June 28, 2024 • 29 mins
Clint Girlie visits with Rudy Martinez and Morgan Wyatt about their role withing the Missouri Department of Conservation at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center. They discuss Nature Center offerings to the public as well as special programs offered in the next few months.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Well, hello, and welcome toa show that we call iHeart the Ozarks.
This is a half hour long showthat airs across all five of our
iHeart Radio stations every weekend, aswell as on our iHeartRadio app on our
iHeart the Ozarks podcast. So thankyou so much for being here. My
name is Clint Gurley. I'm thevice president of Programming for iHeart Radio here
in Springfield and for all of ourstaff, this is one of our favorite
things to do week in and weekout because it gives us a chance to
(00:22):
sit down with some folks from ourcommunity right here in southwest Missouri, the
Springfield area, talk with them abouteverything they're doing to make this community a
better place to live in and toenjoy life in. And this one is
pretty near and dear to my heart, not just because it's a great field
trip for my kids and they lovegoing every summer school time and every school
(00:42):
year for that matter, but assomebody who loves being outdoors, literally,
as somebody who just got back fromfishing minutes ago, rushed in the door,
came down here and turned the cameraon. I'm excited to welcome our
friends from the Missouri Department of conversationconversation, Well maybe today the Missouri Department
of Conservation as well as the SpringfieldNature Center. Welcome to Rudy Martinez,
(01:07):
who's the director there of the NatureCenter. Hello Rudy, Hello, good
morning, good to be here.Klint and Morgan Wyatt, who is a
naturalist at the Nature Center, goodmorning. Thank you for having us.
Can you explain what a naturalist isbecause in your context, it's a little
bit different than the one I'm conjuring, like via social media influencer, you
(01:29):
know what I mean. Yes,it's very different than that. So naturalists
with MBC do educational programs. Solike you were saying your kids when they
came here on their field trip,it's very possible that I was the one
doing the program for them. Wehave three naturalists here and our main job
is nature education, so we teachpeople about the forest, fish, and
(01:53):
wildlife of Missouri, and we alsodo some outdoor skills stuff, so fishing
and kayak archery, stuff like that, and we also help take care of
the animals that are on display hereat the Springfield Nature Center. Well,
right on, very cool, Yeah, And a naturalist is the go to
person with any of your nature relatedquestions. Gotcha, can you help me
(02:16):
catch fish? I did not havea successful day to day. I can
try. We can talk about whatyou've what you've been using, and maybe
make some adjustments. And sure,yeah, we can talk about that.
I've tried everything, Morgan this morning, eighteen different nuts. Anyways, I'm
excited that you guys are here.You have a great place there at the
(02:38):
Nature Center. I like to approachthese shows from a like, let me
put all my ignorance on display perspective, and sometimes that requires me to just
take everything way down to the baselevel. For those people who may be
listening who have no idea what theSpringfield Conservation Nature Center is, can you
(03:00):
guys explain, like where you are, what do you do? Like,
you know, why are you sucha benefit for the public. So we
have been here the Nature Center specificallyin southwest or southeast corner of Springfield for
the last thirty five years thirty almostthirty six years. So we're a great
(03:21):
place for people to explore the outdoors. And it's we're set up in a
way to where it's like an introductionto the outdoors, to nature, you
know, and you know, weoffer a lot of educational programs, but
also one of our biggest attraction,well, actually the biggest attraction here is
(03:43):
our nature trails because we have trailsthat go through five different ecosystems, and
you never know what you're going tosee out there on the trails, and
they're well marked. We have mapsfor the trails, and wildlife is wildlife
they do. They're wild here.They're not contained, and you never know
what you're going to see. Imean, you can come every day and
(04:05):
it's going to be different every singletime. Yeah, how much. I
mean you mentioned that it's the mostpopular thing. They're the hiking trails in
and around that area. We're talkingright there at the corner pretty much of
the Glenstone to Republic Road curve whereone becomes the other. You guys are
straight down there past our pool place, Midwest Pools, and then there's a
(04:30):
park and then there's you guys,how many people are hiking at the Nature
Center, like on a a weekly, yearly basis? Like how many?
Yeah? So we average about aquarter of a million people every year on
our trails. Wow, two hundredand fifty thousand and three hundred thousand people
on our trails and that is alot of folks and we are kind of,
(04:53):
like you said, tucked the wayoff Glenstone in our do out of
road here is Nature Centerway, butit dead ends right at the Nature Center,
so it's pretty relatively easy to seefind their signings there at the roundabout.
