OUTDOOR CORNER: STATE'S MOST IMPORTANT CONSERVATIONISTS ARE PRIVATE LANDOWNERS

In a recent Gallup poll, 52 percent of Southeast Missourians believed that half of Missouri is owned by public agencies.

What is the truth on public land ownership in the state of Missouri?

The State of Missouri consists of 44,606,080 acres, 8 percent of which is in public ownership. The United States Forest Service owns about 1.5 million, or 4 percent; the Missouri Conservation Department owns 764,644 acres, about 2 percent of the state's land. The US Army Corps of Engineers is next with 634,000 acres, followed in order by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

What benefits do Missourians gain from their public lands?

Public lands have economic benefits to Missourians. Public lands attract tourism dollars to local communities, including tourism dollars from other states.

In Southeast Missouri alone, hunting, fishing and wildlife watching gear and trip costs totaled over $98 million in four years. An additional $96 million was generated in business activity; about 2,500 jobs in recreation-related goods and service industries were supported by this commerce in those four years.

Environmental benefits range from clean water and air to conserving rare animals and plants. Public lands protect large tracts of natural habitat such as wetlands and forests.

Wetlands are important in cleaning and storing water. Wetland plants filter chemicals from water and slow water, letting silt settle out.

Wetlands along major rivers store water, mediating the effects of flooding; water does not run off of vegetated land as quickly as concrete or cleared agricultural ground. This way forest trees produce oxygen and reduce erosion. Leaves and branches break the force of raindrops falling to the ground; leaf litter on the forest floor prevents water from striking the soil directly. Both of these actions reduce erosion.

Soil building is a very slow process. Erosion is natural, but if erosion exceeds soil building, there will be a net loss of soil over time.

Forests and other natural habitats are essential for sustaining bird and insect populations. For example, the Ozark and Ouachita areas of Missouri and Arkansas support 54 percent of the global breeding population of Eastern Bewick's Wren, 25 percent of the global breeding population of Whip-poor-whills and 17 percent of the global breeding population of Kentucky Warblers.

Environmental and economic benefits are very closely linked. The environmental benefits I cited are also ecosystem services.

An ecosystem service is a service provided by the land that has economic value. For example, humans need clean water; Cape Girardeau spends about $800,000 per year to clean its drinking water and statewide expenditures are millions of dollars. Obviously, wetlands that can clean water provide environmental and economic benefit.

Insects provide another important ecosystem service; they pollinate food crops. A worldwide decline in pollinators could be economically devastating. We already felt the effects a few years back when honey bee populations were hit by a parasite.

So is it a bad thing for the government to own land?

When you drive to a park for a picnic, you are driving on a public road and using public land, whether it be in city, county, state, or federal ownership. When you are fishing or hiking, very likely you are using public land. Public lands belong to the people of the United States, to the people of Missouri, to members of local communities. Their conservation helps protect environmental quality and meet recreation needs.

However, with only 8 percent of Missouri in public holding, that means 92 percent is privately owned. That in turn means that the bulk of the responsibility for land stewardship in the state lies in the hands of private landowners.

We depend on private landowners to care for the land, conserve the soil, keep the air clean, and provide habitat to sustain songbird, fish, and game animal populations; even to prevent a second wholesale clearing of the Ozark forests.

Private landowners are the most important conservationist in the state.

Janeen Laatsch is a natural history regional biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation.