The Greater Ozarks Audubon Society has raised $10,000 and received a $10,000 matching grant from the CFO in the third phase of the Stewardship Ozarks Initiative.  Audubon Vice-President David Catlin (left) and President Myra Scroggs met with CFO President Gary Funk (right) recently to receive the $10,000 matching grant, which will become part of the Greater Ozarks Audubon Society’s endowment fund.

The Stewardship Ozarks Initiative, made possible with a major gift from Johnny Morris on behalf of Wonders of Wildlife, has provided challenge grants to strengthen or establish endowment funds for environmental stewardship. More than $1 million has been raised by local conservation-oriented organizations to support endowment-building goals.  This challenge is made possible by leadership contributions from Gregg and Nancy Galbraith, Larry and Dr. Nancy O’Reilly, Todd and Betty Parnell, and the Upper White River Basin Foundation. Addition support comes from Sally Baird, the Community Foundation of the Ozarks Philanthropy Initiative, Susie Henry, and Dr. Tom and Dr. Kim Prater.

Across the country, nature lovers and professional biologists are teaming up to identify as many species as possible (the “bio”) in an area over the course of 24 hours (the “blitz”). The Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF), a Community Foundation of the Ozarks Agency Partner, is hosting its own version with the Penn-Sylvania Prairie BioBlitz (flyer) on Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30.

Join experts in many natural history fields to locate, identify and document prairie amphibians, reptiles, birds, ants, butterflies, moths, bees, beetles, small mammals including bats, land snails, vascular plants, mosses, and liverworts and help inventory species on this biologically rich, original Missouri 160-acre prairie owned by MPF in Dade County.

The BioBlitz officially begins at 2pm on May 29 and lasts through the morning of the 30th. Participants may camp for free on the prairie Saturday night.

You should sign up for particular groups by RSVPing to info@moprairie.com. There will be concurrent activities Saturday afternoon, Saturday night and Sunday morning, so you can sign up to join up a group at each time. If you want to stay for the potluck picnic dinner on the 29th, please bring a dish to share, as well as snacks/breakfast for Sunday morning.

Saturday May 29, 2:00, individual groups will look for native bees, beetles, ants, butterflies, vascular plants and land snails.

Saturyday May 29, 6 or 6:30, potluck picnic, followed by stargazing, bat surveying, moth surveying and tent camping.

On Sunday morning, individual groups will look for birds, bryophytes, amphibians, reptiles and check small mammal traps.

Visit http://www.moprairie.org/Events.html for a detailed schedule of events.

RSVP to info@moprairie.com or call 1-888-843-6739.

The Marshfield Area Community Foundation, in partnership with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, recently announced the completion of a $5,000 dollar-for-dollar match to benefit the Marshfield community. Chip & Teresa McGeehan, owners of McDonald’s in Marshfield, made a $5,000 contribution to the Hidden Waters Nature Park Fund, an endowment fund providing long-term sustainable funding for the upkeep and maintenance of a local Marshfield park. This $5,000 gift earned the fund a $5,000 matching grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozark’s Stewardship Ozarks Initiative.

The three-year, $1 million Stewardship Ozarks Initiative is an effort to strengthen regional organizations that are committed to conservation efforts in the Missouri Ozarks. It focuses directly on the sustainability of conservation and environmental nonprofit groups, providing challenge grants to strengthen or establish endowment funds for environmental stewardship. This initiative is supported by a major gift from Johnny Morris on behalf of Wonders of Wildlife, as well as by leadership contributions from Gregg and Nancy Galbraith, Larry and Dr. Nancy O’Reilly, Todd and Betty Parnell, and the Upper White River Basin Foundation. Additional support comes from Sally Baird, Community Foundation of the Ozarks Philanthropy Initiative, Susie Henry, and Dr. Tom and Dr. Kim Prater.

The Marshfield Area Community Foundation (MACF) is an affiliate of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. It is comprised of 22 funds with assets totaling approximately $365,000. In fiscal year 2009, the Marshfield Area Community Foundation granted more than $33,000 back to the community. To learn more about the MACF, please visit their website here.

