Missouri Resources - 2011 Summer

7/28/2019 Missouri Resources - 2011 Summer

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M ISSOURIresourcesSpring / Summer 2011 • Volume 28 • Number 2



ost people have heard of ozone.Often a topic in middle school sci-ence classes, budding scientists

learn about this upper layer of our atmos-phere that filters out harmful radiation fromthe sun.

And, yes, our middle school science teach-ers were telling us the truth. When ozone is10-30 miles up in the atmosphere – it is defi-nitely a lifesaver.

But, there is another side to ozone – a dark-er side known as ground-level ozone, whichexists near the surface of the earth. If theupper-atmosphere ozone were Dr. Jekyll, ground-level ozone would be Mr. Hyde.

Ground-level ozone, also referred to assmog, is harmful to just about everything. Itmakes you cough, have trouble breathing andcan even stunt plant and crop growth.

Like ticks and wet socks, there is nothinggood about ground-level ozone.

Where Does it Come From?There is not a factory or source that belch-

es out pure ground-level ozone. It forms whenpollutants meet in the air, get heated by thesun and react.

The two main air pollutants that combineto form ozone are volatile organic compoundsand nitrogen oxides.

2 Missouri Resources

by Mark Conner and Karl Fettphotographs by Scott Myers



Volatile organic compounds are com-pounds that contain carbon and easily evap-orate, or give off fumes. It is the presence of carbon in these compounds that makes them“organic.” There are many, many differenttypes of volatile organic compounds. Regu-lar unleaded gasoline, for example, containsVOCs that enter the atmosphere.

Nitrogen oxides come from cars, powerplants and industrial plants. They are acommon byproduct of combustion. If it in-volves fire, heat or explosions, then it prob-ably emits nitrogen oxides.

If it is a hot sunny day, these VOCs andnitrogen oxides meet in the air, undergo achemical reaction and form the troublesomeground-level ozone.

HealthSo, just how bad is ground-level ozone

for you?

There have been many studies that havelinked ground-level ozone to asthma at-tacks, irritated throats and difficultiesbreathing when exercising outside. Therealso have been connections to respiratoryillnesses like pneumonia and bronchitis.

Throughout the year, the amount of ground-level ozone in our air varies. Evenin Missouri’s largest cities, where there arelots of cars, factories and other sources of volatile organic compounds and nitrogenoxides, ground-level ozone levels can bequite low from November through March.

Much like baseball, ground-level ozoneis largely a summer phenomenon. In fact,ozone has an official season which beginsApril 1 and ends Oct. 31 – again, almostidentical to the national pastime. It’s morelikely during these months to see unhealthyozone levels since ground-level ozone re-quires heat in order to form.

Breathe Easy But just how do we measure the level of

ozone in the air? Ozone is typically meas-

ured in parts per billion or parts per million.These measurements are a way to expressthe amount of ozone compared to the rest of the air.

The Missouri Department of Natural Re-sources maintains ground-level ozone mon-itors across the state. The majority are lo-cated in, or near, the highly populated areasof St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield andCape Girardeau/southeast Missouri. The de-partment selects the locations for the ozonemonitors based on where ozone formation

could be the highest and in areas with po-tential air pollution problems.

The data from these monitors is used tocompare Missouri’s air quality to the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency’s NationalAmbient Air Quality Standards.

The EPA has different standards, or lev-els, for a variety of air pollutants, includingozone. If the amount of an air pollutant isabove the standard, it is considered harmfulto public health and the environment.

The national air quality standard forozone is currently set at 75 parts per billion,although EPA will likely be implementing anew – possibly stricter – standard by theend of July 2011.

To determine if an area’s ozone levels areabove or below the national standard, thedepartment averages some of the highestozone values from each monitor during athree-year period. If this average exceeds

the current ozone standard, then the area inwhich the monitor is located is consideredto be an ozone nonattainment area.

If an area is considered nonattainment,certain steps will have to be takento reduce ozone levels. The depart-ment works with the community todevelop strategies on how to lowerozone levels and protect humanhealth and the environment, whileworking toward economic viabili-ty for that area.

Getting BetterOne might think that as energy

demands increase and popula-tions continue to move to urbanareas, ozone levels would be onthe rise. However, Missouri’slarge metropolitan areas havemade good progress in control-ling their ozone levels.

In major metropolitan areas,like Kansas City, a special kindof gas – known as reformulat-

ed gasoline, is used duringozone season. In St. Louis, aspecial blend of gasoline issold year round. This blendburns much more completelyand doesn’t create as muchpollution as the regular mixture.

The department’s Air Pollution ControlProgram continually works with businessesin the state to develop effective ways to re-duce pollution. The department also has anumber of diesel-emission-reducing pro-

Spring/Summer 20113



grams designed to improve air quality.Emissions from diesel engines also are amajor contributor to ozone (see One LastWord, page 25).

Through these programs, grants aregiven to diesel fleet owners and operators –public and private – to help with the cost of

retrofitting existing diesel equipment or re-placing old equipment with new, less pollut-ing models. A number of schools in the St.Louis, Kansas City and Springfield areashave upgraded or replaced some of theirschool buses through these programs. And,of course, there is a program known well to




St. Louisans – the Gateway Vehicle Inspec-tion Program, jointly administered by DNRand the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The Gateway Vehicle Inspection Pro-gram is part of Missouri’s continuing effortto improve air quality in the St. Louis re-gion, an area which has historically strug-gled with controlling ground-level ozone.

GVIP is a required combined emissionstesting and safety inspection program forvehicles registered in the St. Louis area.

Through this program, emission controlsystems on vehicles are tested and problemscan be detected that may not be noticeable

just by looking. This way, motorists knowwhat repairs and preventive maintenanceare needed to ensure that their vehicle’semissions system is operating correctly, ef-ficiently and legally.

And, there are the efforts of the averagecitizen. Such simple acts as riding a bike in-

stead of driving, waiting to mow untilevening when temperatures have cooled off and installing energy-efficient appliancescan, and have, had a cumulative effect onreducing ozone.

Missouri’s air has actually improved dur-ing the past 80 years, but it can still get bet-

ter. There’s still work to do. Anew, more protective ozone stan-dard might mean cities and areaswill need to refocus their pollu-tion reducing efforts. A newstandard might also mean thatareas that did not think they hadan air pollution problem might

find out that they, too, havework to do.We don’t really have a

choice when it comes tobreathing. By continuing itsefforts to monitor and reduceground-level ozone levelsacross the state, the MissouriDepartment of Natural Re-sources will work to ensureall Missourians have cleanair to breathe.

Mark Conner is a publicinformation specialist inthe department’s Haz-ardous Waste Program.Karl Fett is a special

projects coordinator in the department’s Air Pollution Control Program.

Spring/Summer 20115

In the Car:• Try walking, biking or taking the bus.• Stop at the click when gassing up the car. Overfilling al-

lows ozone-causing vapors to escape.• Keep your car tuned up – check tire pressure, change

the air filter and maintain the fluid levels. This reducesexhaust and saves gas.

• Don’t idle if parked for more than a minute.

At Home:• When replacing appliances, buy energy-efficient ENER-

GY STAR® models. The less electricity you use at home,the less coal or other fuel is burned at the power plant.This also means fewer air pollutants are emitted bythose plants.

