Conservation Department hosts Ellington Landowner Elk Workshop

ELLINGTON, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) employs a variety of methods to help landowners promote wildlife habitat, including workshops where landowners and biologists meet and discuss options such as cost shares and what wildlife habitat really is. Landowners within Missouri’s Elk Restoration Zone are invited to attend an elk themed landowner workshop in Ellington at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 8, at the Reynolds County Soil and Water Conservation District Office.

The workshop is specifically designed for landowners within and immediately surrounding the elk zone, which spans parts of Reynolds, Carter and Shannon counties. Biologists and landowners will discuss priority elk habitat practices, habitat cost-share opportunities, program and maintenance requirements and the basics of getting a habitat project on the ground. There will also be an update on Missouri’s elk herd.

According to MDC Private Lands Services Regional Supervisor Brad McKee, workshops such as the elk habitat workshop are one way MDC works with landowners to sustain healthy forests, fish and wildlife.

“The vast majority of land in Missouri is under direct ownership and influence by private landowners,” McKee said. “When we consider that private landowners own more than 93 percent of all land and 85 percent of forest land in our state, we see the importance of working with them to develop priority practices that will sustain healthy forests and promote wildlife.”

Priority elk habitat practices include woodland restoration, prescribed burning and food plots designed for elk and other wildlife, according to McKee.

The Reynolds County Soil and Water Conservation District Office is located at 350 S. Main Street in Ellington. Anyone wishing to attend should RSVP to (573) 290-5730 no later than Feb. 6. More information about elk in Missouri and habitat development can be found online at mdc.mo.gov.