BENTON, Mo. – Around the state, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and other conservation partners continually work to identify areas of ecological importance. Because of the diversity of Missouri’s natural landscape, there is a broad variety of habitats that MDC and its partners have marked of particular importance.
Southeast Missouri landowners are encouraged to contact MDC if they find prickly pear cactus (shown above) or doubleform snoutbean (pictured below) on their land. These plant species could indicate their property contains remnant sand prairie, a rare habitat only found in southeast Missouri.
One such habitat can be found at Sand Prairie Conservation Area (CA) in Scott County, a 200-acre upland area that is managed for natural communities including sand prairie, sand savanna, and sandy swale ephemeral wetlands. Learn more about Sand Prairie CA at http://short.mdc.mo.gov/owB.
Other conservation partners in southeastern Missouri also recognize the importance of sand prairies and have dedicated resources to preserving this type of habitat.
The Natural Resource Conservation Service administers the Sand Prairie Restoration Program which focuses on working with private landowners in Butler, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott, and Stoddard Counties who may have sand prairie communities on their property.
Through this program, qualifying landowners can receive technical and financial assistance to establish permanent easements to protect this habitat on their land.