the Missouri Quality Award provide a framework to do exactly that and staff in the Department are learning more about the criteria and how it can be used in conservation efforts.

Even if you can't attend the conference, you can learn more by reading about the criteria and the specific items of the seven categories.

Insight from Aldo Leopold's "Why and How Research" for Conservation and the Core Concepts of Performance Excellence

Why and how research. In 1948, Aldo Leopold, Professor of Wildlife Management at the University of Wisconsin, wrote a paper titled "Why and How Research" that was read by Robert McCabe at the North American Wildlife Conference. I have returned to the words of this paper again and again since I first saw it in the mid 1980s. The paper is available in the Transactions of the North American Wildlife Conference, Volume 13, pages 44-48.

I read it again this week and realized that his thoughts address many of the core concepts of performance excellence in the quality improvement criteria of the Missouri Quality Award from a wildlife perspective. Leopold's writing from nearly 60 years ago has important insights for how we conduct our learning and research efforts today to improve the fish, forests, and wildlife in Missouri through our conservation efforts.

A systems perspective. I believe Leopold intuitively understood the core concepts of performance excellence as they have been written recently, and they include:

• visionary leadership
• customer-driven excellence
• organizational and personal learning
• valuing employees and partners
• agility
• focus on the future
• managing for innovation
• management by fact
• social responsibility
• focus on results and creating value
• systems perspective

Leopold's words. Leopold wrote "Much of the confusion about wildlife research arises, I think, from a false premise as to its purpose." He continues "the primary purpose of wildlife research is, in my view, to develop and expand this understanding of the biotic drama. It must, of course, contrive also to keep wildlife on the map, in good quantity, and in as much diversity as possible."

Leopold builds his case for both long- and short-term research by stating "Once in a blue moon research will, by accident, hit upon a discovery of practical value without any preliminary work on fundamentals, but when pursued as a policy, such accidental hits are a losing game."

Leopold was concerned in 1948 that funding for a broad-based, long-term research program based on fundamentals, what he called "deep-digging," was not being supported across the 50 states, and that too much emphasis was being placed on short-term "practical" efforts that produced quick answers.

He wrote "This is why research on most American game species is in a blind alley today. The proof that we are in a blind alley is that we are unable to explain, much less to predict, current events." He continues "in fact it could be said that deer and waterfowl are about the only major game groups in which current ups and downs can be explained, with confidence, in terms of visible causes."

A balanced program to reduce fumbling. Leopold admonishes us with his closing words "What I am asking for is a balanced program, which recognizes that some research jobs are short while others are long, and that neglect of either is poor policy." He proposes "To reduce fumbling is our most important job. If we fail to reduce this fumbling today, the well-springs of funds will dry up tomorrow."

Visionary leadership. In writing "Why and How Research," Leopold certainly places an emphasis on resource managers that can think; managers that can design research and take the time to understand all the components of nature and the different expectations of people to benefit from and experience nature. Leopold's admonition to produce information from "deep-digging" is his call to take a broad, "systems perspective" and to make conservation management decisions that are innovative, based on facts, that focus on results and the future, and that meet the expectations and exemplary performance demanded by a broad-based constituency of hunters, anglers, wildlife watchers, and everyone that understands that the natural world is the foundation of our economic success and quality of life.

Increasing organizational learning with valued employees and partners. I believe Leopold would be pleased at where the staff of the Missouri Department of Conservation have been and where they are going with research on wildlife, and with research on fish and forests.

Leopold, had he had the benefit of the current words, would have said it's our "social responsibility" to take a balanced approach to gathering information, as he clearly indicates in "Why and How Research" when he states that in the 1948 time period, the state of Wisconsin might have to proceed with its long-term quail research project without outside funding because "the value of what we find may extend far beyond quail."

Leopold was concerned about performance, including his own, the performance of the relatively new, at that time, profession of wildlife management, and the ultimate performance of improving fish, forests, and wildlife and increasing the level of understanding of the complex biological relationships of animals and their habitats.

When I sit in a meeting, as I did last week, to hear discussion about the methods of a research project and if it should be funded, I think about "Why and How Research." I think Leopold would be pleased with our attempts to reduce "fumbling." He said it best: "To reduce fumbling is our most important job." And to reduce fumbling, and to increase performance, is what the quality performance criteria is also all about.

