The following is a high level list of the partners that the Osage Trails Chapter supports and works with as a part of the Missouri Master Naturalist program. After the table is short paragraph description of each partner and contact information.
Anita B. Gorman
Conservation Discovery Center (MDC)
Discover ten acres of gardens, wetlands, walkways and wildlife that surround the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center building, located near the banks of Brush Creek at Troost Avenue in Kauffman Legacy Park. The environmentally friendly building houses information and outreach services of the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Located in the heart of the urban core, the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center focuses its educational programs on helping urban children and adults appreciate the bounty and beauty of nature, and learn outdoor skills such as hiking, camping, wildlife viewing and growing native plants. Hunting and fishing permits, books, videos and educational materials highlighting the natural resources of Missouri can be purchased in the Missouri Outdoors Nature Shop. The nature center hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; first and third Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., first and third Tuesday evenings until 9:00 p.m. Closed all state holidays.
Address: 4750 Troost Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64110
Phone: 816-759-7300
Website: https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/gorman-anita-b-conservation-discovery-center
Bridging The Gap
Bridging The Gap (BTG) works to make the Kansas City region sustainable by “connecting environment, economy and community,” and is the go-to organization providing environmental education and volunteer action.
BTG began in 1992 when a few people came together to make a difference in the Kansas City community. They identified recycling as a critical need and volunteered their time and efforts to bring curbside recycling to the residents of Kansas City and established some 20 area recycling centers. This initiative became the foundation of Bridging The Gap, and the organization began to develop a focus on environmental action, creating one of the most programmatically diverse organizations in the U.S. today.
Volunteerism and collective action are how we got started and remain at the heart of Bridging The Gap today. We hope you will join us to plant trees, restore wildlands, clean up litter, recycle and continue to build on this legacy of environmental action for a cleaner, healthier, and more resilient future.
Address: 1427 W 9th St Ste 201, Kansas City, MO 64101
Phone: 816-561-1087
Website: https://bridgingthegap.org
Burr Oak Woods
Conservation Nature Center (MDC)
The Missouri Department of Conservation’s Burr Oak Woods Conservation Area is in Jackson County, 20 miles east of downtown Kansas City on Highway 7 in Blue Springs. The area is comprised of 1,071 acres of woodlands, fields, and ponds and includes a scenic portion of Burr Oak Creek. Burr Oak Woods Conservation Nature Center features a collection of permanent and temporary conservation exhibits. It includes a 168-seat auditorium and a 3000-gallon aquarium displaying native fish. Special events and hands-on nature related programs are offered throughout the year. Interpretive programs and hikes are available to teachers and group leaders upon advance request. The nature center is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The Nature Center is closed on Sunday and Monday. The area is open 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Address: 1401 NW Park Road, Blue Springs, MO 64015
Phone: 816-228-3766
Website: https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/burr-oak-woods-ca
Burroughs Audubon Society
of Greater Kansas City
Burroughs Audubon Society promotes the appreciation of birds, the enjoyment of nature, natural history education and conservation of habitat. Volunteer opportunities include: field trip leader, board member, committees, campaigns, outreach events, newsletter, library staff, children’s activities, etc. The library is located in Fleming Park at Lake Jacomo. Library is open Wednesday through Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Address: 7300 SW West Park Road, Blue Springs, MO 64015
Phone: 816-795-8177 (BAS Library)
Website: www.burroughs.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/burroughs/
Deep Roots KC
Deep Roots KC, formerly The Kansas City Native Plant Initiative, is a collective impact organization of multi-sector Partners. Together with our Partners, we work to increase native plant landscapes. Our mission is to encourage the appreciation, conservation, and use of native plants in the heartland through educating, collaborating, and facilitating the planting of regenerative native landscapes that are essential for a healthy planet.
Today, under our new name, Deep Roots KC is teaching people that What You Plant Matters!
Address: PO Box 32131, Kansas City, MO 64171
Phone: 816-301-7545
Email: sarah@deeprootskc.org
Website: deeprootskc.org
Dunn Ranch (The Nature Conservancy)
Temperate grasslands are the least protected major habitat type on earth. In the entire Central Tallgrass Prairie Ecoregion, an area spanning 110,000 square miles and parts of six states, Dunn Ranch Prairie represents possibly the last chance to conserve a living landscape of tallgrass prairie on deep soil. Of the original 2,281-acre plot purchased by the Conservancy in 1999, more than 1000 acres have never been plowed. Today, Dunn Ranch Prairie is the anchor site of a 70,000-acre prairie restoration that extends into Iowa.
