Mark McNeely attends Conservation Honors Program

Conservation Honors Program

by Mark McNeely

Mark McNeely, a senior at North Daviess R-3 and the son of Terry and Dena McNeely of Jameson, recently participate in the Conservation Honors Program. The following is an essay written by Mark about his experience.

On June 8, I arrived at the University of Missouri in Columbia ready for the week ahead of me at the 2003 Conservation Honors Program. As we registered we wasted no time, but instead we got to meeting one another since we would be spending the week together. I was lucky enough to be one of the 32 students that were selected to attend the 2003 Conservation Honors Program.

On June 8, Sunday, after registration and introductions, we began our week. We started off by visiting Tucker Prairie Conservation Area near Columbia. There we learned about prairie management, and how the ideas of prairies have changed over the years since management ideas have changed.

Each day we read a passage from “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold, and we had to write a brief overview of the passage in our daily journals, and we also had to tie in a conservation concept to what we read.

Monday we returned to Prairie Fork, and learned about identifying prairie grasses and forbes. We also looked at soil samples taken by Crystal Frey. We studied and measured soils in the different areas of the prairie and compared them to other samples.

On Tuesday, June 10, we identified the insects that we caught the day before. We compared the different insects that were caught at Tucker and Prairie Fork Conservation Areas. There was a pretty big diversity of insects. The forestry part of our trip was somewhat interesting to me, and taking core samples was fun. We also listened to the fisheries specialists that were at the pond. We each got to go out on the shocking boat, and we caught and identified the fish that were in the pond. Shocking and catching the fish was very fun, and I enjoyed it a lot.

On Wednesday, we learned how “dug out” canoes were used and made, when Lewis and Clark used them on their expeditions through Missouri. We also participated in weeding a prairie forbes plantation. Wednesday evening we drove to Meramac Spring Park and toured the museum and surrounding areas. We were supposed to camp out at Meramac but because of the rain the camping area was flooded so we had to find somewhere else to camp.

We found a spot and set up our tents in the rain. Lucky for us it didn’t really rain hard until right after we got our tents set up. We had a bonfire that night and had ‘smores, and just had a great time camping out. We got kind of wet at night because of the rain, but it was a good experience.

The next morning on the 12th of June, we were supposed to go on a floating trip down the river, but because of the unrelenting rain, we were once again flooded out, and didn’t get to go floating. I was disappointed because all week I had been looking forward to the float trip.

Instead, we toured the rest of the park, and got to see the old mines where the iron ore was dug. We spent time in recreation and just doing stuff at our own leisure. That afternoon we went back to the dorms in Columbia and worked on our group projects.

On June 13, the last day of camp, we got up and finished our group presentations, and then prepared to leave. When all of our parents arrived, each group, red, blue, green and yellow, presented their projects. It was a presentation over what all we had done and learned throughout the week at Columbia. My group, the yellow group, did our presentation in the style of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” It was really fun. After the presentations, we each “graduated” from the program and were congratulated, and received an award for participating in the activities during the week.

Overall, the Conservation Honors Program was very enjoyable and I would tell anyone who likes to be outside to enroll in the program. It is well worth the time and effort.