Human Dimensions, the Gnomon, and Indicators of Satisfaction with Conservation Performance

During late June and July, I spent two weeks at Philmont Scout Ranch in northeastern New Mexico helping with the National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience (NAYLE), a leadership training course for Scouts. In several parts of the program, the staff and participants pledge to be servant leaders with the statement that "as the sun dial measures the passage of time, so will my service be measured over time, by my impact on others."

The post on a sun dial, the part that casts a shadow, is called the gnomon. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the gnomon as "an object that by the position or length of its shadow serves as an indicator."

Driving home, I thought about how the human dimensions of resource management can be used like the gnomon on the sun dial, in that the attitudes and opinions of Missourians about fish, forest, and wildlife management are an indicator. We can use human dimensions information as an indicator of satisfaction with conservation performance.

In several surveys, the Department of Conservation has asked Missourians to rate the job the Department is doing to provide conservation services. In 2003, 64.1 percent of Missourians indicated, for themselves, that the Department was doing an "Excellent" or "Good" job. In addition, 26.5 percent indicated "Don't Know," 8.5 percent said "Fair," and less than one percent said "Poor."

This level of satisfaction with the Department has remained almost exactly the same over the last 10 years. I can use this human dimensions information to help Department of Conservation staff understand the level of satisfaction that Missourians have for our conservation performance. Then the information can be used to help make plans for the future.

Human dimensions information is a very useful indicator of performance, just like using the gnomon on a sun dial to measure the passage of time.

More information about the Missouri Department of Conservation's performance is available in the Department's annual reports, and you can find more information about conservation programs on the Department's Web pages.

Human Dimensions is Servant Leadership in Action for Conservation in Missouri

Human dimensions information for conservation is servant leadership in action. I have to recall the past to show how I believe human dimensions information for conservation is a servant leadership in action.

A decade of teaching and learning leadership skills. In 1996, I was asked to participate on the adult staff of a leadership training course for young men. While at that course, although I certainly enjoyed the experience, I would not have predicted that I would continue volunteering my vacation time for similar leadership training courses for every year since that time. This summer I will be part of the adult staff for my 10th course in Missouri. I'll also be involved in my sixth course at the national level, working with youth for an advanced experience at the Philmont Training Center in New Mexico.

Servant leadership is a concept about helping others. The training syllabus that we use has changed since 1996. In the 90s, it focused more on the rote skills of leadership, including communication, planning, conflict resolution, using resources effectively, and other skills. Today, using some of the best parts of current leadership theory and theories that have stood the test of time, the course is slightly different, with a focus more on broader concepts in addition to skills. One concept is that of servant leadership. Being a servant leader involves many things, and Larry Spears writes that the concept is "one that seeks to involve others in decision making, one strongly based in ethical and caring behavior, and one that is attempting to enhance the personal growth of people while improving the caring and quality of our many institutions." At its simplest, servant leadership is about a focus on the needs of others.

The training syllabus describes the concept as: "The concept of servant leadership encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organization's values and integrity. Servant leadership emphasizes collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power."

This idea of including others in decision making, using an approach that is both ethical and respectful of others point-of-view, is what using human dimensions and public involvement in conservation decision-making is all about.

Human dimensions information is used to help others. Human dimensions helps resource mangers make informed decisions about fish, forest, and wildlife conservation. In Missouri, human dimensions efforts are some of the ways citizen opinions are included in conservation decisions. Human dimensions information helps managers and decision-makers provide conservation programs and services that meet the needs and expectations of Missourians. That is why I believe that human dimensions is servant leadership in action.

"What We Believe" statements of the Missouri Department of Conservation guide actions. Using human dimensions information helps me and the staff of the Missouri Department of Conservation demonstrate our "What We Believe" statements. The second statement is "All citizens are important; we value their trust and their point of view" and the third is "Missourians are our partners to achieve conservation success." The last statement includes: "Our decisions and behavior will be based on fairness, objectivity and the best scientific information."