The Conservancy is working closely with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and other partners to restore a functional tallgrass prairie. Controlled burning, conservation grazing, and woody reduction are being used on a large scale to abate the degradation of habitat caused by invasive species, such as fescue and Osage orange and locust trees. Dunn Ranch Prairie has become a hub for cutting-edge technology and research; more than a dozen studies, including bison (reintroduced in 2011) and prairie chicken tracking and pollinator health research, are ongoing at the site.
Missouri Master Naturalists assist at Dunn Ranch with native plant seed collection for redistribution on the site. Opportunities exist for assisting at the Prairie Days festival and serving as interpretive guides for visiting groups.
Address: 16970 W. 150th St., Hatfield, MO
Phone: 660-867-3866
Website: http://www.nature.org/missouri
George Owens Nature Park
(City of Independence)
George Owens Nature Park comprises 87 acres in the Little Blue River watershed of eastern Jackson County. The landscape varies from upland woodlands and limestone outcroppings to two lakes and marshland, with about 2.5 miles of trails extending through the varied natural areas. Primarily, the park provides nature programs, education and recreation to the community. Establishing extensive native plantings here and reintroducing native plants throughout the community is a top priority. A new nature center houses several exhibits, including local fossils dating to 300 million years ago.
Address: 1601 S. Speck Road, Independence, MO 64057-2065
Phone: 816-325-7115
Website: www.georgeowensnaturepark.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/George-Owens-Nature-Park/478855372462573
Heartland Conservation Alliance
The Heartland Conservation Alliance proactively conserves, protects and restores natural lands and open spaces within the Kansas City region, benefiting the community and future generations by improving water quality, creating recreational opportunities, protecting life and property, and preserving our natural and cultural heritage. HCA accomplishes its goals through collaboration with a network of public and private organizations and agencies that share its goals, values and objectives, and through public outreach and education. HCA has active restoration projects at Blue Valley Park, East High School, Municipal Farm, Alex George Park, and the Marlborough neighborhood.
Address: 4750 Troost Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64110
Phone: 816-749-7305, ext. 1148
Website: www.heartlandconservationalliance.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandConservationAlliance/
Heartland Tree Alliance (Bridging The Gap)
Bridging The Gap, along with its partners, has created this nonprofit community forestry organization. This organization serves the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area, working regionally in both Kansas and Missouri.
Tree Keepers Workshops: Volunteer Training for a Healthy Community Forest is a comprehensive training class where participants learn everything from tree identification and species selection to urban soils and diagnosing tree problems. The focus is on teaching the value of Kansas City’s community forest, training volunteers in tree planting and care, and creating opportunities for hands-on tree planting and care.
Address: 1427 W. 9th Street, Ste 201, Kansas City, MO 64101
Phone: 816-561-1061 ext. 115
Website: www.heartlandtreealliance.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heartland-Tree-Alliance/26382819277?fref=ts
Jackson County Parks and Recreation
Jackson County Parks and Recreation administers and maintains approximately 22,000 acres of parkland divided among 31 different park locations. Regional park development has constituted the major thrust of Jackson County’s park development in the last decade. Regional parks are generally over 2,000 acres in size and include a major feature, providing a variety of recreational opportunities. They attract users from surrounding counties as well as Jackson County.
Address: Kemper Outdoor Education Center, 8201 Jasper Bell Road, Blue Springs, MO 64015
Phone: 816-229-8980
Website: https://www.makeyourdayhere.com
Kansas City Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation currently oversees more than 212 parks, 132 miles boulevards and parkways, 49 ornamental fountains, 134 ball diamonds, 10 community centers, 105 tennis courts, five golf courses, five museums and attractions, 30 pools, 47 shelters, dozens of outdoor events, and more than 400 recreational and educational programs. Opportunities for Master Naturalist chapter members exist at Jerry Smith, Rocky Point Glade in Swope Park, Lakeside Nature Center, and Hidden Valley Park.
Address: 4600 East 63rd Street, Kansas City, MO 64130-4629
Phone: 816-513-7500
Website: https://kcparks.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kcmoparks
Lakeside Nature Center
(Kansas City Parks and Recreation)
Experience the wild world of nature in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri. Lakeside Nature Center, located in Swope Park, exhibits wildlife native to the area, offers educational programs, coordinates community conservation projects, is one of Missouri’s largest wildlife rehabilitation facilities and is owned and managed by Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation Department.