But yeah, the trails are openseven days a week currently on our
summer hours from six am to eightpm. But yeah, people really take
(05:17):
advantage of those and for all kindsof reasons too, not just to identify
and search for wildlife, wildflowers thingslike that, but also it's utilized as
a place to wind down, ifyou will, to escape your you know,
the day to day hustle and bustleand uh and just find a place
(05:41):
where you can wind down, bewith your thoughts and uh. And a
lot of people take advantage of that. Like you said, Morgan, I'm
just guessing, but I'm sure you'vebeen on those trails the time or two
before. What kind of yeah,what kind of like wildlife when you mentioned
like going out there, besides seeingthe native plants and the wildflowers and stuff,
(06:01):
what kind of animals are we talkingabout getting the chance to experience in
a kind of wild environment so manyso this time of year, you can
see a lot of different species ofbirds. We just came off spring migration
and we had a lot of differentwartler species down by the water. We've
got red shouldered hawks that are nestingup on the Fox Bluff trail, so
(06:27):
if you don't see them, you'lldefinitely hear them when you're hiking the trails.
It's a good time and year forreptiles. So when you pass by
the water along the boardwalk trail,look on the logs and you'll probably see
some turtles basking in the sun.Just yesterday we saw a black rat snake
that slithered across the trail. Heactually went right between my feet, so
(06:48):
that was exciting. And then hewent down in the woods and all these
different species of birds were scolding himbecause they probably had nest nearby. So
that was really entertaining. To seelots of lizards and mammals like squirrels and
chipmunks. You will see deer.Sometimes you'll see turkey on occasion, so
(07:09):
just all kinds of wildlife. I'vegot a wildlife story. I don't have
many. In fact, this maybe my only one. Uh No,
I take the back. I havetwo so recording this currently from my house
in Republic, in our home studio. Here directly out this door, which
you can't see, is about threeand a half acres of grass that I
(07:30):
have to mow so much mowing.By the way, Oh good lord.
Last night, So we have afamily of foxes, and we always believed
it was a mommy and two kidsand sometimes maybe the dad. We weren't
sure. I don't know anything aboutfoxes. Last night, there were six
of them out there, and Idon't know where the other two came from.
(07:53):
I've never seen the other two inmy life, and it was amazing.
That's my nature story number one,number two wildlife story. Were ven
into Willard to play golf two weekendsago, early morning. Bald eagle right
across the road. One of thecoolest things ever. Man, it was
like two feet off And there's apart of me that still doesn't believe that
(08:15):
that happened. So now that Ihave a naturalist here, I mean,
I don't think that they're common aroundhere, but is that what I mean?
They had a whitehead and it hadI mean, it was a bald
eagle, Like is that normal?What? Oh? Sure? Yeah,
that's entirely possible. We have lotsof eagles around. Was there water nearby,
Clint, Yeah, there was acouple of little ponds around there.
(08:37):
Okay, so they do usually liketo hang out by water, but not
always a lot of people don't realizebald eagles will eat carry on or dead
animals that they find along the roadtoo, so sometimes they are seen by
roadways eating dead animals too. So, yes, you probably did see a
bald eagle. Congratulations, it wasvery It was very hard to play golf
(08:58):
that day with the amount of patriotismI felt. I understand. Yes,
America golf. It was a goodday. All right, Enough of my
ridiculousness. Let's get back into whatyou guys do there at the nature center.
You mentioned this hiking. You getto see all this amazing wildlife.
Just yesterday you had a snake gothrough your feet, which for some very
(09:18):
exciting, for others like me,terrifying. Good for you. How do
people do this? You know whatI mean? Like, how do people
come out? Like when they showup? Is there a fee? Like?
How does that all work? Sobeing a state agency, we're funded
by a sales tax. In fact, it was past the nineteen seventy six
where one eighth of one percent statesales tax is earmarked for the Missouri Department
(09:45):
Conservation. And that's the sole reasonwhy nature centers the ones we have are
across the state in urban areas,so everything is free of charge here.
