Projects

Many people have the intuition that interacting with natural environments benefits their psychological health. This article describes empirical research on the cognitive benefits of interacting with natural environments and several theories that have been proposed to explain these effects.

In addition to 5 staffed Shooting and Outdoor Education Centers, The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) manages 69 areas with unstaffed shooting ranges across Missouri that provide various kinds of shooting opportunities including: archery, rifle, handgun, and shotgun opportunities. But MDC knew virtually nothing about the people who use MDC’s unstaffed ranges, their needs and desires, and their compliance with rules and regulations.

With 93% of the state’s land being privately owned, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) focuses on creating access to outdoor recreational activities by leasing land from private land owners. MDC administers more than one million acres of public land and actively manages more than 200,000 acres for wildlife habitat on these public conservation areas each year. According to Southwick Associates’ Hunting in America: An Economic Force for Conservation report, Missouri was ranked #8 for total number of resident hunters in the U.S. and #6 by total number of non-resident hunters. In fiscal year 2014, there were 576,000 hunters and 1.7 million wildlife watchers in the state. The number of small game, deer and turkey permits purchased has remained relatively constant over the past three years.

MDC received a three-year grant for $1.1 million through the 2014 VPA-HIP. The state’s overarching goal is to provide and expand recreational activities, such as small and large game hunting and wildlife viewing, for urban and rural residents and non-residents alike. More specifically, their goals are to:

• Increase and enhance wildlife habitat for small game and other wildlife species on private land.
• Increase the interest and number of small game hunters by providing additional lands and hunting opportunities on private lands.
• Increase youth hunter recruitment by providing access to private lands that provide hunting opportunities with less competition and hunting pressure relative to MDC Conservation Areas.
• Provide wildlife watching opportunities on private lands, especially on lands in close proximity to major metropolitan areas.

An understanding of neonicotinoid sorption and transport in soil is critical for determining and mitigating environmental risk associated with the most widely used class of insecticides. The objective of this study was to evaluate mobility and transport of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid (ICD) in soils collected from cropland, grass vegetative buffer strip (VBS), and riparian VBS soils. Soils were collected at six randomly chosen sites within grids that encompassed all three land uses. Single‐point equilibrium batch sorption experiments were conducted using radio‐labeled (14C) ICD to determine solid–solution partition coefficients (Kd). Column experiments were conducted using soils collected from the three vegetation treatments at one site by packing soil into glass columns. Water flow was characterized by applying Br− as a nonreactive tracer. A single pulse of 14C‐ICD was then applied, and ICD leaching was monitored for up to 45 d. Bromide and ICD breakthrough curves for each column were simulated using CXTFIT and HYDRUS‐1D models. Sorption results indicated that ICD sorbs more strongly to riparian VBS (Kd = 22.6 L kg−1) than crop (Kd = 11.3 L kg−1) soils. Soil organic C was the strongest predictor of ICD sorption (p < 0.0001). The column transport study found mean peak concentrations of ICD at 5.83, 10.84, and 23.8 pore volumes for crop, grass VBS, and riparian VBS soils, respectively. HYDRUS‐1D results indicated that the two‐site, one‐rate linear reversible model best described results of the breakthrough curves, indicating the complexity of ICD sorption and demonstrating its mobility in soil. Greater sorption and longer retention by the grass and riparian VBS soils than the cropland soil suggests that VBS may be a viable means to mitigate ICD loss from agroecosystems, thereby preventing ICD transport into surface water, groundwater, or drinking water resources.

List of all publications resulting from the MOFEP Woody Vegetation project.