Address: 4701 E. Gregory Boulevard, Kansas City, MO 64132-1693
Phone: 816-513-8960
Website: www.lakesidenaturecenter.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2228683532/?fref=ts
Kansas City WildLands (Bridging The Gap)
Kansas City WildLands is a coalition of resource professionals, private conservation organizations and conservation minded citizens established to restore and manage the remnants of Kansas City’s original landscape. Relatively undisturbed prairie, glade, savanna and forest natural communities still exist on public lands in the metro area, but over time, many such communities have been overtaken by trees and brush, invaded by exotic plants and deprived of the natural processes that maintained them. In addition to a lack of management, these natural communities also suffer from a lack of recognition and appreciation by the urban public. An equally important dual goal of the WildLands coalition is to involve the citizens of the metro community in the care of these lands that represent Kansas City’s natural heritage.
Address: 1427 W 9th Street, Ste 201, Kansas City, MO 64101
Phone: 816-561-1089
Website: www.kcwildlands.org
Lincoln University Cooperative Extension
Kansas City Urban Impact Center “An oasis to the neediest of the needy.”
The West Central Region 1890 Extension Programs are delivered through the Kansas City Urban Impact Center, which is located not far from the 12th Street Heritage District and the Historic Vine District. The programs target limited resource audiences in the Greater Kansas City area by providing skills in the areas of sustainable agriculture, community development, workforce preparedness, youth-at-risk, money management, and personal health.
Address: 1028 Paseo Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64106
Phone: 816-841-3960
Website: http://www.lincolnu.edu/web/programs-and-projects/kansas-city-urban-impact-center
Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge
Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge is located in northwestern Missouri within the historic Missouri River floodplain. The 7,440-acre refuge was established in 1935 as a resting, feeding, and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife. Many of the original facilities were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration in the late 1930s.
Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge offers something to everyone no matter the age. Explore the refuge via our 13-mile auto tour route, explore its Loess Hills on its three trails that offer sky views of the refuge below. Bring your children to the refuge to experience its Junior Naturalist program or after school program. Eagle Days are always the 1st weekend of December and offer the public views of our hundreds of Bald Eagles and hundreds of thousands of Snow Geese.
Address: P. O. Box 158, Mound City, MO 64470
Phone: 660-442-3187
Website: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Loess_Bluffs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LoessBluffsNWR/
https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofLoessBluffs/
Martha Lafite Thompson Nature Sanctuary
Martha Lafite Thompson Nature Sanctuary is a private nonprofit nature organization with 100 acres of land and about 4 miles of trails through diverse habitats, including a trail side bird blind on the prairie. The Nature Sanctuary offers a wide variety of public programs for all ages. It also offers private programs for birthday parties, scout groups, and school field trips. A Nature Center with classrooms, a gift shop, nature library, indoor bird viewing area, and exhibits (including live animals) is open Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Trails are open daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. April through September and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. October through March. View map and get directions at the website.
Address: 407 N La Frenz Road, Liberty, MO
Phone: 816-781-8598
Website: www.naturesanctuary.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarthaLafite/
Missouri Prairie Foundation
The Missouri Prairie Foundation is a private, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) prairie conservation organization and land trust governed by a volunteer board of directors. A staff of four carry out daily operations of the organization and several technical advisors provide valuable technical assistance. Numerous, valued volunteers assist with prairie management and outreach activities.
The Missouri Prairie Foundation was founded in 1966 by a small group of conservation professionals and volunteers who were concerned about the rapid decline of greater prairie-chickens and the degradation and loss of grassland habitat throughout the state. Since that time, MPF has grown and developed with several goals in mind, including the permanent protection of prairie habitat and the need for greater understanding of the role of native grasslands in wildlife conservation, energy security and carbon storage. MPF also became the home of the Grow Native! program in July 2012, and through this education and marketing program, promotes the use of native plants in the built environment and altered landscapes. Through its Grow Native! program, MPF also runs the Missouri Invasive Plant Task Force.
What began as an all-volunteer advocacy group has grown into an organization that both owns and/or manages more than 3,300 acres of land, produces one of North America’s only magazines on native grasslands and has members from more than 1,400 households—and continues to advocate for state-wide prairie protection.