• Turn down the thermostat in winter and up in the summerand insulate your house to keep that cool or warm air in-side. Fixing leaks around doors and windows savesmoney on utility costs.

• Use compact fluorescent bulbs and LEDs.

Outside:• Take household trash to a transfer station or to the land-

fill. Avoid burning leaves or grass clippings.• When grilling, use a chimney lighter or a propane grill.

Charcoal lighter fluid emits vapors that can contribute tothe formation of ground-level ozone.

• Mow the grass before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m. In thewarmer parts of the day, mower exhaust gases con-tribute to ground-level ozone.

At Work:• To save gas and reduce emissions, teleconference and

telecommute when possible.• Carpool to work and meetings.• Reduce wastes. For example, paper can be saved by du-

plexing copies. When possible, avoid printing docu-ments altogether. Monitor what you print for a day.You’ll be surprised how much can be avoided.

• Turn off lights and computers after work.

More than half of air pollution is caused by individuals doing their usual daily routines– like turning on lights, driving to work and mowing the lawn.

Everyone can help a little and most of these ideas can actually save you money.



o you have just purchased a newhome and you are ready to make ityour own. Do you realize that even

a newly constructed home could containbuilding materials that contain asbestos? If these materials are disturbed, weathered,torn or otherwise damaged, they could re-lease microscopic asbestos fibers into theair. If you inhale these fibers, it could takedecades before any signs or symptoms of an

asbestos-related disease shows up. This doesnot mean you need to be afraid or start costlyand unnecessary renovations to your home.But it is important to be aware of the poten-tial risks of this invisible hazard.

History and Use of AsbestosAsbestos use in the United States began

around the 1890s and it was used extensive-ly in building materials from the 1940s to1970s. Asbestos fireproofing was installed

in military ships beginning in World War II.In previous years, asbestos was found inmore than 3,000 products. These includedwall, floor, ceiling, roofing and siding ma-terials, vehicle brake pads, piping, gasketsand even paint. Asbestos has even beenused in cigarette filters, laboratory counter-tops, hair dryers, oil lamp wicks, ovenmitts, theatre stage curtains, artificial snowand in movies. Asbestos was used in TheWizard of Oz to make the Wicked Witch’sbroom burn – without burning up.

Today, some of the more common places

it is found around the house – even in newconstruction – are flooring products, roof-ing shingles and drywall mud. With thou-sands of historical uses, asbestos will con-tinue to be an important health-related issuefor all of us to keep in mind.

Sinister … but SpecialAsbestos has some very unique and mar-

ketable qualities. It is relatively cheap andaccessible, and is a naturally occurring min-eral fiber found in approximately 20 states

When the St. Louis ArmyAmmunition Plant was dis-

mantled in 2006, the old as-bestos-containing panels

that blanketed the site hadto be carefully removed

from the facility.


by Darcy A. Bybeephotographs by Scott Myers


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/missouri-resources-2011-summer 9/28Spring/Summer 20117

and several countries. It is fire- and chemi-cally resistant and a poor heat and electricalconductor. Pound for pound, asbestos isstronger than steel. These characteristicsmake it an invaluable addition to productswith the need for increased strength but thatneed to remain light. Insulation productsand items requiring fire resistance also ben-

efit from asbestos content.Unfortunately, asbestos has a downsidethat is clearly insidious. Asbestos fibers areso small that when inhaled, they are able totravel deep into your lungs where they maywedge into lung tissue. Your body does itsbest to expel these intruders when youbreathe or cough, but if expulsion fails, itwill attack the fibers and form scar tissuearound them. This scar tissue can be thebasis of an asbestos-related disease.

These are not the only health issueslinked to asbestos exposure. Other diseases

include cancers of the larynx, esophagus,stomach, colon-rectum, kidney and pan-creas (see chart on page 8).

The World Health Organization estimatesmore than 107,000 people die annually fromasbestos-related lung cancer, mesotheliomaor asbestosis resulting from workplace ex-posures. In fact, it is estimated that one inevery three deaths from occupational canceris caused by asbestos. In addition, accord-ing to the WHO, several thousand peopledie annually from diseases related to as-bestos exposure in their own home.

What Does the Departmentof Natural Resources do

About Asbestos?The Missouri Department of Natural Re-

sources regulates the renovation and demo-lition of regulated structures. A regulatedstructure, in general, is a public, commer-cial or industrial building – or any buildingthat has ever been used for a public, com-mercial or industrial purpose. Examples in-clude schools, courthouses, beauty parlors,

bowling alleys, convenience stores and sim-ilar buildings. This also includes privateresidences that have never been used forother purposes, providing they were part of a larger project.

The Department of Natural Resourceshas inspection, notification, removal andwaste disposal requirements for all projectsthat fit into this category. The departmentalso certifies the contractors, individualworkers, inspectors and companies thattrain the individuals. In Missouri, the ma-

jority of the Environmental ProtectionAgency’s asbestos regulations have beendelegated to the department’s Air PollutionControl Program.

Isn’t Asbestos Banned?Asbestos has been banned in whole or

part in dozens of countries. The United

States has initiated only a partial ban. Theonly applications currently banned in theUnited States are most spray-applied sur-facing and thermal system insulation mate-rials, as well as asbestos-containing papersand flooring felts. Any new uses of asbestosalso have been banned. It is important tonote that with thousands of existing uses forasbestos, it still can be found in manyplaces in our homes and surroundings.

Is This Stuff Asbestos?You cannot tell by looking at a material

if it contains asbestos – though a personwith experience may recognize materialswhich commonly do. The only way to knowfor sure is to have it sampled by a trainedand certified asbestos inspector and ana-lyzed by an accredited laboratory. If you areunable to have an inspection of the materialcompleted, the best thing to do is to assumethat it may contain asbestos.

Depending upon the type and conditionof the material, it may be appropriate tocover it by painting a ceiling or layinglinoleum over suspected asbestos tiles, butthis will not get rid of the hazard, if present.If future renovations take place, you mustremember its potential presence to avoidcreating a health risk.

Asbestos removal requiresspecial training, equipmentand site preparation to mini-mize risk and maximizesafety for workers and thegeneral public.



Often, asbe stos-containing materials arein poor condition, perhaps becau se of wateror fire damage. If y ou wish to remove th em,the be st course of action is to contact an as-bestos inspect or or a registered asbestosabatement contractor and have it safely re-moved and dispose d.

If th e asbestos-containing materials arein good condit ion and proper methods areused, it may be cheaper to remov e themyourself. However, the long-term cleanupand he alth costs – not to me ntion legal lia-bility – may be far greater.

Contact Us Firs t

Bef ore you or your contra ctor begins anyremoval job, pl ease contact the depart-ment’s Air Pollution Control Prog ram to de-termine if your proje ct is subject to regula -tion. A list of certified asbest os removalcontractors is re gularly updated online at:dn r.mo.gov/env/apcp/asbestos.htm .

Once you hire a c ontractor, you maywonder what to expect. Do y ou see visionsof people decke d out in plastic suits withma sks working in a room cloaked entirelyin plastic and duct ta pe? Depending on yo ur

specific project, that mi ght be an apt de-scription. A ccording to regulations, certai nasbestos-related activities req uire this typeof setup. These precautions are neces sary tmi nimize the movement of asbestos fibersfrom the w ork area to the rest of your homIf you hire someone and susp ect that theymay be doing so mething wrong, it is a ppropri ate to report it.