Excellent public service is what we will provide. I believe that using human dimensions information for conservation decision-making helps achieve the first "What We Believe" statement "Excellent public service is what we will provide." These words in the "What We Believe" statements are very similar to the words I use each summer when teaching about the concept of servant leadership. Using human dimensions information and public involvement to meet the needs and expectations of Missourians for fish, forest, and wildlife in Missouri looks exactly like servant leadership to me.

Human Dimensions Information for Fish, Forest, and Wildlife Conservation in Missouri

Human dimensions information is used everyday for conservation decisions. As I drove home Friday evening, thinking about the events of the week, I thought about how several of the tasks I participated in during the week demonstrate how human dimensions information and the distribution of that information are a part of the decisions that are made everyday about conservation.

1. Thirty years of human dimensions work. I was interviewed by Cindi Jacobson about the Missouri Department of Conservation's approach to use human dimensions information in fish, forest, and wildlife management efforts. Ms Jacobson is an Alaska Department of Fish and Game employee who is conducting Ph.D. research through the Human Dimensions Research Unit at Cornell University. She was in Missouri interviewing individuals at the Department of Conservation. She is also interviewing individuals in Arkansas, Maine, and New Mexico. I provided comments to her about the Department's nearly 30 years of human dimensions research and public involvement efforts. The Department of Conservation employed its first full-time social researcher in 1978.

2. Public involvement is used to find solutions and provide guidance. I reviewed materials to help in a citizen forum next week to collect solutions about a forest management issue. The Department of Conservation frequently uses public meetings, forums, and focus groups to enable citizens to provide direction for conservation issues. Examples of comments from several public forums conducted by the Department are available online.

3. Using technology to increase efficiency and reduce process time and costs. I participated in a meeting with Department staff to improve our use of SharePoint, a software collaboration tool, to make a wide variety of information easier to find, access, and use, including human dimensions and policy information.

4. Managing electronic files and information. I was interviewed by an outside consultant for a statewide effort to examine the needs of Missouri government agencies for managing and retrieving electronic files and documents. Managing the increasing number of electronic files is an important issue. From my perspective, improving the ability to find and access human dimensions reports, files, and data is very important both for my work and to increase the use of human dimensions information by Department staff, other agencies, and Missourians. Improving access to human dimensions information will make it easier for that information to be used to guide and provide accountability for conservation decisions.

5. Staying in touch with conservation opinions, satisfaction, and participation. I edited questions for a statewide survey about conservation opinions, participation, and satisfaction. This particular survey of Missourians was first conducted by the Department of Conservation in 1994 and has been repeated at regular intervals. It is an important effort to understand how Missourians feel about conservation issues.

Human dimensions information improves accountability. One of the nine goal categories of the Missouri Department of Conservation's strategic plan, The Next Generation of Conservation, is "Accounting for Department Operations." The goal statement is: "The Conservation Department will operate effectively with accountability for public funds and respect for Missouri citizens." Human dimensions information helps me and other Department staff make informed decisions. Although information can certainly increase our understanding of the complexity of issues and increase our awareness of the far-reaching consequences of decisions, sometimes information can make decisions more difficult or uncertain rather than easier. Even if a decision is difficult or the outcome uncertain, however, using information almost always makes a decision more accountable.

The desired results of the goal Accounting for Department Operations include:

Missouri citizens providing frequent input into Conservation Department decisions and programs.

Conservation efforts led by a highly trained, diverse, technologically skilled and professional staff.

Fair and ethical business methods that enable Missourians to see how public funds are spent on conservation priorities.

I think that all five of the examples I thought about from the past week help achieve these desired results.

The entire document of The Next Generation of Conservation is available online. Individual sections are also on the Department of Conservation's Web pages. A special issue of the Missouri Conservationist magazine, in September 2006, included information and other articles related to The Next Generation of Conservation.

The most recent annual reports from the Department of Conservation are also available online and a two-page summary of the 2006 annual report is in the January issue of the Missouri Conservationist magazine.

Using Surveys for Public Involvement in Conservation

Frederick Mosteller, who applied statistics to help everyday people understand many subjects, said "It is easy to lie with statistics, but it is easier to lie without them."