So for instance, visiting the facility, we have a number exhibits, free
brochures to give out. We're openTuesday through Saturday, eight to five,
(10:05):
and you know, we have aninformation desk where we can give out any
information related to nature, our programs. We have staff and volunteers that help
answer any nature related questions. We'llgive out maps related to the trails,
and again we're here to help thevisitors when they do arrive. That's Rudy
(10:28):
Martinez. He's the director of theSpringfield Conservation Nature Center. Morgan Wyatt,
you've also heard from she's a naturalistthere. You mentioned the facility that you
have, so besides these hiking trails, you've got this great indoor space that
you've mentioned that you have exhibits there. Can you get for those who have
never been before, Can you givea kind of a brief overview of what
that's like inside and what people canbring the kids out or just themselves out
(10:52):
to experience. Sure. Sure,So we're set up in like I mentioned
earlier, in a way to introducepeople to nature. So even when you
first drive into the area, bythe entrance road is somewhat manicured lawn,
(11:13):
but once you get into the gate, you start seeing native wildflower garden beds.
You enter the building, we havea large artificial oak tree in the
lobby, so it's a transition,you know, that continues throughout and in
our exhibits, they're designed to behands on, so we encourage kids and
(11:33):
families to touch everything and look ateverything. We have a number of aquariums
with fish, and some terrariums witha few reptiles, you know, some
turtles, but also a couple oneor two snakes. We changed it up
every once in a while. Butthen we also have a wildlife viewing area
with some bird feeders in the backwhere you never know what you're going to
(11:56):
see there as far as birds,but also we occasionally get things like a
deer that might come up you knowby the feeders, apossum, it just
fairies and then a little One ofthe most popular things in our exhibit area
is a kids children's area with puppetsand puppets. We use those for a
(12:16):
lot of interpretive educational programs. Thekids and adults love puppets and they'll play
back there for hours, just inthat little area. But yeah, so
again, we have a number ofpuppets there, so we want kids and
people to just you know, tryeverything out that we have, including a
(12:37):
small cave. You can see soundsin some of the live artificial wildlife that
you might encounter if you did gocave. So you have Okay, wait,
hold on, because I was withyou up until you said you have
a small cave, like is itfor real? Is it a for real
cave or is it like one youguys maw okay, all right, yeah,
it's part of the exhibit. Itall makes sense. That's good stuff.
(13:00):
You mentioned kids loving what you guysdo there, And this is part
of the reason why I wanted tomake sure we talked here relatively early in
the summer. Right, We've gotabout just under maybe two months left of
summer I have, and I gotto speak quietly because they're here. My
kids are home with me all summer, like they just got done with summer
school and that was awesome. Notjust have them all the time now,
(13:26):
and I need things to do,you see, And I know you guys
are a great place for kids togo. My kids love the outdoors.
I'm curious, like, what's goingon with you guys this summer besides these
amazing things you already do there.Sure we have something for all ages.
(13:46):
So I don't know how old theyare, but however old they are,
you could bring them to enjoy lotsof different things that we have. So
sort of our general public programs startwith children that are as young as babies.
That's called Babes in the Woods,and we ask the parents to bring
them in strollers and we take ashort little walk on the trails and we
(14:09):
do mostly sensory stuff with that one. So we'll let them touch different things,
natural objects and see the differences inhow they feel. If they have
scent, they can smell things andnotice the different colors of things. So
it's very basic, but it's nevertoo early to start learning about nature.
So we have that Little Acorns isfor kids three to six years old,
(14:33):
and we offer at least two differenttopics of Little Acorns classes every month.
We have one today in fact,today's topic is what is it? It
is crawdads. Crawdad craze is thename of it. Oh, they're going
to be learning all about crayfish inthere and see live products too, Yes,
(14:54):
live products that we caught out ofGallowy creeks. Yeah. And then
next up from that is Conservation Kids. That's the Those are evening programs usually,
and we encourage families to work togetherfor those ones, so parents will
stay with the kids and kind ofinteract with the different activities that we have.
(15:15):
We just had that last night andthey did a creek crawl, So
they went down to Galloway Creek andgot in the water a little bit and
splashed around and looked at all thedifferent little macro and vertebrates that live under
the rock. So little mayfly nymphsand caddis fly nymphs, and of course
the crowdads too. And then nextstep from that we have Conservation Teens.
(15:37):
So we even have something for teenagersand I am doing that later today we're
going to go kayaking on Lake Springfield. So there's really something for all ages.
Even after you become an adult,you can still hang out. We
have hiking programs we have different virtualprograms that all ages can attend, So
yeah, there's something for everybody here. Sure. That is obviously a ton
(16:02):
of things that you guys are puttingon and managing on a weekly basis.