Asbesto s is just one of the many hazardwe all may encounter in our h omes or workplaces. Lead, mo ld, chemicals, electri calhaz ards and other risks t oo numerous tomention are potential indoor risks we crosspaths with every day. Be awar e of your sur-

roundings and if something appears to beuns afe, check out your su spicions with aqualified pr ofessional.

The Air Pollution Control P rogram canbe reached at 573 -751-4817 or visit th e as-bes tos webpage listed ear lier to learn moreabout asbes tos, its health-related risks andregulatory requirements.

Dar cy A. Bybee is an environmental spe-cialist in the department’s Air PollutionControl Program .


Asbestos Health-Related Risks

Disease What happens? Symptoms Latency period * Treatment

* time between exposure and onset of symptoms

ASBESTOSIS Scarring of the lungs Coughing, shortness of breath, cracklingsounds in lower lung, clubbing of fingers

10-20 years Irreversible; only known cure isa lung transplant

MESOTHELIOMA(rare)

Cancer of the lining of the lungsor the abdominal cavity.

Few symptoms in early stages;extremely painful

20-40 years Usually fatal – life expectancy 3months to 4 years from diagnosis

LUNG CANCER Malignant tumor of thebronchi covering

Persistent cough, enlarged lymph nodes 20 years Various treatment methods

source: Environmental Protection Agency

(Top) The asbestos- contain-ing materials at the St.

Louis Army AmmunitionPlant were in poor condition

and required a registeredasbestos abatement con-

tractor for their removal. As-bestos was often used in in-

dustrial and militaryapplications where fire and

chemical resistancewere important.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/missouri-resources-2011-summer 12/2810 Missouri Resources

very simplereasons to help

stamp out idling: publichealth and money.Vehicle emiss ions contribute to unhealthy

levels of fine particles, ozone and air toxins.These fine particles in vehicle emissions

– known as particula te matter – can getthrough the body’s defenses and deep intothe lungs of children. There have been anumber of health studies linking airborneparticle pollution exposure to increasedhospital admissions and emergency roomvisits for respiratory distress.

In the U.S., idling consumes approxi-mately four million gallons of fuel each day

– a waste of money and resources. I f jus t100 cars would reduce their idling time byfive minutes a day, it would save 100pounds of ozone-forming emissions and360 pounds of carbon monoxide from beingreleased into the air per year.

Turn it Off With a specific goal in mind, the next ob-

vious step was to “get the project up andrunning,” said Neidigh.

Working together with the department,signs and brochures were developed to helpexplain where the no-idle zone would be lo-cated and why there was a need for one.

Then, in spring 2010 with the signs in-stalled and brochures printed, SpringfieldPublic Schools, the department and the

Ozarks Clean Air Alliance kicked off thecampaign to reduce unnecessary idling.

Half a year into the campaign, Pelkeysaid “compliance is high.” He believes ithelps because parents see the value of nothaving their children breathing exhaustfrom vehicles.

He also admitted that there’s still morework to continue to reduce idling aroundthe schools.

There are some times, like the frigid daysof winter, cars are allowed to idle for longperiods. On these types of days, Pelkey saidthe message is to schedule your time so youwon’t have to be sitting and waiting for half an hour.

Green TeamNo doubt helping the success of the cam-

paign to reduce idling are the Springfieldschool districts’ environmental clubs, someof which are known as Green Teams. Nearly

every school in the district has some formof Green Team. These teams are made up of teachers, students and members of the Par-ent-Teacher Association, and they focus onenvironmental issues like recycling, com-posting and gardening. These teams andclubs go one step further than just learning,they get out and do something about it.

At the kick-off event at David HarrisonElementary School in Springfield, some of the school’s local Green Team members en-thusiastically ran up and down a long line of

NoIdleFactsM Y T H – I need to warm up myvehicle’s engine.FA C T – Idling is not an effec-tive way to warm upyour vehicle – drivingis. A 30-second idle atstart-up to properly cir-culate engine oil ismore than sufficient.

M Y T H – Leaving my car run-ning uses less fuel.lFA C T – Restarting a V-6engine uses about thesame amount of fuelas idling for five sec-onds. Shutting off your vehicle saves youmoney. Idling = zeromiles per gallon.

M Y T H – Restarting my enginecan damage it.FA C T – Since the early 1990s,all cars have fuel injec-tion, which reduces oilbreakdown in engines.The cost of “wear andtear” on the starter/bat-tery is only about$10/year. Fuel savingsfrom idle reductioneasily offset this cost.

“ This is the perfect scenario, where the students are the ones

who want to carry the message. ”Greg Pelkey - Springfield Public Schools


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waiting cars. The members knocked on win-dows of idling cars and handed outbrochures that explained the health and en-vironmental effects of idling.

This is the “perfect scenario,” Pelkeysaid, “where the students are the ones whowant to carry the message.”

What About the Buses?Parents aren’t the only ones waiting topick up students after school.

Unnecessary idling of diesel schoolbuses wastes fuel and results in avoidableamounts of toxins being emitted into the air.Similar to gasoline-powered vehicle idling,diesel emissions from idling buses furthercontribute to air quality problems and relat-ed health effects.

Pelkey said the Springfield school dis-trict has had a policy to reduce school busidling for a couple of years.

“Not only to save fuel, but also to de-crease emissions around the area’s schools,”he explained.

Besides the obvious health benefitsaround schools, one hour of reduced idlingper day yields $301.50 per year in fuel sav-ings (see chart). Multiply this times thenumber of buses participating and the sav-ings to school districts and taxpayers canadd up quickly.

The department has developed a schoolbus air emission inventory for Missouri. Foreach school district in the state, this invento-ry includes the number of buses in operation,the emission control equipment installed,amount of diesel emissions discharged by theschool district’s fleet and any idling policiesthe school has implemented.

This information assists the departmentin achieving the long-term goal of reducingthe harmful emissions produced by dieselschool bus fleets as they contribute to theformation of ground-level ozone. Also, out-reach programs using this information helpinform fleets with excessive or unnecessary

idling about the impacts that idling has onfuel cost and air quality.

You can see your school’s idling policyand other information at: dnr.mo.gov/env/apcp/schoolbusinventory.htm.

What’s Next?Next up for the school district is to meas-

ure the success of the no-idle zones. Thiswill likely include going out and physicallycounting the number of vehicles that idleduring a given period of time.

Expect to see more idle-free zones. TheOzarks Clean Air Alliance “wants to use itas a model for other school districts,” Nei-digh said. “It’s definitely applicable.”

Other SchoolsFor other schools or businesses interest-

ed in a similar program, Pelkey said the bestthing is to outline a goal, an objective. Justas importantly, it’s wise to “network out.”

Many schools across the county have al-ready implemented programs similar to theone at Springfield Public Schools. Theseother districts have “already gone throughthe headaches and challenges,” and areopen to discuss their programs.

Besides creating a safe and healthy placefor students to learn, Pelkey said the district

wants to be a leader for the community andother school districts.

Will the success of the Springfield pro-gram encourage others to step up and helpclear the air while reducing their schoolsystem’s annual fuel budget? Or, will they

just sit idling by?

Mark Conner is a public information spe-cialist in the department’s Air PollutionControl Program.

