MPF Annual Dinner in Columbia, Missouri -- Register by August 7

You are invited to enjoy an evening in celebration of prairie at the MPF Annual Dinner on Saturday, August 16, 2025 in Columbia, Missouri at Stoney Creek Hotel. The event will include a silent auction and social hour, dinner, awards program, and a presentation from Dr. Jesse Nippert entitled "Managing for Healthy Tallgrass Prairies in an Era of Woody Plant Encroachment."

Dr. Jesse Nippert, Distinguished Professor of Biology at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, has led the Long-Term Ecological Research program at Konza Prairie since 2017. He studies plant physiological responses to climate change in North American grasslands and Southern Africa Lowveld savannas with a particular emphasis on C4 grass physiology, vegetation responses to drought, and the dynamics of tree/grass resource competition. For the past 15 years, he has studied the drivers and consequences of shrub expansion into grassy ecosystems.

The Annual Dinner silent auction will feature many items from generous donors, including outdoor experiences, cabin stays, handcrafted products, local art, gift certificates, and more! Click here for some highlights—and check back again before the dinner, as we will be adding more items to the preview!

Learn more and register here. MPF members will have received personal invitations in postal mail. Seating is limited—register by August 7. We look forward to seeing you on August 16!

Please find other MPF news and upcoming events, summarized here and detailed below:

–Find MPF and MoIP at the Missouri State Fair

–Save the Dates: MPF Fall Plant Sales

–Goodbye & Best Wishes to Erika

–July 30: Grow Native! Webinar: Lessons Learned at Primrose Prairie

–August 1: Free Native Pasture Tour Highlighting Productive Prairie Forage

–August 13: Grow Native! Webinar: Dispelling Myths of Native Gardening

–August 16: MPF Annual Dinner in Columbia, Missouri - Ticket Sales End 08/07

–August 22: Introduction to Missouri Fern Identification and Ecology Workshop

–Welcome, Erin and Sara, and Congratulations to Jerod

–Prairie Postcard: Blazing Stars in Bloom

Sincerely,

The MPF Team

Photo of paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea) by Ethan Freese; Photo of Jesse Nippert courtesy of Jesse Nippert

Find MPF and MoIP at the Missouri State Fair

The Missouri State Fair will be held Thursday, August 7 through Sunday, August 17 in Sedalia, Missouri. Stop by and say hello at these State Fair events where MPF and the Missouri Invasive Plant Council (MoIP), administered by MPF, will have a presence:



–August 8: Invasive Species Day

–August 11: Missouri Native Plant Show in the Floriculture Building: Enter your home-grown Missouri native plants in this year's Missouri Native Plant Show. Entries can be made in the following categories: Perennials, Arboreal, Grasses, and Vines. Learn how to participate here. 

Save the Dates: MPF Fall Plant Sales

MPF is grateful to the businesses, nonprofits, and schools for hosting six MPF native plant sales for the fall, detailed below.

–Saturday, Sept. 6 - Bass Pro Shops® Sportsman’s Center (Columbia, Missouri) 

–Saturday, Sept. 13 - The Nature Institute (Godfrey, Illinois) 

–Saturday, Sept. 13 - Bass Pro Shops® Sportsman’s Center (Springfield, Missouri)

–Saturday, Sept. 13 - Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center (Kansas City, Missouri)

–Thursday, Sept. 25 - Roeslein & Associates, Inc. (St. Louis, Missouri)

–Saturday, Oct. 18 - Missouri Chestnut Roast Festival at the Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Farm (New Franklin, Missouri)

So far, the following Grow Native! professional members are participating in one or more of our fall sales: Gaylena's Garden, Grindstone Wildflowers, Missouri Wildflowers Nursery, Hawthorn Chapter MONPS, Ozark Soul Native Plants, River City Natives LLC, Green Thumb Nursery, Sam’s Native Nursery and Restoration Services, City Roots, Sow Wild Natives, Leaf&Sky, Papillon Perennials, and Claire's Garden. Many vendors travel far from home to provide their inventory for our sales in spring and fall, and for sales that they host in partnership with other organizations.

Mark your calendars, and look for updates on these sales in future e-news editions and on our social media channels.

Photo of New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) by Mervin Wallace

MPF bids a fond farewell to Special Projects Coordinator Erika Van Vranken, whose last day with us is July 31. Erika is stepping away to focus on a number of personal projects. While we will miss her very much, we are happy that she will have the time to devote to a number of other pursuits.

