l. to r., Dr. Janice Greene, me, Terresa McPheeters, and Lisa Berger
GLADE Beginnings: Of Partnerships and Passions
by Lisa Berger
We have to travel ten years back to record the earliest seeds of GLADE. In fact, the story really began with the inception of the Missouri State University’s (MSU) Bull Shoals Field Station (BSFS). In 1999, Assistant Director of the new BSFS, Mike Dickerson contacted me, then president of Greater Ozarks Audubon Society (GOAS), to discuss a project. Would we like to partner with them to build a bird checklist for the new field station, he and Dr. Brian Greene (MSU Biology Department) asked at a meeting at Panera’s?
What could be better than engaging our chapter in citizen science, doing the things our members love? Birding! Old time birders remember field trips to the old Drury House, built in 1924 overlooking the majestic White River, now Bull Shoals Lake. Better still, I envisioned a multitude of opportunities with MSU.
During this same time frame, Audubon Missouri (AM), the State Office of the National Audubon Society (NAS) was opened and one of its primary objectives was to initiate the Important Bird Areas (IBA) program. Started by BirdLife International, the IBA program is an international project to identify the landscapes that are of critical importance to birds at the population level. The IBA program is administered by NAS in the U.S.
In 2003, I was asked by AM to chair the state IBA steering committee to shepherd the process of nominating IBA sites in Missouri. Our chapter rallied to the call and nominated several sites across southwest Missouri.
By 2004, the Drury-Mincy Conservation Area, in which the field station resides, had been identified as part of the newly designated White River Glades and Woodlands state IBA. It is one of just a handful of the 47 IBA sites across the state to be included in the IBA Implementation Plan; a strategic document prioritizing the sites where state and federal agencies will invest limited resources, and where there is adequate capacity provided by groups like GOAS to do projects.
The current BSFS Director, Dr. Janice Green (MSU Biology Department) and I met at Panera’s to discuss potential opportunities for MSU and GOAS. The field station’s capacity was growing. The Drury house was being renovated. A new well, solar power with generator back-up, and an alternative septic system were in the works.
Are there opportunities for expanding our partnership within the context of the new IBA status, I ask? What things are possible that benefit both MSU and our chapter? GOAS is implementing a giant river cane restoration project to improve habitat for Swainson’s Warbler and the whole suite of species that utilize cane in this IBA. Is there potential intersection between MSU and GOAS activities? What about graduate student studies based upon giant cane; studies of insects, birds, and monitoring responses to habitat modifications? What about bringing kids to the glade areas of the field station and IBA to learn about restoration; to actually participate in on-the-ground restoration?
And that is when the vision was born.
The planets began to align, one by one. The early MSU and GOAS partnerships, the AM state IBA implementation plan and conservation action plans, the GOAS strategic plan, all building the critical capacity of and between organizations, and with each step the framework necessary to support a GOAS project connecting kids with nature.
But we’d need money. In spring, 2008, NAS announced the TogetherGreen program, a project of NAS made possible by a generous $20,000,000 donation from Toyota. Janice Greene and I scrambled to submit a grant application. Who would serve as director? Greg Swick had just retired from teaching. He said yes, and we were awarded the grant. Our GLADE solar system was complete.
Fast forward to July 1, 2009: GLADE week is complete. The kids learned all about sustainability at the field station. The alternative septic system required using environmentally-friendly soap, less toilet paper, and less water. Power use during the hot days had to be balanced with the solar-powered system.
The GLADE team is also learning about sustainability. We’ve given birth to a new environmental education concept that we want to keep alive. And so we set along the path to bring new stars into our solar system. We need sustained funding to provide the gravitational force to keep GLADE on course. We also need volunteers and professionals to share their talents, and we need teachers to shepherd their most promising students toward GLADE. Most of all we want our GLADE grads to carry with them the skills acquired at camp, and to be inspired to be leaders, to make a difference, knowing their actions today will shape tomorrow.