0

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

$300

$350

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

A n n u a

l F u e

l S a v

i n g s

Minutes of dling Reduced Per Day

• Reducing idling 30 minutes per day yields $150.75 per year in fuel savings.• One hour of idling reduced per day yields $301.50 per year in fuel savings.

Source: EPA fuel savings calculator; based on $3.35/gallon diesel

Annual Fuel SavingsFrom Idle Reduction

(One School Bus)


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lumbia and Jefferson City,” Hall said. “Thisis particularly true with ozone monitoring.”

hile the information is needed in as-sessing the state’s compliance with

federal regulations, it is also helpful tothose who suffer from respiratory concernssuch as asthma. All of the data is availableon the department’s website at:dnr.mo.gov/env/esp/aqm/esp-aqm.htm, andon EPA’s AIRNow website at:www.airnow.gov. Because these sites areupdated regularly, they are a good sourcefor current air quality information.

“About 80 percent of our instrumentscollect continuous data,” said Koon. “Thegreat majority of our instruments are usingelectronic technology, and they’re gettingus our data faster. We also submit data toagencies that want to use it for the air pollu-tion index reporting.”

“Air monitoring network data is alsocontributing to research to determine whatother pollutants are in Missouri’s air andwhat effect they may have on humanhealth,” Hall added.

“We also monitor for a suite of air toxicsat our national air toxics trend station in St.

Louis,” Hall said. “That monitoring datasupports more research-oriented goals andtoxicology research related to air pollution,not so much related to demonstrating thatan area attained a particular air quality stan-dard. So there are a number of other uses of the air monitoring data other than just com-pliance with the NAAQS standards.”

Good policy – whether that be setting na-tional standards for air quality or decidingwhether a child joins in a local soccer game

– depends on good data. Missourians can

breathe easier knowing that there is a smallarmy of silent sentinels deployed through-out the state keeping track of what is in

the air.

Larry Archer is the division information of- ficer for the department’s Div ision of Envi-ronmental Quality.



New State Park WebsiteCheck out

the newlylaunched Mis-souri state

park websiteat: mostateparks.com. The websitehas been redesigned to make it moreuser friendly with a new color, layoutand new features. New multimediacomponents feature videos and pho-tographs for each park and site andnew navigation paths make it easier tofind what you are looking for as youplan your state park visit.

The “Choose your adventure” fea-ture has an interactive map that letsyou choose an activity and see whichsites have that activity. If you click on“Find a park,” you can go directly tothe park or site of your choice, or getto parks by region or act ivity. Clickingon “Things to do” will take you to anenhanced activities page that will pro-vide a listing of parks for 20 of your fa-vorite activities.

For years, users have said theywanted Internet map directions toplaces. More than 2,000 datapointshave been added on the new website,

making it easier to find all state parksand historic sites.

Largest Ever NaturalDisaster PreparednessExercise to be Held

Two months afterthe deadly, magni-tude 9.0 earth-quake in Japan,the emergencymanagementcommunity will hold

the largest natural disaster emergencymanagement exercise in U.S. history.

In the planning stages for sometime, this National Level Exercise (NLE2011) is a congressionally mandateddisaster preparedness exercise set forMay 16-20. Federal agencies, includ-ing the White House, states, counties,cities, organizations and businesseswill simulate a coordinated responseto a large quake, and the resourceneeds that would follow.

NLE 2011 will simulate the cata-strophic nature of a major earthquakein the central U.S. region of the NewMadrid Seismic Zone. This year is thebicentennial anniversary of the 1811

New Madrid earthquake, for which thezone is named. NLE 2011 will be thefirst to focus on a natural hazard.

The department’s Geological Sur-vey program will test emergency plansincluding activation of the Post Earth-quake Technical Clearinghouse, an in-formation center in Rolla, for geolo-gists and other scientists who willreceive credentials to enter the affect-ed area. It is anticipated that prelimi-nary geologic data can aid officials inanticipating the potential for landslide,

flooding and effects of further groundmovement. The state geologist, envi-ronmental emergency response staff and other experts at DNR will participatewith other agencies at the State Emer-gency Management Agency in Jeffer-son City and at locations statewide.Learn more at: dnr.mo.gov/nle.

New 11-mile Section ofKaty Trail Opens

Gov. Jay Nixon, First Lady Geor-ganne Nixon and State Parks DirectorBill Bryan cut the ribbon to open an11-mile portion of Missouri’s Katy TrailState Park from St. Charles east toMachens. Opening the final section of the trail along the original Katy Rail-road corridor marked a major mile-stone for the nation’s longest devel-oped rail-trail project, which openedits first section in 1990. The trail nowstretches 240 miles from Machens toClinton, in west-central Missouri.Completion of this section opens up

opportunities to connect to a trail net-work in the St. Louis and St. CharlesCounty area.

Before the final section could bebuilt between St. Charles andMachens, floods in 1993 and 1995 se-verely damaged the corridor. Damageincluded two scour holes so large theycould not be filled.

Using a grant from The GreatRivers Greenway, crews were able tobuild the trail around one of the holes

on Katy Trail property. An agreementwith the Consolidated North CountyLevee District provided an easementalong the L-15 levee so the trail couldbe built around the second scour

hole. The Missouri Department of Transportation managed the project,which was funded through the Ameri-can Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Now that the eastern end of theKaty Trail has been completed, the ef-fort will be focused on connecting thetrail on the western end of the state viathe Rock Island Trail. This section willconnect to the Katy Trail at Windsorand serve as a link to provide trail ac-cess all the way to the Kansas border.

For more information on Katy Trail

State Park, visit: katytrailstatepark.com.

Permit Modifications List Available Online

Facilities or business-es that actively treat,store – for more than 90days –or dispose of haz-ardous waste in Mis-souri must get a haz-ardous waste permit, whichlists how and what kinds of hazardouswaste the facility can manage. It alsolists the facility’s operating conditionsand closure, corrective action and fi-nancial assurance requirements.

The department or the facility canmake changes to the hazardous wastepermit throughout its life. Permit modi-fications are labeled as Class 1, 2 or 3,depending on how much they changethe original permit conditions.

The public is invited to review theMissouri Department of Natural Re-sources’ list of all approved haz-

ardous waste permit modifications forcalendar year 2010. The permit modi-fications list is online at:www.dnr.mo.gov/env/hwp/permits/publications.htm.

For more information or a hardcopyof the permit modifications list, con-tact the department’s HazardousWaste Program at 800-361-4827. Hear-ing- and speech-impaired individualsmay reach the department throughRelay Missouri at 800-735-2966.


news



State Parks

Youth Corps Returns Appl ications are

available for youthsto earn money whilehelping to im-prove Missouristate parksand historicsites. Nowin its second year, the State Parks

Youth Corps provides employmentfor youth between 17 and 21

through Nov. 30, 2011. The program

provides opportunities for valuablework experience and job skills whileintroducing youth to possible careersin natural resources and state parks.

Youth corps members will work instate parks and historic sites through-out the state performing a variety of tasks. Responsibilities may includepainting buildings; repairing roofs andwindows; planting trees and maintain-ing landscapes; building and clearingtrails; assisting in offices and visitor

First DNR State Park Environmental CampDraws 420 Students

Does your school dis-trict offer an environ-mental camp for your

seventh or eighthgraders to learn

more about environ-mental issues?Would you consid-er adding a camp

to your school curriculum? The Mis-souri Department of Natural Resourcesis offering students and teachers anexciting new opportunity. The depart-ment is developing an environmentalcamp to create a lasting environmental

experience for students. DNR will holdthe camps in some of Missouri’s out-standing, natural environmental set-tings – Missouri state parks.