It's also a lot of things forme to remember. Is there just one
website or something that I could goto and just find all of this,
you know? Yes, I'm gladyou asked. It is MDC dot MO
dot gov goov and from there youcan click on the events tab and then
(16:26):
select the Southwest region and that'll showyou everything that's going on in the Southwest,
not just at the Springfield Nature Center, but at the Shooting Range at
Andy Dalton Shooting Range. And thenalso once the Shepherd of the Hill's Fish
Hatchery opens in Brandson, they'll havesome events again too, but they're under
construction so and then also we haveour own in house program sheet, so
(16:52):
if people come to the nature Center, we can give you a whole list
that has a month or two worthof programs on it that they can find
out about as well. And youmentioned you guys are open Tuesday through Saturday.
Yes, okay, just making sureif somebody wanted to stop by that's
awesome. So m VC they getthere, right, I am VC.
No, Yeah, that was realdumb. As soon as I said it,
(17:15):
I was like that, what dowe Missouri Valley Conference that's where that's
from. Because the sports got MBno. I'm sorry, m D see
I wrote it down wrong. Nd C dot MO dot gov. And
then click on our southwest area.Rudy Martinez, director of the Springfield Conservation
Nature Center, Morgan Wyatt, whoyou just heard from there as the naturalist
(17:37):
or one of the three they haveon staff there. Morgan, I'm gonna
ask you this question, then,Rudy, I'm gonna ask you the same
question, just trying to get youguys like know you a little bit better.
Why do you I mean, doyou love it Morgan being a naturalist
there? And if so, likewhy why do you? Why do you
love working there? You love it? It's it's a dream come true.
(18:03):
Nature has meant a lot to meever since I was small, So the
chance to share that with other peopleis like I said, it's just a
dream come true. I'm I'm Ireally do love it here. There's a
lot of people that maybe didn't getto grow up camping and fishing like I
(18:25):
did, and I just really welcomedthe opportunity to to be the one to
help introduce them to that. Soyeah, like Rudy said earlier, being
outside is so much more than justlooking at plants and animals. It's stress
relief, it's it's just it's everythingto me. So yes, I really
love it here, Rudy, Whatabout you, man, I mean,
(18:48):
director is a totally different perspective maybewhy I guess the question I have for
you is more kind of umbrella andpiggybacking off of what Morgan said. You
know, I would imagine being thedirector there is where you want to be.
Why is this Springfield Conservation Nature Centersuch an important thing for our community?
(19:17):
So for a lot of the samereasons Morgan mentioned are a lot of
the same, you know, thoseare the reasons that I got into the
career. In fact, I wasa naturalist for a number of years and
then slowly, you know, mademy way up with promotions. But I
also find it so fascinating to cometo work every day and it being different
(19:40):
every single day because of the peopleI see and able to talk to,
and that's the community. Coming hereand sharing my past for the outdoors with
the community, and it's it's verygratifying to see somebody come back or call
(20:00):
back and say, hey, Ijust saw this Midland brown snake that you
told me about, you know,I found it in my backyard. And
it's so rewarding to see people lightup, you know, when they learned
something and take it a step furtheron their own. And again that's that's
what we're trying to do, isintroduce people to the outdoors to where they
(20:22):
can continue it on their own,you know, but always have a place
here to come back to and toshare it with others and and continue their
growth with nature and really just beingoutdoors because the moment you step outside.
Of course, I'm in an officemost of the time, and every once
(20:44):
I just like I need to getsome sun. I just need to go
outside for a little bit. Yeah, benefit, So I would hope that
at a place like where you work, that would be not frowned upon at
all. Like it's like if youwere working in an office at the Springfield
Conservation Nature Center and you're like todo nature things that they would be like,
no, stay in your office,you know, come up. Yeah,
(21:06):
it's not rounded upon We're definitely encouragedto get out there and see what's
blooming all the seasonal changes. Thatway we can help teach about it a
little bit better. So Rudy Martinezand Morgan why joining us here on iHeart
the Ozarks This week? We gota couple of minutes left a lot of
times when we do these shows,and I appreciate you guys stepping up here
(21:26):
kind of last minute because we hadsomebody jump out and then I was like,
Hey, what's going on? Canwe do this thing real fast?
And you guys were so willing toSo thank you for that. Number one.