Phone: 573-808-7007
Website: moprairie.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MOPrairie
Missouri River Bird Observatory
MRBO’s mission is
- To contribute to the conservation of Missouri’s migratory and resident birds through scientific research, community outreach, and education.
- To gather information about avian communities and habitat use that will assist state, federal, and private natural resource managers in their efforts to implement conservation programs.
- To provide opportunities for Missourians of all ages to learn about species and habitat conservation.
- To advocate for sound, science-based conservation policy that benefits birds, other wildlife and environmental quality.
Address: P. O. Box 16, Arrow Rock, MO 65320
Phone: 660-837-3888
Website: www.mrbo.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moriverbirdobs/
Missouri River Relief
Celebrating its eighteenth anniversary in 2019, Missouri River Relief has been teaming with communities up and down the Missouri River each year to clean up this wonderful natural resource. As of 2018, we’ve held 175 clean-ups, bringing 26,745 volunteers down to the Big Muddy to haul 920 tons of solid waste from 1,245 river miles of banks. We’ve participated in 150+ educational river trips, 161 learning festivals involving 23,318 students and conducted 16 educator workshops. The crew has also completed a 754 mile MegaScout journey mapping dumps and solid waste accumulations along the river. Missouri River Clean-ups are a fun, muddy day of hard work, with a free boat ride and a chance to meet others that share your love for this river.
Address: P. O. Box 463, Columbia, MO 65205
Phone: 573-443-0292
Website: www.riverrelief.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Missouri-River-Relief/123287781069952?fref=ts
Platte Land Trust
Platte Land Trust is an all-volunteer organization founded in 1998, registered as a 501(c)3 organization with the State of Missouri and a member of the Land Trust Alliance. They hold 20 acres fee simple in Platte County and two conservation easements of about 300 acres each in Platte and Jackson Counties. They work with property owners to achieve the dreams for their property.
Platte Land Trust is restoring the Sawyers property in southern Platte County, preparing it for outdoor education opportunities in the fall 2015 with trail building, invasive species control, grassland restoration, woodland protection, and natural resource inventories. We also utilize natural resource volunteers and professionals when visiting with property owners and assessing their property.
Address: P. O. Box 901892, Kansas City, MO 64190-1892
Phone: 816-746-9351
E-mail: info@plattelandtrust.com
Website: www.plattelandtrust.com
Powell Gardens
Powell Gardens is a private, not-for-profit botanical garden located just east of Kansas City, Missouri. Our mission: to be an experience that embraces the Midwest’s spirit of place and inspires an appreciation for the importance of plants in our lives. Set on almost 970 acres of lush, rolling hills, native prairie remnants, and windswept meadows, Powell Gardens offers breathtaking display gardens, interesting architecture, a 3.25 mile nature trail and a year-round calendar of special events and classes for the entire family.
The Gardens receive support from foundations, corporations, individuals, the Friends of Powell Gardens and income generated through admissions, gift shop sales and rentals.
Powell Gardens is known for its spectacular garden displays incorporating native plantings and its contemporary architecture by the architectural firm originally established by Fay Jones, now Maurice Jennings Architects. The Gardens can be rented for weddings, receptions, ceremonies and other private events.
Address: 1609 NW Hwy 50, Kingsville, MO 64061
Phone: 816-697-2600
Website: www.powellgardens.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PowellGardens
Stream Team: Osage Trails Chapter, #4956
Stream Team #4956 is a water monitoring and educational team that is supported by the Osage Trails Chapter. There are two dedicated monitoring locations this team supports and then also works with schools to educate students in the community.
Address: Anita Gorman Nature Center
Phone: 816-697-2600
Website: https://mostreamteam.org/
Facebook: NA
Wild Souls Wildlife Rescue and Rehab
Wild Souls is paving the way for a better tomorrow. Our Clinic Averages 900 wild animals rehabilitated at an 88% release rate annually. Wild Souls also provides a free hotline to the public, educating callers on Coexisting and reuniting strategies and humane evictions. Our values are at the highest for animal welfare. Educating the public to Coexist with wildlife outside ensures our wildlife rehabilitation patients receive individual quality care in the Clinic.
Address: 204 SW 11th Street, Suite A, Blue Springs, MO 64105
Phone: 800-495-8403
Website: https://wildsoulswildliferescuerehab.org/
Facebook: NA