Research shows that teaching chil-dren about stewardship of the earth ismost effective when they learn out-doors through hands-on experiences.The science coordinator of ColumbiaPublic Schools and the administrationat Lange Middle School in Columbiahave agreed to pilot the first Depart-ment of Natural Resources camp.Four hundred twenty seventh gradersattended the first camp in April atMark Twain State Park near Florida ,Mo. The department surveyed morethan 29,000 Missouri teachers whiledeveloping the camp’s curriculum.

Students and teachers will also par-ticipate in a service project deter-mined by the state park superintend-ent. Mark Twain State Park needs helpwith a retaining wall and severalcleanup projects.

Plans to expand the camp in thefollowing years will make an educationin natural resources available to allMissouri students. The department willannounce future camps on its websiteat: dnr.mo.gov and on the MissouriState Park group camp website at:mostateparks.com/page/55138/organized-group-camps.

For more information, contactDNR’s Education Coordinator at: [email protected].

Spring/Summer 201115

environmental notes

In today’s always-connected world of tech gadgets andgizmos, it’s easy to forget about the batteries that power ourdevices. Many of these gadgets are replaced as frequentlyas one to two years after first purchased, abandoned for thenewest next-best-thing. In such cases, what should you dowith the old batteries?

For many, they sit in a drawer for a while, before the in-evitable round of cleaning has them placed in the trash for a trip to the landfill.Some people recycle the batteries, following advice from years ago when manyrechargeable batteries contained harmful heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, andlead. With today’s gadgets, this is not the case, although everyone should still turnin those old batteries for recycling. Most of today’s batteries in portable devices are

made using either of two battery technologies known as lithium-ion (Li-Ion) andlithium-polymer (LiPo). According to the Environmental Protection Agency, they aresafe for disposal in the normal municipal waste stream. While they will not pollute if thrown away, there are still reasons to recycle them that benefit our environment, aswell as our wallets.

Lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries containmetals such as cobalt, copper, nickel and iron. All of

these metals must be mined as raw materials, so throwingthem away is a waste of our natural resources. Every year, approx-

imately 9,000 tons of cobalt is used in the manufacture of lithium-ionand lithium-polymer batteries. Up to 13 percent of the total weight of these batteries can be cobalt alone, so recycling them to reclaimtheir raw materials not only prevents cobalt from being mined, but in

the long run, also reduces the total cost of batteries for us all.Recycling lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries is easy and free. Simply take

them to a local RadioShack, Lowe’s, Best Buy, Sears or Staples store. These loca-tions participate in the Call2Recycle battery-recycling program and have specialcollection boxes for used batteries from portable electronic devices. You can dropoff any kind of rechargeable battery, including nickel-cadmium (NiCd), and nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) at these locations as long as it weighs less than 11 pounds. If you don’t have one of the above businesses in your area, you can find a drop-off lo-cation by visiting www.call2recycle.com and clicking on the “Drop-off Locator” tab,or by calling the Call2Recycle helpline at 877-2-RECYCLE (877-273-2925).

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A Battery of Recycling Advantages



centers; providing seasonal interpre-tation through tours and programs;and developing and implementing so-cial media efforts.

The State Parks Youth Corps is acooperative partnership between Mis-souri State Parks and the Division of Workforce Development with its localWorkforce Investment Boards. Theprogram is funded by Workforce In-vestment Act 15 percent funds andyouth must meet Workforce Invest-ment Act guidelines (low incomewith barrier).

To apply online, go to the State of Missouri’s website at: MO.gov or visitwith your local Workforce InvestmentBoard representative.

DNR Releases RevisedStormwater Guide

The Missouri De-partment of Natural Re-sources has released arevised set of guide-lines aimed at helpingdevelopers and contractors better

manage stormwater runoff from con-struction sites and minimize erosionthat contributes to water pollution.

Protecting Water Quality: A field guide to erosion, sediment and stormwater best management prac-tices for development sites in Missouri

and Kansas , is a guide to managingstormwater to aid in building a cleanenvironment and vital community. Theguide includes information on prac-tices specifically useful in controllingerosion and polluted runoff during ac-tive construction projects.

The guide also explains the causesof stormwater pollution and its poten-tial impact on community life. It givescontractors, planners, developers,

government officials and the generalpublic methods to coordinate bestmanagement practices and strategiesto harmonize community efforts.

Updates in the revised version of the publication include state-of-the-practice design and technology, in-cluding designs with fewer or smallerdetention basins and more rain gar-


news

L e t t e r sI enjoy your publication. In the winter 2011 issue, the Envi-

ronmental Notes column about lawn mowers omitted anymention of rechargeable battery operated mowers. I havebeen mowing our lawn for over five years with a Neutron brandmower that uses a removable, rechargeable battery. Fullycharged, it can mow for two hours which is quite adequate formost city lawns. I would emphasize, it’s designed for normalcity size lawns – our lot is 75 feet by 120 feet.

Because it has no fluids such as gas or oil, with the batteryremoved the mower can be easily hung on the garage wall. Anovernight charge restores full power to the battery. An addedbenefit is that it is no noisier than an electric fan, which theneighbors appreciate. It has also worked adequately when thegrass is wet.

Joe GrimmGlendale

Missouri Resources is a great publication, and the cover onthe winter issue was outstanding. Your article on “green”lawns (Environmental Notes) states that electric mowers are“only as good as your power cord is long.” Battery-powered

mowers are available – they are light, easy to push and pollu-tion-free. I’ve used one very successfully for several years, justrotating between three batteries.

Jerry EidsonCamdenton

I just wanted to say thank you for your magazine. Everypage is a greeting card of valuable information. The Time Ex-posures entry each issue is tops – I especially enjoyed thestory about the old Alton Club on the Current River (Fall 2010).

Don E. FlynnSt. Louis

Letters intended for publication should be addressed to “Letters,” Missouri Resources, PO Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176 or faxed to(573) 522-6262, attention: “Letters.” Please include your name, add ress and daytime phone n umber. Space may require us to edit your letter.

You also can e -mail Missouri Resources staff at [email protected].

den type practices. The publicationexplores an emerging emphasis onenvironmental site design and illus-trates several Midwest examples. Therevised book now includes a construc-tion site inspection checklist.

The stormwater guide is availableon DNR’s website at : dnr.mo.gov/env/wpp/wpcp-guide.htm. For more infor-mation, call the department’s WaterProtection Program at 800-361-4827.

Low-interest Loans for Water and Wastewater

The Missouri Department of NaturalResources is offering low-interestloans to Missouri drinking water andwastewater facilities for energy-effi-

ciency projects under the EnergizeMissouri Water – Water and Waste-water Energy Loan Program. The de-partment anticipates awarding up to$10 million in financing with a 3 per-cent APR for eligible projects. Theloan program will provide $100,000 to$1.5 million in funding for projects toupdate and improve facilities with



measures that will result in reducedenergy costs and energy savings. Ex-amples of eligible projects includevariable frequency drives, motors andpumps, lighting upgrades, high-effi-ciency fans and heating ventilationand air conditioning.

