Outdoor Summit Press Coverage

Press coverage on the Missouri Outdoor Summit
held in Columbia May 28 and 29, 2009

Audio and Video of the Missouri Outdoor Summit

Activists meet, set goals for next 75 years

By SPENCER E. TURNER Special to the Tribune
Monday, June 15, 2009

Seventy-five years ago, a small group of Missourians met in the Tiger Hotel here in Columbia and made history. They organized what became the Conservation Federation of Missouri, which in turn led the charge to pass a historic constitutional amendment establishing the Missouri Department of Conservation as a nonpolitical, professional conservation organization in 1937. The agency became one of the best-organized, professional and envied conservation agencies in the United States.

Last month, leading conservation and environmental organizations in Missouri met again to discuss what the next 75 years would look like and how the momentum garnered during the past 75 years could be used as a springboard to the next.

Vision for Missouri outdoors emerges from summit meeting

Conservation leaders from government, NGOs and businesses produced an outdoor vision for the 21st century.
by Jim Low Missouri Department of Conservation

COLUMBIA, Mo.–In a historical echo, Missouri conservation leaders met in Columbia May 28 and 29 and hammered out a vision for the state’s outdoor future. Outdoor education, water conservation and connecting families with the outdoors topped the list of priorities that leaders agreed should guide conservation for the next three-quarters of a century.

The meeting mirrored one that took place in Columbia 74 years ago. On Sept. 10, 1935, sportsmen and conservationists from across Missouri met in the ballroom of the Tiger Hotel to discuss the sad condition of the state’s forests, fish and wildlife. Before leaving, they formed the Restoration and Conservation Federation of Missouri. That organization, known today as the Conservation Federation of Missouri, spurred the development of a conservation program that remains at template for other states.

Imagining (and Shaping) the Future

Imagining (and Shaping) the Future
John E. Moore, Jr.
from Ozark Waters (volume 3, issue 23) - Upper White River Basin Foundation newsletter

Envisioning the future is an age-old exercise that has involved consultation with oracles, interpretation of dreams and the reading of palms. Science fiction has painted future scenarios based on technological wonders nearly beyond our ken (as in "beam me up Scotty.") In more recent years some scholars and journalists have articulated social and economic trends to tease out their implications for the future.

These are interesting exercises, but beyond our imaginings and extrapolations the real challenge lies in actually shaping the future in desirable ways. What are the key issues and decisions that will get us to the future we desire? What steps must we take now to realize future goals? Who needs to be involved in getting there?