Our Research Mission
Our research mission is to provide a place to conduct innovative research that will further our understanding of natural resources, their processes, and our management effects on those resources. A Prairie Fork Conservation Area Trust Fund has been established to support “innovative programs of research and teaching in the areas of natural history and conservation.” Funds are awarded to projects by two trustees (Director of the School of Natural Resources and Missouri Department of Conservation Resource Science Supervisor) who are advised by a coordinating committee. The committee consists of faculty from The School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, research and management staff from the Missouri Department of Conservation, an adjacent landowner to the Prairie Fork Conservation Area, and a biological scientist outside the University of Missouri. Projects must advance the long-term natural community and educational goals of Prairie Fork Conservation Area.