CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT TACKLES DUMPING IN OZARKS

SULLIVAN -- The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) purchased several thousand acres of Ozark property last year. Now it's putting its efforts toward helping that land yield diverse animal and plant life, valuable research, sustainable resource use, and rich, clean, recreational opportunities.

"When we bought the area we found about 120 dump sites, mostly in Shannon County," said Ed Keyser, MDC assistant state forester. "The previous owners had tried to stop the dumping by posting signs, but that didn't help. People were ignoring the signs and continuing to dump."

The dumping slowed down when MDC started cleaning up the trash piles. MDC workers reduced the number of piles to about 30 by combining small piles with bigger ones. Then they cleaned up the sites, seeded them with grass and wheat.

"People are dumping on sites that still have trash on them, but they aren't putting any more trash on those that we've cleaned," said Keyser. "The people who live nearby seem to be glad that we bought the property and are doing something with it."

Efforts to buy the property began in December 1991, when MDC and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) announced plans to purchase 80,819 acres of forest land from the Kerr-McGee Corporation. TNC bought land, and agreed to sell it to MDC over a five-year period. MDC made the first payment April 22, and received 37,543 acres of land in return. MDC is negotiating to purchase the remaining acreage in the next year.

The property is the largest state acquisition in decades, and encompasses large parts of the Current, Jack's Fork, and Eleven Point watersheds. It also is part of MDC's five-year Ozark Heritage Conservation Project. That project will incorporate the property into management plans for all MDC land in the lower Ozarks.

"After we get the property cleaned up we'll develop a regional plan for the Ozarks and then individual area plans," said Keyser. "Citizen participation was sought at a public meeting last November, and will be an ongoing part of regional planning."

Keyser said dumping on state lands is a problem throughout Missouri. He said roadside dumping is most common in areas that lack solid waste disposal programs.

"In some counties people don't have convenient means of disposing of trash properly," said Keyser. "People don't know what to do with their trash. The problem probably won't stop until these waste- disposal systems are put into place."