Site-Specific Ecological Land Types and Site Descriptions

The Middle Meramec Conservation Opportunity Area (MMCOA) is a 450,000-acre area of tremendous terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity. The Missouri Ecological Classification System (ECS) Project has completed mapping for this geography at a site specific scale that is useful for land planning purposes. We propose to use this detailed ecological information to guide land management recommendations on private lands within MMCOA as a pilot for adoption in other Missouri Conservation Opportunity Area (COA) landscapes. This detailed ecological information is being developed for the entire state making this new approach to conservation planning beneficial to other conservation initiatives throughout Missouri. The project will be implemented on private land within the MMCOA in Crawford, Phelps, Franklin, and Washington counties, east central Missouri.