Erika's work on numerous MPF initiatives over the past four years has elevated MPF's capacity to deliver quality prairie and native plant educational programming.

Thank you, Erika! We will miss you!

Scroll down for more staff news.

July 30: Grow Native! Webinar: Lessons Learned at Primrose Prairie

Join Cydney Ross, Outdoor Education Manager at Deep Roots KC, as she discusses the challenges and successes of “Primrose Prairie” in this Grow Native! webinar. In its fourth growing season, this native planting at the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center in Kansas City was Cydney’s first public native garden that she designed, installed, and maintained. Learn about plant selection, design creation, installation methods, and about on-going maintenance in this dynamic native garden.

This free webinar, to be held via Zoom, will include a presentation and a live question-and-answer session. The webinar will be recorded, with a link to the recording sent to all registrants and posted to the MPF YouTube channel.

Wednesday, July 30 at 4:00 p.m. 1 GNPCP CEU. Register here.

Photo of planting by Pat Whalen

August 1: Free Native Pasture Tour Highlighting Productive Prairie Forage

“Even in very dry conditions, my native pastures provide quality forage, and my cattle gain weight faster than on fescue,” said Steve Clubine, retired grassland biologist and cattle producer, who, through his “Native Warm-Season Grass News” published regularly in the MPF’s Missouri Prairie Journal, shares his knowledge of and experience with native grazing systems.

Steve Clubine is opening up his farm near Clinton, Missouri, on Friday, August 1 at 4:00 p.m., for an MPF tour to help others see first-hand the benefits of establishing and maintaining a native forage grazing system. This walking tour is limited to 25 people.

Cost: Free. Friday, August 1 at 4:00 p.m. Register here.

Photo by Steve Clubine

August 13: Grow Native! Webinar: Dispelling Myths of Native Gardening

Increasingly, gardeners, farmers, community planners, and nature enthusiasts in the lower Midwest are choosing native plants. As this movement attracts enthusiasm, however, it also draws speculation. What is the truth about native plants… and what is misinformation?

Join panelists Sajo Abdallah, Eric Eaton, Dr. Nina Fogel, and Scott Woodbury as they tackle live questions and set the record straight on many common native gardening misconceptions.

Topics to be explored include native landscape design styles and maintenance; challenging assumptions around pollinators, small mammals, and insects; the differences among natives, nativars, and cultivars; tips on beneficial versus nuisance insect identification; and more.

Panel (from left to right): Sajo Abdallah, Private Land Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and CoMo Wild Yards Program; Eric R. Eaton, entomologist, writer, speaker, and lauded “Internet Bug Guy”; Nina Fogel, Ph.D., Missouri Natural Heritage Database Specialist with MDC; Scott Woodbury, designer, horticulturist, writer, speaker, and owner of Cacalia Design and Wilding.

This free webinar, to be held via Zoom, will include a presentation and a live question-and-answer session. The webinar will be recorded, with a link to the recording sent to all registrants and posted to the MPF YouTube channel.

Wednesday, August 13 at 4:00 p.m. 1 GNPCP CEU. Register here.

Promotional image photos left to right by MDC and Ed Spevak

August 22: Introduction to Missouri Fern Identification and Ecology Workshop (and September 11 Ferntastic Fair - Save the Date!)

Learn about Missouri’s fascinating fern diversity with Justin Thomas of the Institute of Botanical Training at Lincoln University in Jefferson City.

Missouri is blessed with a fascinating fern diversity. This four-hour course focuses on fern identification, ecology, and appreciation, and will also cover their curious reproduction strategies, specialized terminology, and geographical patterns. In short, how do we tell ferns apart, where do they live, how did they get there, and why do they stay? In the last hour of the workshop, there will be a review of the workshop content. This course is ideal for anyone curious about plants up to fully fledged experts. Note: This workshop will cover the same content as the fern workshop offered in May.

This course is part of the “Growing Native Ferns as Specialty Crops in Missouri” grant to the Specialty Crops Program at Lincoln University Cooperative Extension, administered by the Missouri Department of Agriculture and with participation of MPF's Grow Native! program.

Cost: $25, includes lunch

Friday, August 22, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Location: Dickinson Research Center, 1219 Chestnut Street, on the campus of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri.