Number two, I know a lotof the time when I come in,
I have a set things that Iknow I want to ask, and
I think people on the other endalso have things that they want to make
(21:47):
sure gets mentioned. So I wantto make sure that I give you guys
some time. Were there things wehaven't talked about yet that you guys wanted
to make sure we did talk about. Yeah, there's a few events that
I'd like to mention briefly. So, for ext example, just the word
snake oftentimes creates a reaction with people, for good or bad. You know
(22:08):
it's bad it's always bad. It'salways bad, Rudy, I don't know
who these people are. It comesto we need to share some snake info
with you. Oh, you cangive me all the information you want.
The irrational side of my brain isnever going to allow you to infiltrate.
(22:29):
I'm just saying no, I'm justkidding. Go ahead. So next month
in July, we see a lotof families doing staycations, and you know,
families will have relatives in town thatthey're looking for things to do.
That's one month where we always tryto include one in person snake program.
We have them coming up Tuesday,July twenty third, from two to three
(22:49):
thirty. There is registration required.It's a popular program, but you can
see snakes in person and maybe evenhave the opportunity to touch one if you're
so feel inclined to do, butwe don't. It's not a requirement or
anything, but it's great to learnabout them. And then we also have
(23:11):
insect programs, you know, especiallyin the summer months. But next or
not next month, in August,we have a special event on Friday,
August ninth, in the evening fromsix thirty to nine pm. It's called
insect o Rama. So it's allabout insects, and we have a lot
of live insects that we collect justfor that night and then release afterwards.
(23:33):
We have games, guest speakers,well entomologists here to answer very specific type
of questions related to anything about bugs. So it's a really fun event for
not just the kids, but theadults too. Everyone really enjoys it,
and I think the staff have volunteers. We probably enjoy it just as anybody
because we really kind of nerd outif you will, you mentioned volunteers,
(24:03):
you know, I would imagine thateven being state funded, you guys do
a lot of things, and becausewhat you do is so beloved by people
in this community that yeah, likeobviously you'd get volunteers. How does somebody
become involved on a volunteer level withyou guys at the Nature Center? So
we have volunteer interest meetings and arewe going to have one in January?
(24:29):
We're not sure at this point,but we take volunteer contact information throughout the
year. Then usually in September wedecide we kind of look where we're at,
what our needs are, and decidein September if we're going to have
a formal volunteer training class in Januaryand February. Dontcha, Okay, So
it is a process. And ifyou do go to the Nature Center and
(24:51):
want to, like fingers crossed,be involved with it, just make sure
they have your information there and it'sall good, awesome. We can't do
what we do thought the volunteers.Yeah, they help with everything here.
So yeah, they're just incredible forsure. For those joining here. In
the last few minutes of iHeart theOzarks, we speaking with Rudy Martinez who
(25:12):
you just heard, and Morgan Wyatt, both in the Springfield Conservation Nature Center,
and of course that's the Missouri Departmentof Conservation. Briefly, we have
about four minutes left. At thevery top, we talked about kind of
what the overview of the Nature Centerwas, and I'd like to if we
could squeeze in another just overview forthose here catching up late, what do
(25:33):
you guys do with the Nature Center? Like what kind of activities can people
expect to come out there and do? Sure, so, the Springfield Nature
Center is a place to discover natureand make connections with nature. If you
come here for the first time,maybe you're going to take a walk on
our hiking trails. Maybe we'll cometo the front desk and ask us about
(25:56):
a bird that you saw or aplant that you saw. You can check
out the exhibits while you're here.And there's also tons of free programming,
so general public programs like Insectorama,a special event that we've got coming up
on August ninth, you can comelearn all about bugs. We've got kayaking
also coming up in August on Laketanny Como, so different outdoor skills programs
(26:21):
that we offer to We do somefishing stuff occasionally, so make sure you
check that one out. It's justa place to connect with nature more than
anything. Also, i'm glad youheld this up. There is a project
that we're doing. It's called YourBig Year. If you don't want to
attend a formal program, this issomething anyone can do. So it's just
(26:45):
sort of an informal bird watching contest, a friendly little competition where you keep
a list, keep track of allthe birds that you're seeing in twenty twenty
four and as you hit milestones everytwenty five fifty seventy five one hundred spc
of birds that you see, youcan be entered into contest to win prizes
like field guides and things like that. So even if you don't want to
(27:10):
attend a program, there's something foreverybody here. You tell me there's a
hundred species of birds in southwest Missouri, you bet at least no, that's
not I mean, I realized thatyou work for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
I realized this, But my brainsays, there's four. Right,
there's only four I've only seen.There's the brown one, there's the red
(27:30):
one, there's the blue one,and then the other brown one. Right,
that's it. Yeah, Wow,that's super cool. I appreciate you
guys joining so much today. It'sbeen a ton of fun. I wish
we can keep going, but wedo have musics to play and all kinds
of stuff. So for all theinformation without going to the Nature Center,
which is very easy to do rightthere, kind of at the Glenstone Republic
(27:55):
Road meet point there on the curve, you just head down Nature Center Way
and you can't miss it. Youcan go to MDC dom dot gov and
click on the Southwest area since welive in that area, and get all
the info there, especially these reallyfun sounding programs, and I think fears
aside. I think the snake thingcoming up in July is one my kids
(28:15):
would love to go to, soI think I'm absolutely going to look into
that. Do not if you recognizeme from this, do not ask me
to do anything. I will bein the back petrophile. Okay, good
deal, Ruby Martinez, Morgan wythank you guys so much for doing this.