“The projects implemented as a re-sult of these loans will help local gov-ernments and water processorsachieve energy savings,” said SaraParker Pauley, director of the MissouriDepartment of Natural Resources.“This effort also follows Gov. Nixon’sinitiatives to use green innovativetechnology to improve the environ-ment, help create jobs and continue tostimulate Missouri’s economy.”

Energize Missouri Water is accept-ing project applications for the Waterand Wastewater Energy Loan Programthrough a competitive applicationprocess. For more information aboutthe program call 573-751-7466 or e-mail [email protected]. The de-partment is committed to workingclosely with businesses, agriculturalentities, industries and communities toassist with funding efforts that supportenergy efficiency and renewable ener-gy projects and provide financial sav-ings to Missourians.

The department has made Ener-gize Missouri Water loans availablethrough funding received from the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The department is admin-istering more than $200 million in Re-covery Act funding to support Ener-gize Missouri projects to create jobsand improve energy efficiencies andrenewable energy for Missouri.

Kill A Watt – An Offer YouShouldn’t RefuseCitizens can now find out how

much electricity their old refrigerator isusing and decide if the air conditioneris still saving money and resources byusing a “Kill A Watt ®” home energymonitor. This is especially good newsfor Rolla Public Library cardholdersbecause the library and Rolla Munici-pal Utilities teamed up to make moni-tors available.

The Kill A Watt monitor is simple touse. Just plug it into an electric socketnear each appliance – then plug theappliance into the monitor and turn onthe appliance. The amount of electrici-

ty used varies. Some appliances se-cretly use small amounts of energyeven though they are turned off. Thispower usage is referred to as a phan-tom electricity load.


Billy Backues and Chuck Chur can often be seen wading in the streams andrivers around the Lake of the Ozarks. They come from very different backgroundsand different parts of the country, but they are bound together by a fierce love of the outdoors. Most recently a cattle rancher in Kansas, Backues spent 24 years inthe Air Force and another 17 working for Boeing before retiring to the lake area.Chur moved to the lake from Minneapolis and a career in computer technologyand finance. Both men came to the area in 2008 and soon became involved withthe Missouri Master Naturalist Program.

In 2009, theStream Team programheld a VolunteerWater Quality Monitor-ing introductory work-shop in Camdentonand the rest is history.

“Stream Team of-fers a great opportuni-ty for Master Natural-ists to fill theirvolunteer require-ments,” said Chu r.“We came for thetraining and then wewere hooked.”

The two men are forming their own Stream Team in the lake area and at lastcount, have enlisted 16 members. Their goal is to get some of the younger mem-bers trained as water quality monitors so that they can monitor even morestreams. Both men are quick to state that interested volunteers do not have to bea Master Naturalist to join their Stream Team.

Backues and Chur agree that their new Stream Team would love to have anynew members from the area. The only prerequisite is an interest in water quality.

Currently, Chur and Backues monitor one site onMill Creek and another on the Little Niangua River. Astheir team expands, they hope their monitoring siteswill expand, too. Backues said that the best part of theprogram is “just being out there in the middle of abeautiful Ozark stream.” He also admitted, “I have be-come a bit of a driving hazard, because I am alwayscraning my neck when I go over a bridge to see if thewater in the stream looks good.”

Billy Backues (left) and Chuck Chur measure conduc-tivity and temperature in preparation for winter chlo-

ride monitoring.

Master NaturalistsForm Their Own Stream Team

Stream Team Notebook

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Monitors display kilowatt hoursconsumed, which is the same meas-urement used on electricity bills. Kill AWatt monitors can be used to calcu-late energy costs by hour, day, monthor year. Using the results from the Kill

A Watt, homeowners can make adjust-ments to reduce their overall energyuse and lower monthly utility bills.

Rolla Public Library cardholdersmay contact the library at 573-364-2604 or stop by 900 Pine Street to re-

serve a monitor. Check with your locallibrary or electric provider to learnwhether they offer similar monitors.

$1.7 Million to Clean UpGM site in Kansas City

The State of Missouri will receiveaccess to $1.7 million in funds fromthe General Motors bankruptcy settle-ment to cover costs associated withcleaning up the former Leeds Assem-bly Plant in Kansas City.


news

T ime E xposures

On May 27, 1896, a fierce tornado touched down about 6 miles west of theEads Bridge in St. Louis leaving a mile-wide swath of destruction that killed137 people in the city. Another 118 were killed after the twister crossed theMississippi River and pummeled East St. Louis, Ill. All told, nearly 9,000buildings were either damaged or destroyed.

Pictured is the D. M. Osborne & Co. warehouse on the corner of 22nd andGratiot streets. The sturdily built structure covered one-half city block. Its en-tire west wall and fourth floor were destroyed and contents, such as mowers,binders and other heavy agricultural machinery were deposited in the street,along with bricks and structural debris.

The long-lived tornado blitzed across Illinois and into the eastern U.S.,continuing its deadly and ruinous path. In 2009 U.S. dollars, the storm is esti-mated to have caused $3.8 billion in damage and more than 284 fatalities.

The photo is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-tion’s central library, www.photolib.noaa.gov.

Send your photo to “Time Exposures,” c/o Missouri Resources, PO Box 176, Jefferson City,MO 65102-0176. Original photos will be returned via insured mail. Pre-1970 environmental and

natural resource photos from Missouri will be considered. Please try to include the dateand location of the picture, a brief description and any related historic details that might beof interest to our readers.

The settlement, negotiated by thedepartment and Missouri AttorneyGeneral’s Office, is part of the nation-wide GM bankruptcy settlement.

GM manufactured automobiles atthe 117-acre Leeds facility for nearly60 years and those activities left alegacy of pollutants on the site. Thebulk of these pollutants related to thedisposal of paint wastes such as lead,arsenic, benzene and beryllium.

The $1.7 million allocated for theLeeds cleanup will cover necessaryremediation activities, such as site in-vestigation, soil and drum removal,maintenance of a protective asphaltcap and groundwater monitoring.

LaBarque Creek Nominated OutstandingState Resource

LaBarqueCreek in JeffersonCounty has beennominated to be-come an Out-standing State Re-source Water.

An Outstanding State ResourceWater is a surface water that providesoutstanding recreational opportuni-ties, supports valuable fisheries andwildlife habitat, has good water qualityand is not significantly affected byhuman activities.

These designations are intended tomeet federal Clean Water Act obliga-tions requiring Missouri to adopt anantidegradation policy designed toprevent any reduction of water quality,especially in those waters having sig-nificant ecological or cultural value.

The creek was nominated by the

LaBarque Creek Watershed Associa-tion. The final decision on the desig-nation will be made by the MissouriClean Water Commission.

For news releases on the Web, visit:

dnr.mo.gov/newsrel/index.html.

For a complete listing of the department’s

upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit

the department’s online calendar at:

dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.



T he Missouri state park system has benefited from numeroussupporters over the years but the support of one individual,

Gov. Jay Nixon, produced one of the most significant benefits stateparks have seen since the 1930s. In 2010, Gov. Nixon launched theState Parks Youth Corps, which provided jobs for more than 1,000youths as they enhanced and improved Missouri’s state parks andhistoric sites.

The SPYC was funded through the federal American Recovery andReinvestment Act and is a cooperative partnership between theDivision of State Parks and the Division of Workforce Development.

