Nature

The Wilderness Act, passed 60 years ago, seeks to protect grand natural spaces in the U.S. to the highest level — including eight areas in Missouri. The Sierra Club will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Wilderness Act on Nov. 19 at the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center.

Once a chemical storage area, Olathe’s Pollinator Prairie has since been reclaimed as an ecological habitat hosting hundreds of native plants. A recent event showed off its role as a stopover for migrating pollinators like monarchs.

Scientists have uncovered surprisingly little about copperhead snakes, until now. A six-year study on copperheads at Powder Valley has gained new insight on their population size, how they move through their environment, and more.

Kansas City has committed to planting 10,000 trees in three years. But the city's existing tree canopy is relatively old and under stress by climate change and other factors.

Since 1990, the St. Louis Zoo has played an instrumental role in bringing Tahitian snails back from the brink of extinction.

A grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation helped local educators create a grassland prairie for students to learn about conservation at an Oakville elementary school.

Alligator snapping turtles are the biggest freshwater turtle in North America, sporting jagged, pointy shells, and a hooked beak. But these prehistoric-looking creatures haven't been seen in Kansas since 1991.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would seek protections for the regal fritillary, a large non-migratory butterfly with orange and black markings. It's suffering from habitat loss in Missouri and Kansas because of development, pesticides and climate change.

In late summer and fall, prairie grasses in Kansas’ Flint Hills can grow as high as eight feet tall. But right now, the grass is still short and wildflowers are the stars of the prairie.

Librarians at the downtown branch named the pair of mourning doves after Carrie Westlake Whitney, the "mother of the Kansas City Public Library," and her longtime companion Frances Bishop. Staff want visitors' help naming the two hatchlings.

Missouri is the latest state where foragers are being asked to collect samples of the fungi they find in the wild. It's part of an ambitious project that’s seeking to identify all the mushrooms of North America.

Missouri Department of Conservation Director Jason Sumners says he's focused on better engaging with a community that is technologically more disconnected with nature.