(28:36):
Really do appreciate it, and youguys are awesome at this, so
we'll have to do it again forsure. Yep, the Springfield Conservation Nature
Center and our friends at the MissouriDepartment of Conservation. Huge thank you to
everybody involved with that. We hereat iHeart the Ozarks loved having you guys
as guests and also love all ofour guests. Man, we have a
(28:57):
great time every week. If youcaught this this episode, want to hear
the entire thing, maybe only founda few minutes of it, you could
look same place. All the restof our episodes are. Just look on
iHeartRadio the app or on your computerphone, whatever you use, and search
iHeart theosar so you can find thisepisode and back episodes there. For myself,
Clint Gurley, and the rest ofour iHeartRadio staff have a great rest
(29:18):
of your day,
Well, hello, and welcome toa show that we call iHeart the Ozarks.
This is a half hour long showthat airs across all five of our
iHeart Radio stations every weekend, aswell as on our iHeartRadio app on our
iHeart the Ozarks podcast. So thankyou so much for being here. My
name is Clint Gurley. I'm thevice president of Programming for iHeart Radio here
in Springfield and for all of ourstaff, this is one of our favorite
things to do week in and weekout because it gives us a chance to
(00:22):
sit down with some folks from ourcommunity right here in southwest Missouri, the
Springfield area, talk with them abouteverything they're doing to make this community a
better place to live in and toenjoy life in. And this one is
pretty near and dear to my heart, not just because it's a great field
trip for my kids and they lovegoing every summer school time and every school
(00:42):
year for that matter, but assomebody who loves being outdoors, literally,
as somebody who just got back fromfishing minutes ago, rushed in the door,
came down here and turned the cameraon. I'm excited to welcome our
friends from the Missouri Department of conversationconversation, Well maybe today the Missouri Department
of Conservation as well as the SpringfieldNature Center. Welcome to Rudy Martinez,
(01:07):
who's the director there of the NatureCenter. Hello Rudy, Hello, good
morning, good to be here.Klint and Morgan Wyatt, who is a
naturalist at the Nature Center, goodmorning. Thank you for having us.
Can you explain what a naturalist isbecause in your context, it's a little
bit different than the one I'm conjuring, like via social media influencer, you
(01:29):
know what I mean. Yes,it's very different than that. So naturalists
with MBC do educational programs. Solike you were saying your kids when they
came here on their field trip,it's very possible that I was the one
doing the program for them. Wehave three naturalists here and our main job
is nature education, so we teachpeople about the forest, fish, and
(01:53):
wildlife of Missouri, and we alsodo some outdoor skills stuff, so fishing
and kayak archery, stuff like that, and we also help take care of
the animals that are on display hereat the Springfield Nature Center. Well,
right on, very cool, Yeah, And a naturalist is the go to
person with any of your nature relatedquestions. Gotcha, can you help me
(02:16):
catch fish? I did not havea successful day to day. I can
try. We can talk about whatyou've what you've been using, and maybe
make some adjustments. And sure,yeah, we can talk about that.
