The director of the Missouri Department of Conservation will be in Springfield this week to talk to anyone who would like to ask questions or share input about the organization.
An open house with Sarah Parker Pauley will be held Tuesday night, October 10, at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center, 4601 S. Nature Center Way.
Parker Pauley said they’re especially looking for input in certain areas, one being the overall priorities for MDC.
"We're in the midst of some pretty intense strategic planning and saying, 'ok. For the next three to five years and beyond that what are those key areas that the Department of Conservation needs to be focused on? What should the priorities be?'" she said.
The department would also like input on infrastructure and on Missouri Department of Conservation regulations.
Parker Pauley has headed the MO Department of Conservation for about a year. She calls it her dream job. But there are things about the job she said keep her up at night. One of those is Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a fatal disease that’s been found in white-tailed deer in parts of Missouri.
"That's very concerning," she said. "We've seen other states that have not dealt with this issue as aggressively as we have, and they now have significant impacts to their white-tailed deer herd and mule deer herd and others in the cervid family."
She said MDC must continue to aggressively respond to CWD.
Other challenges facing MDC are invasive species such as feral hogs in southern Missouri, which "are really beginning to impact the landscape,” Parker Pauley said. "They're incredibly destructive to land, to habitat. They carry disease."
She said a lot of resources have gone toward eliminating invasive species.