FINS, FUR AND FEATHERS

COLUMBIA -- The Missouri Conservation Commission will hold its next meeting Jan. 13 in Columbia.

The open meeting will begin at 10:15 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Executive Center.

Commission meetings are open to the public.

Commissioners are: Jerry P. Combs, Kennett, chairman; Andy Dalton, Springfield, vice chairman; John Powell, Rolla, secretary; and Anita B. Gorman, Kansas City, member.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and all state park users have received a special Christmas gift -- almost 5,000 acres of scenic wilderness in Southeast Missouri.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation, Pittsburgh, Pa., has funded the $1 million purchase of a 4,794-acre tract in Reynolds County. The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit organization from Arlington, Va., assisted the Mellon Foundation by negotiating the purchase and transfer of land from the Sixth Holding Co. in Ogden, Utah to the DNR on Dec. 27.

The land, which includes some of the most rugged land in the state, includes all of Goggins Mountain, and extension of nearby Bell Mountain. The land borders Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park, which is owned by the DNR, and the Bell Mountain Wilderness Area, owned by the U.s. Forest Service. The new land will be managed as a part of Johnson's Shut-Ins.

With the addition of the new area, Ozark Trail users can now travel on public-owned land from Taum Sauk Mountain State Park in Iron County through Johnson's Shut-Ins Park to Bell Mountain Wilderness area.

WARE, Ill. The Canada goose count continues to increase in Southern Illinois.

Illinois Department of Conservation officials counted more than 220,000 geese during the latest census Monday.

This week's count revealed about 32,000 geese in the Horseshoe Lake Refuge area; 78,000 in the Crab Orchard Refuge area and 42,000 at Union County Wildlife Refuge. Another 45,000 geese were reported in the Rend Lake Area and 12,500 were found in the Ballard County Refuge of Western Kentucky.

The goose harvest for the first 28 days in the quota zone -- Union, Jackson, Williamson and Alexander counties -- totaled almost 10,000 birds, with the lion's share of the harvest in the Crab Orchard area, where 6,800 birds were taken. A total of 1,781 were harvested in the Horseshoe Lake area, and 993 in Union County.

The goose season opened in the quota zone -- Alexander, Union, Jackson and Williamson counties -- Nov. 27, and will run through Jan. 16, 1994, or until a quota of 30,600 geese is harvested.

COLUMBIA David Murphy of Columbia is new regional director for the National Wild Turkey Federation's (NWTF).

Murphy, 39, has extensive experience as a wildlife biologist, educator and NWTF volunteer. His primary responsibilities include helping organize fund-raising banquets and building chapter membership. He replaced Richard Rosenleib, who received a promotion to NWTF's national office in Edgefield, S.C.

He previously worked as NWTF representative in Missouri and Kansas.

The NWTF has chapters in all 48 of the contiguous United States. Its national membership is 83,000, with 2,700 in Missouri. It sponsors wild turkey habitat improvement projects, research studies and hunter education programs. In Missouri alone, NWTF has spent $288,000 on such projects.

NWTF chapters also sponsor JAKES (Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship) programs. This program offers hunter apprenticeship schools and opportunities for involvement in NWTF conservation efforts.

The NWTF's annual conference will be held Feb. 17-20 in Memphis, Tenn.

JEFFERSON CITY The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Missouri Conservation Commission have doubled the steel shot options available to Show-me State waterfowl hunters.

The two groups recently approved two new coatings for steel shot. The change clears the way for hunters to use steel shot coated with zinc chromate or zinc chloride this year. Copper and nickel were the only approved coatings last year.

Waterfowl hunters nationwide switched to steel shot by 1991, after lead shot was linked to deaths of ducks, geese, eagles and other birds. Steel is non-toxic, but it rusts, making steel-shot shells prone to water damage. Coating the shot with other, less corrodible metals helps prevent rust.

Steel shot coated with zinc chromate and zinc chloride already is on the market.