I've tried everything, Morgan this morning, eighteen different nuts. Anyways, I'm
excited that you guys are here.You have a great place there at the
(02:38):
Nature Center. I like to approachthese shows from a like, let me
put all my ignorance on display perspective, and sometimes that requires me to just
take everything way down to the baselevel. For those people who may be
listening who have no idea what theSpringfield Conservation Nature Center is, can you
(03:00):
guys explain, like where you are, what do you do? Like,
you know, why are you sucha benefit for the public. So we
have been here the Nature Center specificallyin southwest or southeast corner of Springfield for
the last thirty five years thirty almostthirty six years. So we're a great
(03:21):
place for people to explore the outdoors. And it's we're set up in a
way to where it's like an introductionto the outdoors, to nature, you
know, and you know, weoffer a lot of educational programs, but
also one of our biggest attraction,well, actually the biggest attraction here is
(03:43):
our nature trails because we have trailsthat go through five different ecosystems, and
you never know what you're going tosee out there on the trails, and
they're well marked. We have mapsfor the trails, and wildlife is wildlife
they do. They're wild here.They're not contained, and you never know
what you're going to see. Imean, you can come every day and
(04:05):
it's going to be different every singletime. Yeah, how much. I
mean you mentioned that it's the mostpopular thing. They're the hiking trails in
and around that area. We're talkingright there at the corner pretty much of
the Glenstone to Republic Road curve whereone becomes the other. You guys are
straight down there past our pool place, Midwest Pools, and then there's a
(04:30):
park and then there's you guys,how many people are hiking at the Nature
Center, like on a a weekly, yearly basis? Like how many?
Yeah? So we average about aquarter of a million people every year on
our trails. Wow, two hundredand fifty thousand and three hundred thousand people
on our trails and that is alot of folks and we are kind of,
(04:53):
like you said, tucked the wayoff Glenstone in our do out of
road here is Nature Centerway, butit dead ends right at the Nature Center,
so it's pretty relatively easy to seefind their signings there at the roundabout.
But yeah, the trails are openseven days a week currently on our
summer hours from six am to eightpm. But yeah, people really take
(05:17):
advantage of those and for all kindsof reasons too, not just to identify
and search for wildlife, wildflowers thingslike that, but also it's utilized as
a place to wind down, ifyou will, to escape your you know,
the day to day hustle and bustleand uh and just find a place
(05:41):
where you can wind down, bewith your thoughts and uh. And a
lot of people take advantage of that. Like you said, Morgan, I'm
just guessing, but I'm sure you'vebeen on those trails the time or two
before. What kind of yeah,what kind of like wildlife when you mentioned
like going out there, besides seeingthe native plants and the wildflowers and stuff,
(06:01):
what kind of animals are we talkingabout getting the chance to experience in
a kind of wild environment so manyso this time of year, you can
see a lot of different species ofbirds. We just came off spring migration
and we had a lot of differentwartler species down by the water. We've
got red shouldered hawks that are nestingup on the Fox Bluff trail, so
(06:27):
if you don't see them, you'lldefinitely hear them when you're hiking the trails.
It's a good time and year forreptiles. So when you pass by
the water along the boardwalk trail,look on the logs and you'll probably see
some turtles basking in the sun.Just yesterday we saw a black rat snake
that slithered across the trail. Heactually went right between my feet, so
(06:48):
that was exciting. And then hewent down in the woods and all these
different species of birds were scolding himbecause they probably had nest nearby. So
that was really entertaining. To seelots of lizards and mammals like squirrels and
chipmunks. You will see deer.Sometimes you'll see turkey on occasion, so
(07:09):
just all kinds of wildlife. I'vegot a wildlife story. I don't have
many. In fact, this maybe my only one. Uh No,
I take the back. I havetwo so recording this currently from my house
in Republic, in our home studio. Here directly out this door, which
you can't see, is about threeand a half acres of grass that I
(07:30):
have to mow so much mowing.By the way, Oh good lord.
Last night, So we have afamily of foxes, and we always believed
it was a mommy and two kidsand sometimes maybe the dad. We weren't
sure. I don't know anything aboutfoxes. Last night, there were six
of them out there, and Idon't know where the other two came from.
(07:53):
I've never seen the other two inmy life, and it was amazing.
That's my nature story number one,number two wildlife story. Were ven
into Willard to play golf two weekendsago, early morning. Bald eagle right
across the road. One of thecoolest things ever. Man, it was
like two feet off And there's apart of me that still doesn't believe that
(08:15):
that happened. So now that Ihave a naturalist here, I mean,
I don't think that they're common aroundhere, but is that what I mean?