Statistics from surveys are often used to provide accountability for conservation decisions related to fish, forest, and wildlife management. Opinions, interests, participation in activities, and satisfaction with performance are some of the human dimensions of conservation efforts. These human dimensions help the staff of the Missouri Department of Conservation make informed and accountable decisions.

Surveys provide a cost-effective way to learn about the conservation opinions of Missourians by asking a relatively small number of individuals to provide their opinions. For most questions, valid results can be obtained by asking about 800-1000 individuals to offer their opinions from the entire 5.8 million individuals that live in Missouri. When conducted correctly, a survey can provide results that are representative of the entire population. If we are willing to accept a slight decrease in the ability to separate overall responses for individual questions, a valid survey in Missouri could be conducted with 300-400 individuals.

Think of looking at the shoes that people wear. If you look at enough people, in enough places, you'll soon see most of the kinds of shoes that people wear, without having to look at everyone, in every place. Using the information you observe, you can soon predict the kinds of shoes people are wearing in other places.

An introduction to using surveys to collect public opinions is available at: http://www.whatisasurvey.info/

An article in the Missouri Conservationist that describes how surveys are used for conservation and fish, forest, and wildlife management is available at: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2007/01/20.htm and a previous article is available at: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2000/02/40.htm

Frederick Mosteller, who died in 2006, has biographical information at the American Statistical Association, available at: http://www.amstat.org/about/statisticians/index.cfm?fuseaction=biosinfo&BioID=10

If you want to become a statistician and pursue a career using statistics, an excellent source of information about what a statistician does and how to become one is available at: http://www.amstat.org/careers/index.cfm?fuseaction=main

Human Dimensions and Decision-Making for Conservation

Human dimensions information for fish, forest, and wildlife decision making is like the information available for a pilot in the instruments of an airplane or the notes on a page for a musician.

Human dimensions information involves the social and economic aspects of fish, forest, and wildlife management. Human dimensions is market information, customer satisfaction information, participation levels, and public involvement efforts. In Missouri, it is about the people of Missouri and their interests and participation related to the fish, forests, wildlife, and conservation efforts in the state.

Simply, human dimensions is about people, and their needs, wants, and demands. In marketing terms, needs are their requirements, wants are their requests, and demands are the items that meet their requests that they are willing to pay for or take action to obtain. Human dimensions is any information about those needs, wants, and demands.

Are there obstacles to using human dimensions information in making decisions? You bet.

Time is the most frequent obstacle since it can be difficult to conduct scientifically sound information gathering in time to help a manager make a decision. In addition, anyone can be overwhelmed with information. Data can become a black hole, leading us away from making decisions rather than taking action. And just because we have information does not guarantee a desirable or expected outcome. Conservation decisions often involve balancing the needs, wants, and demands of many groups and interests. Sometimes, information seems to make decisions more difficult as we become aware of competing requests and demands.

Even the best, most timely, and comprehensive information is only information however; decisions are required to take action.

The instruments for a pilot, the notes on a page for a musician, a recipe for a cook, or human dimensions information for a resource manager are only information; a truly exemplary performance requires decisions and actions.

Human dimensions data do not tell us what decisions to make, but do provide accountability for our decisions and many clues to informed management.

A great reference about the human dimensions of wildlife management is a book entitled Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management in North America and is edited by D.J. Decker, T.L. Brown, and W.F. Siemer. It was published in 2001. The book is available from The Wildlife Society at: http://www.wildlife.org/publications/index.cfm?tname=pubslist

Human Dimensions: Your Opinion Counts with the Missouri Department of Conservation

The Missouri Department of Conservation hired its first full-time social researcher in 1978. The Department had already hired full-time statisticians and biologists to help guide a wide range of research, including social and economic research. In 1984 the first full-time economist was hired. Many biologists also conducted social research projects as part of their ongoing efforts, particularly related to fishing and hunting harvest and participation. I joined the staff in 1991 to conduct social research. And since that time several additional staff have been employed, to conduct statewide opinion surveys, to conduct and coordinate harvest and participation surveys, to coordinate forest economics information and research, to conduct waterfowl social research, to conduct focus groups, to respond to citizens as an Ombudsman, to conduct public meeting forums, and to provide staff with assistance on a wide range of public involvement methods.

