Soil Health & Watershed Groups

Huzzah/Shoal Creek Woodlands for Wildlife

East Central Missouri

Landowners Rachel Hopkins and Steve Yokom worked with local Huzzah/Shoal Creek Woodlands for Wildlife partners to rebuild a long stretch of Huzzah Creek shoreline. Photo: The Nature Conservancy
Landowners Rachel Hopkins and Steve Yokom worked with local Huzzah/Shoal Creek Woodlands for Wildlife partners to rebuild a long stretch of Huzzah Creek shoreline. Photo: The Nature Conservancy

Contact

Contact: Rob Pulliam - Nature-Based Solutions Coordinator - The Nature Conservancy

Email: rob.pulliam@tnc.org

Phone: (636) 432-6200

Website:

Mission

Huzzah/Shoal Creek Woodlands for Wildlife is a bottom-up, self-organized farmer-led committee. Rachel Hopkins, a member landowner, credits a 2008 conversation between local landowners and conservation managers for the wave of on-farm problem solving and conservation action that’s followed. “There wasn’t much trust in the room that day in 2008,” she said, “but we needed to hear what was bugging everyone and figure out what we could do together.” Since then, a collaborative approach to scoping challenges, identifying needs, setting goals and implementing practices has led to visible, positive impacts for farms, streams and wildlife.

News & Stories

About Us

Growing a Group:

  • Active group 5+ years
  • Book sharing
  • Farmer-led group
  • Formed a new group
  • Fundraising
  • Grant writing
  • Member-led project planning
  • Neighbor to neighbor mentoring
  • Personal invitations to neighbors to grow the group
  • Other

Collaboration:

  • Actively participated in local watershed planning process
  • Collaboration with agriculture or conservation organizations
  • Collaboration with local ag retailers and/or crop advisors
  • Collaboration with local civic groups
  • Collaboration with local college or university
  • Other

Outreach:

  • Engage local schools
  • Media interviews
  • Presentation to groups
  • Promotion to media outlets
  • Social media cultivation
  • Video Development
  • Website Development
  • Other - Landowner hosted farm tour

Land & Water:

  • Bioreactors
  • Cover crops
  • Crop diversification
  • Floodplain restoration
  • Grass waterways
  • Grazing
  • Nutrient management & retention
  • Perennial crops
  • Prairie strips
  • Saturated buffers
  • Stream buffers
  • Stream restoration
  • Water retention basins
  • Wetlands
  • Other - Conservation Easements, reinforced stream crossings, timber stand improvement, fencing woodlands and riparian buffers, warm-season-grasses & forbs establishment

Assessment & Data:

  • Agronomic data collection
  • Field edge data collection
  • Field walkovers
  • Stream monitoring
  • Other - The Missouri Department of Conservation conducts Index of Biological Integrity and fish sampling.

Events:

  • Fishing event
  • Farm field days
  • Paddle event
  • Upstream or downstream connections/visits
  • Booth at local event
  • Other

Fishers & Famers Partnership Program Participation:

  • Workshop
  • Neighbor to Neighbor Radio Podcast
  • Boots on the Ground Online Conversation
  • Group Presentation
  • Project Tour
  • Featured in a Story
  • Featured in a Video
  • Meetings
  • None

Additional Photos

Rachel Hopkins shows neighbors an alternate cattle watering system on her farm.
After a stretch of stream bank is reconstructed on Huzzah Creek, trees and forms are planted.
New stream buffer plantings begin to take hold.
Native buffer plantings mature.
A reinforced stream crossing reduces damage by cattle to the stream.
Trees, warm season grasses and forbs thrive on a restored site.

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