State conservation director visits Northwest
TODD WEDDLE/NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY
Jason Sumners, center, director of the Missouri Department of Conservation, talks on Aug. 15 with Jim Pierson, a private land conservationist for Nodaway County, and Shane Baumgart, right, the director of landscape services at Northwest.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Conservation leaders from throughout the region joined the state director on Aug. 15 for a visit to Northwest Missouri State University, praising their partnerships.
Jason Sumners, the director of the Missouri Department of Conservation, visited the Northwest campus during a tour of local conservation sites and took time to see new pollinator plots that were funded, in part, by the state.
“It’s great to have a partnership with Northwest Missouri State and to be able to do projects like this,” Sumners said in a news release from the university. “It’s beneficial to many people.”
Last year, Northwest planted a native prairie flower garden near the Dean L. Hubbard Center for Innovation with support from MDC.
In all, Northwest has established three pollinator plots, totaling 2.5 acres, which feature native prairie grasses and forbs that bloom at different times of year, adding to the natural beauty of the campus.
Additionally, Northwest maintains its status as the Missouri Arboretum and recently added a tree walk program to help visitors, as well as the university’s students and employees, learn about the tree species and historic buildings on the campus grounds.
With more than 1,700 trees and 160 species, the Missouri Arboretum serves as a living laboratory for teaching and research in disciplines such as biology, botany, ecology, entomology, geography and horticulture.
“We’ve worked with the department in a lot of different ways,” Tim Hill, the environmental sustainability coordinator at Northwest, said. “Some of the faculty tap the local staff’s expertise, educational resources for the classes and projects on campus, and Shane (Baumgart, director of landscape services at Northwest) and the landscape services team have been fortunate to work with the department on some cost-share projects.”
