Woodland Management & Prescribed Burning Training

Thanks to a grant from the L-A-D Foundation, MPF is offering a training opportunity specifically aimed at young people entering the field of natural resource management, but open to all, including woodland landowners, to gain hands-on experience managing woodlands, with the goal to increase the pool of future professionals and landowners who can manage and therefore improve Missouri’s woodland habitats.

Training will include:
• Two days of mechanical thinning of undesirable woody growth, basic woody plant identification, proper use of chainsaws and loppers, importance and proper use of personal protective equipment, and information on the historical vegetation of the Ozarks—a matrix of prairie, glades, open woodland/savanna, and forest.
• One day of a prescribed prairie/woodland burn. Training will include the importance of fire line establishment, fire behavior, proper use of tools like flappers, rakes, backpack blowers (for fire lines), and proper use of personal protective equipment for prescribed burning.

Date: January 5-7, 2021 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: MPF’s Stark Family Prairie in Hickory County
Details:
– Up to 15 participants will be allowed to attend this training
– Lunch is provided on all days. Please bring a water bottle; we will have extra water on site.
– All tools will be provided, please bring work gloves, and sturdy closed-toe shoes. Dress for the weather and protection from the elements

MPF’s Stark Family Prairie is a 34-acre Ozark landscape featuring dry-mesic prairie, a portion of a headwater stream, a prairie swale, and five acres of native woodland.

***THIS EVENT IS AT CAPACITY***

Photo of Stark Family Prairie by Bruce Schuette