After SPYC was launched, Gov. Nixon personally traveled across thestate, bringing attention to the program and encouraging youths totake advantage of the opportunity. His support and personal attentionwere part of an overall effort to improve the state park system, bolsterthe state’s economy and tourism industry while providing valuablework experience for youths.

Positions and responsibilities for the SPYC varied from routinemaintenance work and trail construction to interpretation and socialmedia efforts. In 2010, the youth corps members contributed morethan 187,500 hours to the state park system. Examples of theiraccomplishments include reroofing more than 25 structures, develop-ing 145 videos for the state park website and signing and blazingalmost 650 miles of trail in 58 state parks.

Because of all the improvements accomplished, the programbrought new energy to the state park system. It is often compared tothe Civilian Conservation Corps, which first developed many of the

parks in the 1930s. Many of the buildings the youth corps membersrepaired were built by the CCC in the 1930s.

The program was so successful in 2010 that it is being continuedin 2011. The goal is to employ 600 youths to assist in state parks from

April 1 through Nov. 30. This will help ensure that the benefits willcontinue to increase and be sustained into the future.

Gov. Nixon and the State Parks Youth Corps were recognized withthe President’s Award from the National Association of State ParkDirectors in 2010 for this innovative program.

Gov. Nixon and first lady Georganne visit Katy Trail State Park.

news

RockMatters

G alena, a natural semiconduc-tor and important mineral used in early

wireless communication systems and predecessor to silicon,played a major role in advancement of the electronic tools andconveniences we enjoy today, from cell phones to TVs to GlobalPositioning Systems and an assortment of medical equipment.

The most abundant and widely distributed sulfide mineral,

also known as lead sulfide, galena (PbS) is the primary ore of lead. A bluish-gray metallic luster identifies galena when freshlybroken. Soft and brittle crystal masses break into perfect cubicfragments. Dull and gray when weathered, galena is about eighttimes heavier than water.

The earth abundantly yields galena in what is known as theViburnum Trend in the Southeast Missouri Lead District, theworld’s most productive region. Galena was also at one timereadily brought forth from the zinc-lead mines in the Joplin-WebbCity area in southwest Missouri, known as the Tri-State District.Since 1720, galena has played an important role in the historyand economics of Missouri and in 1967 the Missouri Legislaturedesignated galena the official state mineral.

Galena Missouri’s state mineral is the pri-mary ore of lead and it is often mined for its silver. Today’sgreen technology has offered new uses for galena, whichwas used in cosmetics as early as 3500 B.C.DNR photos by Mark Gordon

Today, galena has found notoriety in the“green technology” arena as in the case of

lead-cadmium-sulphide solar cells in which thisessential element is sprayed as a thin layer on a solar

panel and acts as a semiconductor. It is generally used in vehiclebatteries, in the manufacture of pipe, wheel weights, electronicsand communications equipment, and for soldering material to

join metals.Popular with rock hounds, this attractive mineral has beenused for many purposes for more than 3,000 years. It was thecrystal in crystal radio sets in a bygone era when possibly yourgrandparents or great grandparents built radio receivers usinground oatmeal boxes, lengths of copper wire, headphones and alittle cat’s whisker with crystal (now modern semiconductordiodes) from the local hardware store.

Galena, Mo., near Branson and Table Rock Lake in StoneCounty, was named for this mineral. Fourteen American townsare similarly named. Galena is also the official state mineral of Wisconsin and three United States Navy vessels were namedUSS Galena.


Resource Honor Roll Governor Jay Nixon



W hen planners first discussedbuilding a state park whereAmerica’s two greatest rivers

come together, they knew it would not beeasy but they also knew it would be worththe effort.

“Creating a state park where the Mis-souri and Mississippi come together pres-ents challenges for development and man-agement but it also creates greatopportunities for the public,” said BillBryan, Missouri State Parks Director.

At Edward “Ted” and PatJones-Confluence Point StatePark, the biggest challenge isfrequent flooding. The oppor-tunities are for visitors to expe-rience a historic wetland land-scape and visit a place unlikeany other in the United States.

Located near West Alton inSt. Charles County, the 1,121-acre park contains the point

where the Mississippi and Mis-souri rivers combine into one.The management goal is to re-store the area’s historic naturalenvironments to what the earlytravelers and botanists found.Timothy Flint described thelandscape in 1828 as a beauti-ful prairie “dotted with greenislands of wood,” with a blendof ponds and marshes fringedby bottomland timber.

Because of its low elevation, floodingoccurs frequently. “They were careful aboutthat in planning the amenities,” said QuinnKellner, natural resource manager of thepopular park.

“The kind of exhibits we have, they’vebeen underwater for months but they clean upeasily and they’re not impacted at all,” Kell-ner said. The exhibits explain the wetlandrestoration and history of the area, includingLewis and Clark’s Expedition in 1804.

The park first opened in 2004 as part of the commemoration of the Lewis and ClarkBicentennial. The park’s name honors thelate businessman Ted Jones, and his wifePat, who were generous contributors to es-tablishing the Katy Trail State Park. Thepark will serve as a link in a regional effortto provide trail access all the way from theend of Katy Trail State Park in Machens tothe Illinois border. The Danforth Founda-tion, Western Rivers Conservancy and theGreat Rivers Greenway helped finance the

initial purchase of the land with additionalhelp from a grant from the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service and the current partnershipwith the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Important VisitorsA three-year drought followed the park’s

opening in 2004, and flooding was not aproblem. However, spring floods soon fol-lowed, including in 2010 when the park wasclosed for much of the summer due to highwater and the resulting cleanup.

resources

St. Cha r lesCo un ty

by Tom Uhlenbrock


(Below) Ken McCarty withMissouri State Parks ex-

plains the value of the wet-land habitat as local school

children prepare to planttrees as part of the

area restoration.

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But it reopened by fall, and Kellner leda walk out to the only place in the UnitedStates where you can put one foot in theMississippi and the other in the Missouri.

As he predicted, the covered kiosk thathas interpretative exhibits about river ge-ology, the Native Americans who livedhere and the visit of Lewis and Clark wasin good shape. The only hint of the springflood was the high-water mark still on therestroom building.

The walk headed on a paved paththrough a stand of trees out onto a spit of land that separated the two great rivers.The names of the rivers were imbedded inbronze in the concrete and a display ex-plained that snow melting at the Continen-tal Divide would be some 14,000 feethigher, and travel 2,800 miles, beforereaching the point of confluence.

An even more impressive display was thegold ball on top of what looked like a flag-pole. The ball marked the water level

reached during the Great Flood of 1993.“Since we’re relatively new, people are

discovering the park for the first time,”Kellner said. “We get a fair number of inter-national visitors who want to see the conflu-ence. We get quite a few people from India

– they bring whole famil ies out to view it.“There is a lot of significance to a conflu-ence in their culture. They value the sitequite a bit.”

The park also is valued by another im-portant visitor – migratory birds and water-

fowl that arrive from the north each winter,including a large number of bald eagles whohead south in search of unfrozen water.

“When the river gets ice on it, they reallycongregate around open water to feed onfish,” Kellner said. “You can have a coupledozen eagles on the ice close to each other.It’s a nice mix of adults and younger birdsthat don’t have the white head and tail yet.

