The Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF) is a private-sector nonprofit foundation dedicated to the stewardship of original and replanted tallgrass prairie lands in the U.S. state of

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Missouri, together with its neighbor state

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, are at the heart of the tallgrass prairie biome. In large stretches of interior North America, local climate patterns favor well-watered grassland or grassy

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

, and MPF celebrates this pattern of local natural areas. As of 2023, the MPF owns more than of prairie in 32 tracts in various locations throughout Missouri. The MPF manages its lands with the primary goal of maintaining and increasing biome diversity, particularly botanical diversity. The Foundation has counted 30 species of conservation concern that live on its tracts of land. The Foundation operates its land parcels in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDOC). Examples of tallgrass prairie stewarded by MPF include Carver Prairie, a parcel of original and reseeded prairie adjacent to the larger

Diamond Grove Prairie Conservation Area The Diamond Grove Prairie Conservation Area is an 852-acre natural area located adjacent to the Missouri municipality of Diamond. The conservation area is characterized by rolling tallgrass prairie and prairie savanna. The conservation area is ...

, an MDOC tract, near

Diamond, Missouri Diamond is a city in north central Newton County, Missouri, United States, located southeast of Joplin. The population was 902 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Joplin, Missouri, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Diamond is primarily renowned a ...

. The Carver Prairie is located near the

George Washington Carver National Monument George Washington Carver National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service in Newton County, Missouri. The national monument was founded on July 14, 1943, by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who dedicated $30,000 to the monument. It was the fir ...

historical complex, and enables visitors to view a landscape that resembles that of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. The Missouri Prairie Foundation is headquartered in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

, near the center of the state. As of 2023, the MPF had an affiliate relationship with the Bradford Research Farm of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

(MU) at Columbia.

References

{{reflist Environmental organizations based in the United States