Social and economic research was certainly not new, prior to 1978, for the Missouri Department of Conservation. In 1942, the Conservation Commission asked Department staff, including Conservation Agents, to find out about public perceptions of Department progress. In 1945, Rudolf Bennitt reported on some social aspects of quail hunting using data collected from 1938 to 1944. In the early 1970s, a study was conducted for the Citizens Conservation Committee, a private citizens committee, to determine the preference of Missourians for either a soft drink tax or a sales tax to fund conservation activities. Missourians did not indicate a preference for the type of tax in that survey. It was in 1975 that the Conservation Commission endorsed the efforts of that committee of private citizens to seek a ballot initiative to place a sales tax for conservation efforts before the citizens of Missouri. The vote in 1976 to create a Conservation Sales Tax helped provide funding for the Missouri Department of Conservation that has enabled staff to make more accountable conservation decisions. Decisions and Department staff are more accountable today because of the increased number of full-time staff dedicated to listening to and learning about the opinions of Missourians and the increased number of surveys and public involvement efforts that make it easier for Missourians to provide their opinions and participation preferences for fish, forest, and wildlife management. It is these "human dimensions" efforts that continue to be an important part of accountable decision-making.

Human Dimensions is a term that developed in the 1970s as resource professionals and educators combined aspects of sociology, economics, organizational management, and psychology into resource management. Although the term may be relatively new, the idea is not. Aldo Leopold stated in 1930 that wildlife conservation would make the greatest advances if it drew support from a broad-based constituency. As human dimensions has developed since the 1970s, it is about understanding the “people” aspects of resource management and understanding the many citizen interests in fish, forests, and wildlife and their expectations and satisfaction with management efforts.

Human dimensions can be equated with social and economic information. A business would call it “market information;” that is, information about their customers and the expectations and responses to their products and services. Human dimensions certainly includes aspects of customer satisfaction and also public input and involvement in decision-making processes.

How is human dimensions information used? Human dimensions can be like an informational highway sign that confirms something you may have already observed. It provides accountability for your intuition or what you may already know to be true. It can provide new insights or new information about activities and expectations. Human dimensions information is useful as performance measures or in determining satisfaction levels. The information can be very useful in developing or modifying programs and services to improve the quality of service or to improve the efficiency of the business processes to provide programs and services.

It is the intense effort that the Missouri Department of Conservation applies to listening to Missourians, to learning about the human dimensions of conservation, that allows the opinions of Missourians to be heard and then used in conservation decisions. It is this intense effort that makes the opinions of Missourians count in conservation decisions.

More information about how the conservation opinions of Missourians count is in a recent article in the Missouri Conservationist magazine, entitled "Your Opinion Counts" which is available at: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2007/01/20.htm

Five Facts About the Missouri Department of Conservation

1. Missourians are Satisfied with the Job of the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Over 60 percent of Missourians believe the Missouri Department of Conservation is doing an excellent or good job of providing services to themselves, their family, their community, and the State of Missouri: 64 percent believe that the Department is doing a good job of providing services to themselves; 63 percent to their family; 61 percent to their community; and 67 percent to the State of Missouri.

2. Missourians are Interested in Missouri’s Fish, Forests, and Wildlife, and Want to Protect Missouri’s Conservation Heritage.

Most Missourians (93 percent) report that they are interested in Missouri’s fish, forests, and wildlife. Most Missourians (91 percent) agree that “It is important for outdoor places to be protected even if you don’t plan to visit the area.” Most Missourians (84 percent) agree that natural areas should be designated “to protect Missouri’s best examples of forests, prairies, marshes, and glades.”

3. Missourians Approve of Acquiring Land for Conservation.

Almost three-quarters (73 percent) of all Missourians agree that “Land should be acquired for fish, forest, and wildlife conservation.” When asked about the less than 2 percent of Missouri’s acres that are owned or managed by the Department, only 2 percent said that amount is “Too much.”

4. Less than One Percent of the State of Missouri Budget is Spent on Conservation.

The total budget for the Missouri Department of Conservation is less than one percent of the total State of Missouri budget.

