By Brandon Butler
It’s hard to fathom Missouri without white-tailed deer or wild turkeys. Yet that was almost the case in the early 1900s. Over-harvest and market hunting nearly wiped out these iconic game species. Thankfully, concerned citizens banded together to force change. The results of their efforts set Missouri on course to become the greatest conservation state in America.
In 1935, sportsmen from throughout the state came together to form the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM). They assembled at the Tiger Hotel in Columbia and organized behind the purpose of taking conservation out of politics. Their initiative petition campaign resulted in the creation of the Conservation Commission and ultimately the Missouri Department of Conservation, a non-political agency that has been a national model for nearly a century.
Then, just as today, these conservationists represented both Republicans and Democrats. Conservation is not a partisan issue. Clean air, clean water, healthy soil, robust forests and thriving populations of fish and game matter to all Missourians. The CFM unites individuals and organizations with specific interests behind core principles of conservation, including regulatory authority and funding.
Today, CFM is the largest and most representative conservation organization in Missouri. The Federation is made up of thousands of individual members, nearly 100 affiliated organizations and 85 Business Alliance corporate supporters. CFM is the Missouri affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), and co-chairs the Sportsmen Caucus.
The Conservation Federation has undertaken many successful campaigns throughout our history to ensure Missouri continues to be the leading state in conservation policies and funding. In 1976, CFM spearheaded the successful passage of the Conservation Sales Tax to create stable broad-based funding for Missouri’s forests, fish and wildlife. CFM was also instrumental in the creation and passage of the Parks, Soil and Water Sales Tax in 1984. The organization played a large role, along with agricultural, industrial and environmental partners, in leading the way to a monumental renewal of this tax in 2016, when 80.1 percent of Missourians voted to continue paying for the protection of healthy soil and water, while ensuring the future of our nationally acclaimed state park system.
CFM presents awards to individuals and organizations whose outstanding work continues to provide benefit for the future of our state’s natural resources. Mervin Wallace, the owner of Missouri Wildflower Nursery is the current Conservationist of the Year. He earned this honor for his work with wild flowers and native habitats. Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe and State Representative Tommie Pierson Jr. are the reigning CFM Legislators of the Year.
When citizens ask what is the best way for their voice to be heard and ideas implemented to help set the direction of scientific conservation and natural resource management in Missouri, becoming an active member of the Conservation Federation of Missouri is the best answer. Through a democratic resolution process, CFM is instrumental in shaping conservation action in Missouri. When looking back over the great conservation achievements in our state’s history, CFM has been at the center of creating or guiding most initiatives. Along with leading the efforts to create of the Conservation Commission and the Design for Conservation Sales Tax, CFM created Stream Teams, Operation Game Thief, Operation Forest Arson, the Conservation Leadership Corps and so many more important programs and initiatives.
The Federation has 10 different Resource Action Committees. This is where citizens can dig in with other individuals concerned with the same topic, for or against, and can meet with federal and state agency experts for discussion. The resource committees are: Archery and Shooting Sports; Big Game, Turkey, and Furbearers; Education and Outdoor Recreation; Environment and Ecology, Forest Resources and Management, Grassland and Prairies, Public and Private Lands; Rivers, Streams, and Fisheries; Upland Wildlife; and Wetlands and Waterfowl. If a citizen is passionate about one or more of these topics, then they can engage with these committees and help bring citizen perspective to how Missouri manages these aspects of conservation.
Each year, CFM hosts a three-day convention in Jefferson City, at which policy is created through a resolution process. Committee leaders pre-file citizen submitted resolutions. These are then discussed and reviewed Saturday morning by the committees before moving to the Resolution Committee. The resolutions then go to the General Assembly for a final vote on Sunday. There are numerous steps to the creation of our policy, but all of it is citizen-member driven.
Missouri is truly wonderful. Our culture of hard-work and high-morality makes this state an ideal place to live and raise a family. Our state’s incredible conservation efforts of natural resources have a lot to do with this. Because we have so many amazing opportunities to take to fields and forests in pursuit of game, and to our enormous reservoirs and world-class rivers for fishing and water recreation, and to trails and campgrounds and parks and prairies, we can balance our work and recreation better than those in most other states.
We know Missourians embrace these opportunities, because 1.2-million of us hold a fishing license. Over 520,000 Missourians purchase a deer hunting license. And over 18-million people visit our state parks each year. The economic impact of outdoor recreation on Missouri’s economy is enormous, but it’s the immeasurable intrinsic value of the outdoors – the feelings of euphoria when a trout rises and turkey gobbles, the smiles on a children’s faces when they see a hummingbird – that really define and speak to the value of conservation. Yes, it truly is a blessing to be a Missourian.
Yet, Missouri is not without our challenges. Like most other states, Missouri has our work cut out for us with economic development, social services, an aging demographic and crumbling infrastructure. Facing so many challenges, with so much work ahead, it should be a point of pride for all Missourians, those elected to office and those who put them there, that conservation is simply not a concern at this time. Thus, allowing for legislative focus to be placed on much more pressing concerns.
Conservation management in Missouri is the envy of 49 other states. We are the model all others are pointing at, saying, if only we were like them. Without question, Missouri sets the conservation bar. Citizens and lawmakers only must choose to allow our tradition of being the best in the nation to continue.
Brandon Butler is the executive director for the Conservation Federation of Missouri.