For those who are part of the Grow Native! Professional Certification Program (GNPCP), this event is eligible for 4 CEUs. See details about earning GNPCP CEUs here.

Capacity is limited; registration is required. See more details and register here.

Save the Date Update: Lincoln University's Ferntastic Fair! is now planned to be held on September 11, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., at the Finca EcoFarm in Jefferson City. The fair will feature propagation demonstrations, food, fun, arts and crafts, and tours! Look for more about the Ferntastic Fair in future enews.

Welcome Erin and Sara

Join us in welcoming MPF Clerical Assistant Erin Happ. Working part-time, Erin carries out essential work for MPF including fulfillment and shipping of educational materials and merchandise, assisting with administrative tasks, and helping with outreach events.

Erin was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri. Since her beginnings as an awestruck, nature-loving kid, Erin has found her solace in the wild creeks, fields, and forests close to home. Among her fondest memories are adventures along her backyard creek, hiding out in forts made of dense bush honeysuckle patches, making “magic potions” out of berries, mud, and flowers, and, of course, the occasional well-caught frog, bug, or snake. 

Erin worked as a resource steward for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as a teenager before beginning college with a major in Forestry and Ecology at the University of Missouri in 2016. Following a transfer to Northwest Missouri State University, Erin explored other sciences before graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology and a minor in Sociology. Erin is excited to be reuniting with conservation and the wild outdoors through her work with MPF.

MPF also introduces Sara Loe, MPF's part-time Special Projects Coordinator. Sara's chief responsibilities include overseeing MPF's Grow Native! Professional Certification Program, the Gardens of Excellence Program, and the MPF Cemetery Prairie Working group.

Sara's passion for conservation is forged by a childhood filled with hiking in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, sailing on Lake Ontario, and summers in Minnesota's Superior National Forest. Educated at St. Olaf College, UCLA, and USC with an M.Arch in architecture and graduate certificate in historic preservation, she has an interest in vernacular design and Indigenous building practices and brings a unique perspective to her work. 

Sara has worked at architectural firms on the East and West Coasts and taught at USC’s School of Architecture. In 2008, she relocated from Los Angeles to Columbia, Missouri, to join USDA Rural Development first as an architect, then as a program coordinator. Since arriving in Columbia, she has actively championed native planting, invasive species control, and monarch butterfly tagging. She believes that time spent in the natural environment is essential to one’s well-being and is excited to be working with MPF and its Grow Native! program to help advance prairie protection and the native landscaping industry.

When MPF Director of Prairie Management Jerod Huebner joined MPF on July 6, 2015, MPF owned 19 tracts of land totaling 3,000 acres, and he and his wife Lauren had a one-year-old son. Fast forward a decade, and Jerod oversees management on MPF’s 35 properties totaling more than 5,000 acres, and he and Lauren are parents not just to 11-year-old Nolan, but also to their 7-year-old daughter Linden. Despite the growing demands of his profession and his family life, Jerod hasn’t slowed down a bit.

“Jerod’s contributions to the protection and stewardship of MPF’s prairies are extraordinary,” said MPF Executive Director Carol Davit. “Thanks to his exceptional planning, MPF’s prescribed burns occur on schedule, and invasive plants are continually scouted for and when found, treated promptly. Jerod came to MPF with impressive experience, but he has also learned a tremendous amount over the past 10 years. He is a very skilled instructor, providing hands-on training to staff, other young professionals, and volunteers. Jerod excels at many other endeavors as well, including administering grants, maintaining equipment, teaching children about prairie ecology, and much more. MPF is grateful for his many contributions to furthering our mission.”

Congratulations on your 10-year anniversary with MPF, Jerod, and thank you for your tireless work to protect some of the rarest habitat on the planet.

Read more about MPF's eight staff members here.

Blazing star species, including prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya), pictured here, bloom July through late summer and even into fall. Right now, in the blazing heat of late July, they are a highlight of the summer show on the prairie. Pictured above is a large population of prairie blazing star at MPF’s Schwartz Prairie, in St. Clair County, a 240-acre old-growth prairie with 360 total native plant species recorded on the property. Blazing stars are found on most MPF properties. Find the closest site to you on our webpage here, and learn about many other prairies in Missouri open to the public, owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), MPF, and other groups at MDC’s Public Prairies of Missouri Interactive Story Map.

Photo of Schwartz Prairie by Glenn Chambers