Missouri Prairie Foundation

A nonprofit organization

Ecologists rank temperate grasslands--which include Missouri's tallgrass prairies--as the least conserved, most threatened major terrestrial habitat type on earth. Prairie protection efforts in Missouri, therefore, are not only essential to preserving the state's natural heritage, but also are significant to national and even global conservation work.

MPF's mission is to protect and restore prairie and other native grassland communities through land acquisition, management, education, and research. The land conservation efforts of MPF--now 57 years old--are devoted exclusively to prairies and other native grasslands. As of March 2023, MPF owns 32 tracts of land, most of it original prairie and some reconstructed prairie, totaling 4,400 acres. MPF purchased its 32th acquisition, 80 acres containing rare sand prairie in Scott County in February 2023. MPF continually seeks more prairie available for sale to purchase and conserve. On March 10, 2017, the Conservation Federation of Missouri named MPF the Conservation Organization of the Year for 2016. On March 6, 2020, MPF's Director of Prairie Management Jerod Huebner received the Wildlife Conservationist of the Year Award from the Conservation Federation of Missouri. In February 2021, MPF earned national accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. In 2022, MPF began work to establish a 40-acre prairie planting within Creve Coeur Park. In 2023, MPF's Executive Director Carol Davit received the Conservationist of the Year Award from the Conservation Federation of Missouri.

MPF also promotes the use of native plants for landscaping, stormwater management, wildlife and pollinator habitat, and livestock forage through its 23-year-old Grow Native! program, and through Grow Native! also administers the Missouri Invasive Plant Council, an interdisciplinary group working to increase invasive plant control efforts in the state. MPF organizes native plant sales throughout Missouri, including three in St. Louis: May 13 and September 9 at World Bird Sanctuary and September 28 at Roeslein & Associates on Watson Road.

MPF is governed by a hands-on volunteer board of directors and stretches every dollar to fulfill its mission. MPF--including its members from 1,500+ households--is dedicated to providing excellent stewardship of the prairies in its ownership and sharing conservation strategies in public and private sectors, supporting prairie research, and promoting the use of native plants in the built environment and altered landscapes.

Some of MPF's many accomplishments, in addition to its land acquisition program mentioned above:
• successful advocacy for the acquisition and conservation of thousands of acres of native prairie by the Missouri Departments of Conservation (MDC) and of the Mo. Dept. of Natural Resources
• management services to 700+ acres owned by the Ozark Land Trust, MDC, and the City of Joplin
• designation of MPF's Golden Prairie as a National Natural Landmark in 1975; receipt of the 2011 Kansas City WildLands Environmental Excellence Award for an Organization and of the 2010 St. Louis Audubon Society Conservation Award. On March 10, 2017, the Conservation Federation of Missouri awarded MPF the Conservation Organization of the Year. In February 2021, MPF earned national accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
• During a botanical survey at MPF's Penn-Sylvania Prairie in Dade County, MO, botanists found a world record-breaking 46 native plant species in a 20 x 20 inch plot; the 160-acre prairie harbors a documented 289 plant species.

Mission

To protect and restore prairie and other native grassland communities through land acquisition, management, education, and research. The Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF), a statewide organization and nationally accredited land trust, also promotes the use of native plants for their many benefits to pollinators, wildlife, and people through its 23-year-old Grow Native! program, and supports the identification and control of invasive plants by administering the Missouri Invasive Plant Council.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

Missouri Prairie Foundation

Tax id (EIN)

23-7120753

Address

1311 Moreland Ave.
Jefferson City, MO 65205

Phone

573-356-7828