As part of MDC’s One Health initiative, we are happy to bring you a project we have been working on which focuses on the health benefits of being out in nature. Inspired by the Park Rx movement, we hope that through sharing information on this topic we can better support the health of our citizens and facilitate a connection with nature.
MDC managers and decision makers often need information on what “the public” thinks about resource management issues—from how users like a new trail or exhibit to how the state should manage the deer population. For any public survey, we must identify the target audience and how results will be used. With nearly every survey MDC conducts reviewers will also ask “Wouldn’t online surveys save MDC money?” and we respond, “It depends!” Online surveys have become attractive as a presumably economical way to measure constituents’ preferences, opinions, and attitudes.
Light Range and Detection, which is more commonly referred to as LiDAR, is remote sensing technology that has become increasingly available and used for a wide range of purposes in the last 10-15 years. LiDAR sensors measure distances and are often used to map topographic relief by generating a mass of elevation points. With the advancement in computer processing, additional information collected with LiDAR sensors pertaining to forest structure (e.g., tree height and density) have also begun to be analyzed.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has developed a Bat Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) to address the potential for covered forest management activities to cause incidental take of five listed or otherwise at-risk bat species over a period of 50 years. The plan covers Indiana, gray, northern long-eared, little brown, and tricolored bats.
The primary goal of the MDC Bat HCP is to obtain authorization for incidental take of the five covered species for specific management and monitoring activities as administered by MDC.