We have to travel ten years back to record the earliest seeds of GLADE. In fact, the story really began with the inception of the Missouri State University’s (MSU) Bull Shoals Field Station (BSFS). In 1999, Assistant Director of the new BSFS, Mike Dickerson contacted me, then president of Greater Ozarks Audubon Society (GOAS), to discuss a project. Would we like to partner with them to build a bird checklist for the new field station, he and Dr. Brian Greene (MSU Biology Department) asked at a meeting at Panera’s?
What could be better than engaging our chapter in citizen science, doing the things our members love? Birding! Old time birders remember field trips to the old Drury House, built in 1924 overlooking the majestic White River, now Bull Shoals Lake. Better still, I envisioned a multitude of opportunities with MSU.
During this same time frame, Audubon Missouri (AM), the State Office of the National Audubon Society (NAS) was opened and one of its primary objectives was to initiate the Important Bird Areas (IBA) program. Started by BirdLife International, the IBA program is an international project to identify the landscapes that are of critical importance to birds at the population level. The IBA program is administered by NAS in the U.S.
In 2003, I was asked by AM to chair the state IBA steering committee to shepherd the process of nominating IBA sites in Missouri. Our chapter rallied to the call and nominated several sites across southwest Missouri.
By 2004, the Drury-Mincy Conservation Area, in which the field station resides, had been identified as part of the newly designated White River Glades and Woodlands state IBA. It is one of just a handful of the 47 IBA sites across the state to be included in the IBA Implementation Plan; a strategic document prioritizing the sites where state and federal agencies will invest limited resources, and where there is adequate capacity provided by groups like GOAS to do projects.
The current BSFS Director, Dr. Janice Green (MSU Biology Department) and I met at Panera’s to discuss potential opportunities for MSU and GOAS. The field station’s capacity was growing. The Drury house was being renovated. A new well, solar power with generator back-up, and an alternative septic system were in the works.
Are there opportunities for expanding our partnership within the context of the new IBA status, I ask? What things are possible that benefit both MSU and our chapter? GOAS is implementing a giant river cane restoration project to improve habitat for Swainson’s Warbler and the whole suite of species that utilize cane in this IBA. Is there potential intersection between MSU and GOAS activities? What about graduate student studies based upon giant cane; studies of insects, birds, and monitoring responses to habitat modifications? What about bringing kids to the glade areas of the field station and IBA to learn about restoration; to actually participate in on-the-ground restoration?
And that is when the vision was born.
The planets began to align, one by one. The early MSU and GOAS partnerships, the AM state IBA implementation plan and conservation action plans, the GOAS strategic plan, all building the critical capacity of and between organizations, and with each step the framework necessary to support a GOAS project connecting kids with nature.
But we’d need money. In spring, 2008, NAS announced the TogetherGreen program, a project of NAS made possible by a generous $20,000,000 donation from Toyota. Janice Greene and I scrambled to submit a grant application. Who would serve as director? Greg Swick had just retired from teaching. He said yes, and we were awarded the grant. Our GLADE solar system was complete.
Fast forward to July 1, 2009: GLADE week is complete. The kids learned all about sustainability at the field station. The alternative septic system required using environmentally-friendly soap, less toilet paper, and less water. Power use during the hot days had to be balanced with the solar-powered system.
The GLADE team is also learning about sustainability. We’ve given birth to a new environmental education concept that we want to keep alive. And so we set along the path to bring new stars into our solar system. We need sustained funding to provide the gravitational force to keep GLADE on course. We also need volunteers and professionals to share their talents, and we need teachers to shepherd their most promising students toward GLADE. Most of all we want our GLADE grads to carry with them the skills acquired at camp, and to be inspired to be leaders, to make a difference, knowing their actions today will shape tomorrow.
Rudbeckia sp., a member of the Compositae family of wildflowers can do the same thing. With a complete flower forming each and every ray and disc, its stunning beauty is a result of the simultaneous blooming of many flowers, each supporting the other and filling its specific niche in the whole. 
Any member of compositae can serve as a living example for human beings, as we strive to see collective visions come into fruition. What an example for grass roots leadership training! 
By this time the media have discovered us, and they swarmed in on this serendipitous day! I think I'll let them tell the rest of the story. Click on the links.