Health and Social Services - 37.8%
Education - 28.1%
Government Services - 20.1%
Transportation - 10.4%
Natural and Economic Resources - 2.8%
Conservation - 0.8%

5. Conservation Pays Its Way in Missouri.

"Conservation Pays Its Way in Missouri" since the sales tax revenue generated each year from the retail sales related to fish and wildlife recreation and the forest products industry is well over the amount that is received by the Missouri Department of Conservation from the one-eighth of one percent Conservation Sales Tax. Each year, fishing, hunting, wildlife recreation, and forestry activities have an economic impact of over $7 billion in Missouri.

More information about the Missouri Department of Conservation is available in the 2005-2006 Annual Report available at: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/about/annual/
Included in the annual report is a 2-page summary on pages 4 and 5.

The Missouri Department of Conservation Listens to Missourians

At the Missouri Department of Conservation, we believe that all Missouri citizens are important and we value their trust and their point of view. All Missouri citizens deserve respect. Our job is to listen, understand and personally deliver programs and services that will benefit each Missourian.

To accomplish our mission we must listen to Missourians. We do this in a variety of ways.

The Conservation Commission meets regularly and anyone may contact the Conservation Commission with comments or request to appear at a Commission meeting.

The Director of the Conservation Department may be personally contacted at Department headquarters in Jefferson City, by telephone or electronic mail.

The Department Ombudsman works with citizens to resolve conflicts and answers a wide variety of questions by mail, telephone, and electronic mail.

The Department conducts a wide variety of statistically accountable mail surveys, telephone surveys, and focus groups to determine the opinions and attitudes of Missourians about conservation and the Department of Conservation. The Department has conducted attitude, opinion, satisfaction, and participation surveys for over 30 years.

The Department has eight regional service centers with staff available to assist Missourians with their conservation requests and needs.

The Department’s monthly magazine, free to Missourians that request it, includes a letter to the editor section and an “Ask the Ombudsman” column.

The Department maintains extensive Internet Web pages that include information about conservation, how to contact the Department, and an online comment form.

The Department conducts frequent public forums to obtain interactive feedback from all Missourians at locations throughout the state.

Department regulations are formed and discussed in a public setting that invites citizen participation.

The Missouri Department of Conservation Web pages are available at: http://www.missouriconservation.org/
“About the Department” information is available at: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/about/
and how to contact the Department is at: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/contact/
Information about the Department’s monthly magazine and how Missouri residents can subscribe free is available at: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/conmag/

Conservation Pays Its Way in Missouri

In 2001, 2.5 million residents and non-residents of Missouri, age 16 years and older, participated in some form of fish and wildlife-related recreation in Missouri. These anglers, hunters, and wildlife viewers spent over $1.6 billion in retail sales ($1.3 billion by residents and 321 million by non-residents), which generated over 731 million in salaries and wages and supported 29,727 jobs. The total economic effect from fish and wildlife-related recreation was over 3.3 billion. The retail spending generated 79 million in state sales tax revenues, 29 million in state income tax revenues, and 117 million in federal income taxes.

The forestry and wood products industry in Missouri is an over 4.4 million dollar activity and supports 32,250 jobs. The forestry and wood-using industries in Missouri generate 54 million each year in state sales taxes.

The combined economic impact of fish and wildlife-related recreation and the forest industry in Missouri is $7.8 billion.

Conservation pays its way in Missouri.

Or in other words, for every dollar spent each year through the annual budget of the Missouri Department of Conservation, there are 52 dollars generated each year of economic impact in Missouri. Every dollar spent equals 52 dollars in economic impact.

Conservation pays its way in Missouri.

The combined sales tax revenues generated in Missouri by fish and wildlife recreation spending and the forest and wood-using industries is well over the amount received each year by the Missouri Department of Conservation from the Conservation Sales Tax.

Conservation pays its way in Missouri.

And these numbers do not include the many ways that the outdoor environment and Missouri's fish, forest, and wildlife resources enhance our quality of life every day.

Conservation pays its way in Missouri.

More information about economic impacts is available in the Missouri Department of Conservation's 2005-2006 annual report available at http://www.mdc.mo.gov/13141 and in the national surveys conducted for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service available at: http://federalaid.fws.gov/surveys/surveys.html and at: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/fishing.html

The economic impact report for Missouri, and other states, is available at: http://www.southwickassociates.com/freereports/default.aspx