Mingo National Wildlife Refuge will get about $2.8 million for a new visitors’ center. The Neosho Fish Hatchery is on target for $1 million. Also set to receive funds are both Squaw and Great Rivers National Wildlife Refuges.

(JS Comment: Whatever you think of the Recovery Act, it’s good to see that some of the recovery money is going to fish, forests, wildlife, parks and federal cleanup projects in more rural areas, and not all of it is staying in the big city.)

The National Park Service (NPS) – Ozark National Scenic Riverways (ONSR) announced that several projects were funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The funding spans all districts in the park and help with large maintenance projects. (more…)

Our March issue featured the Millstream Gardens-Silver Mines 42nd annual Whitewater Races both on the cover and inside.

Mark Wehking, a member of the Missouri Whitewater Association, was kind enough to send us the results. (more…)

Jo Schaper

The United States Forest Service Regions 8 and 9 (all National Forests east of the Mississippi River, plus Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas) issued an order on April 24 limiting human visitation on those units to try to slow the spread of White Nose Syndrome (WNS) a bat-borne infection which is killing off cave bats in the U.S. northeast and mid-Atlantic states. This order affects about 600 of Missouri’s 6300 known caves. (Photo of infected bat courtesy USF&W NE Region.) (more…)

The Web is the new AP wire, and every once in a while something comes across it that Traveler feels compelled to share, while neither approving nor disapproving of the content.

The Missouri House gave first round approval to a bill authorizing people seeking hunting or fishing licenses to also be solicted to become voters, according to Roseann Moring of St. Louis Today, the online arm of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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The 1970s were a turbulent time, with various cultures and subcultures clashing amidst militant feminism, Civil Rights turmoil, the Watergate scandal, and the Vietnam War.

Wishing to escape the hassles of the decade, in July 1974, over 150,000 people flooded into Sedalia, MO, for the three-day Ozark Music Festival. Residents living near the Missouri State Fairgrounds woke on July 19 to attendees sleeping in their yards and bumper-to-bumper traffic clogging the roads into town. (more…)

When I’m in Piedmont, I usually drive out Canyon Road to visit Bob and Pat Todd, and usually pass by the entrance to Lon Sanders Canyon Conservation Area without stopping.

This time, it was a beautiful spring day and I was in no hurry to be anywhere, so I pulled in to explore. (more…)

Traveler readers might be interested in lawyer Harry Styron’s blog post and linked article about laws affecting stream use. (more…)

A bill which would allow concealed carry on Missouri campuses, lower the age for CCW from 23 to 21, and amend the castle doctrine passed the Missouri House on April 16 with a vote of 105 to 50.

The bill still has to go to the Missouri Senate. The bill, as passed, is available to read online at HB 668, or go to the April 12 Traveler post on this bill.

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday that it would dedicate between $10-$25 million of the federal Recovery Act funding to clean up lead contaminated properties in the Fredericktown area.

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