PICTURE: From left to right: Dan Beckner, Hidden Waters Nature Park founder, Winter Skelton (CFO), and Barbara Herren (Marshfield Area Community Foundation board member) accept a check from Chip McGeehan.

We take that question for granted in a place like the Ozarks, with so many twisting miles of rivers and shoreline. Rapid growth in the region – in no small part because of the abundant natural resources – has placed considerable pressure on those resources. Maintaining water quality is therefore an essential part of keeping the area economically and naturally viable.

Dedicated to preserving the water quality in the Upper White River watershed, the Upper White River Basin Foundation has published its first “Status of the Watershed” report. Funded in part with a $38,800 grant in 2008 from the Louis and Dorothy Coover Regional Grantmaking Program, a partnership between Commerce Trust Company and CFO, this report helps answer the question above.

“Status of the Watershed” is a scientifically-based report using water quality data from ten sampling sites located throughout the White River Basin. To produce the report, the organization worked with the U.S. Geological Survey which collected and analyzed water samples from the sites. The Foundation developed an index based on the data that scores each site on a scale from 0 to 100 and assigns a letter grade to each site. The report is intended to generate public awareness about water quality in the region. Results from the survey are “mixed,” and reveal potential for improvement.

Results and the full report are available on the Upper White River Basin Foundation’s website at, www.uwrb.org. In the fall, two additional measures will be added to the report.

Related items on the web:

• The Upper White River Basin Foundation recently raised $100,000 that will be matched as part of the Stewardship Ozarks Initiative’s organizational endowment building challenge.
• Read the latest news about the Stewardship Ozarks Initiative here.
• Here’s a complete list of agencies the received Coover grants in 2007

“This is an important milestone for the sustainability of our organization and helps insure that we can continue to protect water quality in our region,” said Holly Neill, executive director, James River Basin Partnership.

The JRBP has received support from CFO’s grantmaking programs for several important projects aimed at addressing water quality. The JRBP received a grant for $25,000 in 2006 to increase public awareness about pollution affecting local waterways and the means to address these challenges. One of the more visible elements of that project are the rain gardens – shallow depressions filled with native plants that filter pollutants from runoff and help recharge the groundwater aquifer – installed around the city, including one at CFO. In February 2008, the JRBP received a $26,500 grant from the Louis and Dorothy Coover Regional Grantmaking Program to expand their public education efforts, including river cleanups and watershed festivals in communities within the James River Basin.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Stewardship Ozarks Initiative (SOI) is dedicated to preserving our natural environment through:

• Targeted grantmaking
• $1,000,000 Challenge for Conservation, an endowment building program
• Planned giving

For more information about the Stewardship Ozarks Initiative please visit the SOI page of our website.

Pictured above: Holly Neill (left), executive director of the James River Basin Partnership, is congratulated by Gary Funk, CFO president.

Raising $100,000 in a challenging economic environment is no easy task, but Dr. Moore indicated that his board of directors has been committed to this concept from the outset. “Our directors are committed to maintaining water quality in our region,” said Moore, “and they all contributed to making this a success.”

The Upper White River Basin Foundation is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote water quality in the upper White River watershed through bi-state collaboration on research, education, public policy and action projects. The focus of the Foundation is on the four major impoundments on the upper White River: Beaver, Table Rock, Taneycomo and Bull Shoals Lakes and the rivers and streams which drain into these impoundments.

The Foundation works with federal, state and local government agencies and interested citizen groups as an advocate for clean water projects, as a catalyst to create and implement projects to improve water quality and as a community educator on the causes and impact of reduced water quality.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Stewardship Ozarks Initiative is dedicated to preserving our natural environment through:

• Targeted grantmaking
• $1,000,000 Challenge for Conservation, an endowment building program
• Planned giving

Community Foundation of the Ozarks supports asset development, community-based grant making, organizational collaboration, and leadership initiatives throughout southern Missouri. CFO is comprised of 40 affiliate community foundations and more than 1,400 charitable funds totaling approximately $140 million.

Caption: Dr. John Moore (left), executive director of the Upper White River Basin, is congratulated by Gary Funk, CFO president.