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

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

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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