“We have great egrets for much of theyear, and some snowy egrets. We get Amer-ican white pelicans frequently. Trumpeterswans start showing up in ea rly to mid-win-ter – usually in November and December.We get several dozen.”


(Top) At Edward "Ted" andPat Jones-Confluence PointState Park, the two greatest

rivers in the United States,the Missouri and Mississip-pi, converge and provide aunique place for observa-tion and contemplation.(Above) A walkway into theconfluence area puts visi-tors in a great spot to viewthe two great rivers.

DNR photo by Scott Myers

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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/missouri-resources-2011-summer 24/2822 Missouri Resources

Restoring theFloodplain

A significant partnerin the wetland restorationis the U. S. Army Corpsof Engineers, whichowns half of the park andhas a license agreement

with state parks to man-age that half. The Corpsprovides funding forrestoration effortsthrough its MissouriRiver Recovery Program.The money has beenused to build pools in thewetlands, re-establishplants and for labor.

“We’re planting some300 acres of wet prairiespecies – big bluestem,

Indian grass, Virginiawild rye,” Kellner said.The park has also added

hardwood species that would naturallyoccur in higher ground like burr oak, pinoak, swamp white oak, persimmon andpecan. Some ground is being allowed tonaturally vegetate on its own, with lots of cottonwood and black willow.

The park staff got a helping hand fromarea fourth- and fifth-grade students whoplanted some 4,000 trees, and got a hands-on lesson in habitat restoration.

Because of its position between the tworivers, water often comes up in the park,feeding a mosaic of marshes and wetlands,and sometimes covering the roads. Kellnernoted that one of the benefits of having therestored floodplain is it acts as a sponge tolower water levels in developed, populatedareas along the river.

“We’re draining two-thirds of NorthAmerica between the two river systems,” hesaid. “Restoring the floodplain helps holdthe soil and diminish some of the impact of a flood.”

A Welcome MatThe Division of State Parks is not the

only government agency that realizes thevalue of the real estate near the confluence.Confluence Point State Park is off High-

way 67 in northeast St. Charles County, justsouth of the bridge that crosses the Missis-sippi into Alton, Ill. The entrance of thepark is marked with a sign that says River-lands Migratory Bird Sanctuary, which is3,700 acres of waterways and wetlandsmanaged by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The road leads to the Melvin Price Locksand Dam on the Mississippi, which in win-ter is a magnet for birds because its outflow

may be the only unfrozen water. The en-trance to the park is just across the roadfrom the locks and dam.

Also nearby is the Missouri Departmentof Conservation’s Columbia Bottom Con-servation Area, which is 4,318 acres. AndU.S. Fish and Wildlife recently took overmanagement of the 1,470 acres of Cora Is-land in the Mississippi.

That presents a total of more than 10,000acres managed with wildlife in mind, pre-senting a vast welcome mat for migratingwaterfowl in winter and a home for residentspecies year-round.

“It all works in conjunction,” Kellnersaid. “I’ve never been in a setting whereyou’ve had so many agencies working to-ward a common goal.”

Tom Uhlenbrock is a writer for the depart-ment’s Division of State Parks.

(Above) Volunteer Ed Bielikplants a burr oak tree in the

park as part of the flood-plain restoration effort.

(Below) The park's locationon the Mississippi River fly-way makes it a popular spotfor many waterfowl and mi-gratory birds such as these

Trumpeter Swans.DNR photos by Scott Myers.



A childhood spent on a Jamaican bananaplantation, a talent for kicking a soc-

cer ball and a summer job mapping Mis-souri water pollution sources all eventuallyled to Allan Clarke’s career helping Mis-souri farmers save soil and improve their

local water quality.Clarke is one of 11 district coordinators

that work for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Soil and Water Conser-vation Program. The program’s district co-ordinators provide technical support andtraining to Missouri’s 114 Soil and WaterConservation Districts.

Raised on a cattle and banana farm onthe island nation of Jamaica, Allan plannedfor a life involved in farming and studiedplant and soil science at a Jamaican agricul-tural college. His life took a geographic de-tour when he was offered a scholarship tocome to the United States to play soccer atLincoln University in Jefferson City. Whileworking on his bachelor’s degree in agricul-ture at LU, he worked summer jobs travel-ing the state for the department to collectGlobal Positioning Systemdata. This data helps pinpointand map the outflows of hun-dreds of Missouri facilitiesthat operate under water pollu-tion permits.

When Clarke finished hisdegree in 2000, he beganworking part time in the de-partment’s Water PollutionControl Program. Shortly af-terward, he accepted a full-time position as an environ-mental specialist for DNR’sJefferson City Regional Of-fice, and later moved to theKansas City Regional Office.In 2005, Clarke put his farm-

career connection Allan Clarke

by Kerry Cordrayphotographs by Scott Myers


On the Front Lines of

Soil Conservation

(Above) Bruce Logan and Allan Clarke go over the details of a planned grazingsystem in Moniteau County. (Below) Logan and Clarke mark the GPS location ofa well that is scheduled to be decommissioned. The decommissioning mustmeet federal NRCS standards and specifications, and must be registered withthe Department of Natural Resources’ Wellhead Protection Section.



ing background to use as he accepted a newchallenge as a cost-share coordinator for theSoil and Water Conservation Program.

In the summer of 2008, the SWCPlaunched a data management system thatmade the work of its staff much more effi-cient. Clarke’s position soon changed tothat of a district coordinator.

“My early few years as a cost-share coor-dinator were very paper intensive,” Clarkesaid. “The introduction of the new computersystem helped streamline our entire process,making the implementation of conservationprojects much faster and easier forlandowners, districts and DNR alike. As adistrict coordinator, we now can providemuch more technical support and trainingwith the districts than was possible for us inthe past.”

District coordinators are the front line of staff administering Missouri’s Cost-Share

Program. Funded by the parks, soils andwater sales tax, the cost-share program an-nually helps thousands of Missouri farmersinstall soil and water conservation prac-tices. It also provides a portion of the costof many farming practices to protect areawater quality, reduce different kinds of ero-sion, and manage animal waste, irrigation,pesticides and fertilizers for better local en-vironmental quality. As a district coordina-

tor, Clarke works closely with district of-fices in 10 different counties in central andsouthwest Missouri. He makes surelandowners and staff in each of his assignedcounties design and approve cost-shareprojects for the most cost-effective and en-vironmentally helpful results.

Qualifications for a position as a district

coordinator are the same as for a depart-ment environmental specialist, requiring abachelor’s degree from a college or univer-sity with at least 30 semester hours earnedin one or a combination of the followingfields: agriculture, agronomy, biology,chemistry, ecology, engineering, environ-mental science, forestry, geology, naturalresource management, physical science,physics, soil conservation, soil science,wildlife management or other closely relat-ed subjects.

For more information about this job or

other career opportunities with the Depart-ment of Natural Resources or other Mis-souri state agencies, visit the Office of Ad-ministration’s website at://oa.mo.gov/pers/applicants.htm.

Kerry Cordray is division information offi-cer for the department’s Soil and WaterConservation Program and Water Re-sources Center.


Logan and Clarke examinefrost-proof watering tanks

that will be installed in aplanned grazing system.



MISSOURI DEPARTMENTOF NATURAL RESOURCESPO Box 176Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176

Nonprofit Org.US POSTAGE PAID

MO Dept. ofNatural

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