Missouri Prairie Foundation Bestows 2018 Awards

By James Faupel
Vice President, Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter

Saturday, August 4th was the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s dinner. I attended the event, as well as Dr. Trager and his wife. During the announcements portion of the dinner, the winners of this year’s various MPF awards were made public. Some SNR (and Wild Ones)  faces were among this year’s award winners.

Scott Woodbury was awarded Grow Native’s Native Plant Pioneer Award. Unfortunately Scott was on vacation, so he was unable to be present for the announcement. Congratulations to Scott on this prestigious award, and recognition by many from the Missouri native plant community for all your years of hard work promoting native plant horticulture. 

SNR volunteers, Ann Earley and Bob Siemer, were awarded Prairie Volunteers of the Year. They earned this recognition by MPF for all the volunteer hours they put in at MPF events promoting prairies, the many hours they put in at SNR promoting everything we do here, and the many hours also spent promoting the use of native plant landscaping with the St. Louis Chapter of Wild Ones.

Bob made a brief but uplifting speech, asking others in attendance to volunteer their time towards this great cause if they don’t do so already. Congrats to this powerhouse of a volunteer team! 

Here is the text of the email that MPF executive director Carol Davit sent out announcing all the winners of this year’s awards.

Missouri Prairie Foundation Bestows 2018 Awards

 

The 52-year-old prairie conservation organization and land trust honored champions of prairie conservation

on August 4 at its Annual Dinner in Columbia, MO.

 

JEFFERSON CITY (August 6, 2018)—The Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Annual Dinner is a celebration of Missouri’s prairie resources, held this year on August 4, 2018 at the University of Missouri Alumni Center. Guests remembered the organization’s co-founder, Bill Crawford of Columbia, who died on December 7, 2017; were inspired and informed by speaker and restoration pioneer Steven Apfelbaum; and also paid tribute to six awardees.

“Prairie in Missouri is a rare and valuable resource,” said Dale Blevins, Missouri Prairie Foundation President. “Protecting and promoting it requires hard work and commitment from many people. Our awards program recognizes individuals who have made or are making a positive difference in the conservation of Missouri’s prairie legacy.”

The Missouri Prairie Foundation 2018 awardees are:

• 2018 Grow Native! Native Plant Pioneer Award: Scott Woodbury of Gray Summit, MO. The Missouri Prairie Foundation’s 18-year-old Grow Native! program promotes the use of native plants, and this award recognizes efforts that have been foundational to the advancement of the native plant industry and movement. Woodbury, the Curator of the Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve, received this award in recognition of his work to demonstrate and promote the horticultural and ecological value of native plants over the course of nearly 30 years.

• 2018 Bill T. Crawford Prairie Professional of the Year Award: Emily Horner of Polo, MO. Horner, formerly a Natural History Biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation and currently an independent contractor, was recognized for her prairie survey, monitoring, and management work, as well as for carrying out a Private Prairie Inventory with willing landowners, to ground truth the current status of privately owned prairies.

• 2018 Donald M. Christisen Prairie Volunteer of the Year Award: Ann Earley and Bob Siemer, of Chesterfield, MO. This dynamic couple was recognized for outstanding volunteer outreach efforts to educate citizens about the importance of prairie conservation and use of native plants, at festivals, conferences, and other venues around the state, as well as to develop and present programs on monarch butterfly conservation to various groups.

• 2018 Clair M. Kucera Award, Prairie Landowner of the Year: Bonnie Teel of Rich Hill, MO. Teel is the proud owner of Prairie View Farm, 184 acres of which is a designated Missouri Natural Area and contains one of the best remaining examples of dry-mesic limestone/dolomite prairie left in the Osage Plains ecoregion of Missouri. Thanks to Teel’s commitment and efforts to protect and restore her prairie, many rare species and abundant wildlife thrive.

• 2018 William A. Davit Award, Prairie Communicator of the Year: Mary Nemecek of Kansas City, MO. Active in a leadership capacity in many conservation groups, Nemecek is a tireless advocate for prairie and other habitats, birds, and many other species. Through letters to the editor, magazine articles, and other outlets, Nemecek educates citizens around the state about the need to take action to protect the natural resources on which all life depends.

• 2018 Dick Dawson Prairie Pioneer of the Year Award: Dr. Walter Schroeder of Columbia, MO. University of Missouri Emeritus Professor of Geography Dr. Schroeder was recognized for his landmark work to develop the presettlement prairie map of Missouri, published in 1981 and made possible through his years of meticulous examination of 650 volumes of field notes of the U.S. public land survey. Schroeder’s map is a blueprint of Missouri’s prairie legacy and helps guide prairie conservation efforts statewide.

 

The Missouri Prairie Foundation is a 52-year-old membership organization and land trust that protects and restores prairie and other native grasslands through acquisition, management, education, and support of prairie research. The organization owns 21 properties totaling more than 3,300 acres of prairie across the state, and with partners, inspires the conservation of thousands more. The Missouri Prairie Foundation is also home to the Grow Native! native plant education and marketing program and the Missouri Invasive Plant Species Task Force.