They had a whitehead and it hadI mean, it was a bald
eagle, Like is that normal?What? Oh? Sure? Yeah,
that's entirely possible. We have lotsof eagles around. Was there water nearby,
Clint, Yeah, there was acouple of little ponds around there.
(08:37):
Okay, so they do usually liketo hang out by water, but not
always a lot of people don't realizebald eagles will eat carry on or dead
animals that they find along the roadtoo, so sometimes they are seen by
roadways eating dead animals too. So, yes, you probably did see a
bald eagle. Congratulations, it wasvery It was very hard to play golf
(08:58):
that day with the amount of patriotismI felt. I understand. Yes,
America golf. It was a goodday. All right, Enough of my
ridiculousness. Let's get back into whatyou guys do there at the nature center.
You mentioned this hiking. You getto see all this amazing wildlife.
Just yesterday you had a snake gothrough your feet, which for some very
(09:18):
exciting, for others like me,terrifying. Good for you. How do
people do this? You know whatI mean? Like, how do people
come out? Like when they showup? Is there a fee? Like?
How does that all work? Sobeing a state agency, we're funded
by a sales tax. In fact, it was past the nineteen seventy six
where one eighth of one percent statesales tax is earmarked for the Missouri Department
(09:45):
Conservation. And that's the sole reasonwhy nature centers the ones we have are
across the state in urban areas,so everything is free of charge here.
So for instance, visiting the facility, we have a number exhibits, free
brochures to give out. We're openTuesday through Saturday, eight to five,
(10:05):
and you know, we have aninformation desk where we can give out any
information related to nature, our programs. We have staff and volunteers that help
answer any nature related questions. We'llgive out maps related to the trails,
and again we're here to help thevisitors when they do arrive. That's Rudy
(10:28):
Martinez. He's the director of theSpringfield Conservation Nature Center. Morgan Wyatt,
you've also heard from she's a naturalistthere. You mentioned the facility that you
have, so besides these hiking trails, you've got this great indoor space that
you've mentioned that you have exhibits there. Can you get for those who have
never been before, Can you givea kind of a brief overview of what
that's like inside and what people canbring the kids out or just themselves out
(10:52):
to experience. Sure. Sure,So we're set up in like I mentioned
earlier, in a way to introducepeople to nature. So even when you
first drive into the area, bythe entrance road is somewhat manicured lawn,
(11:13):
but once you get into the gate, you start seeing native wildflower garden beds.
You enter the building, we havea large artificial oak tree in the
lobby, so it's a transition,you know, that continues throughout and in
our exhibits, they're designed to behands on, so we encourage kids and
(11:33):
families to touch everything and look ateverything. We have a number of aquariums
with fish, and some terrariums witha few reptiles, you know, some
turtles, but also a couple oneor two snakes. We changed it up
every once in a while. Butthen we also have a wildlife viewing area
with some bird feeders in the backwhere you never know what you're going to
(11:56):
see there as far as birds,but also we occasionally get things like a
deer that might come up you knowby the feeders, apossum, it just
fairies and then a little One ofthe most popular things in our exhibit area
is a kids children's area with puppetsand puppets. We use those for a
(12:16):
lot of interpretive educational programs. Thekids and adults love puppets and they'll play
back there for hours, just inthat little area. But yeah, so
again, we have a number ofpuppets there, so we want kids and
people to just you know, tryeverything out that we have, including a
(12:37):
small cave. You can see soundsin some of the live artificial wildlife that
you might encounter if you did gocave. So you have Okay, wait,
hold on, because I was withyou up until you said you have
a small cave, like is itfor real? Is it a for real
cave or is it like one youguys maw okay, all right, yeah,
it's part of the exhibit. Itall makes sense. That's good stuff.
(13:00):
You mentioned kids loving what you guysdo there, And this is part
of the reason why I wanted tomake sure we talked here relatively early in
the summer. Right, We've gotabout just under maybe two months left of
summer I have, and I gotto speak quietly because they're here. My
kids are home with me all summer, like they just got done with summer
school and that was awesome. Notjust have them all the time now,
(13:26):
and I need things to do,you see, And I know you guys
are a great place for kids togo. My kids love the outdoors.
I'm curious, like, what's goingon with you guys this summer besides these
amazing things you already do there.Sure we have something for all ages.
(13:46):
So I don't know how old theyare, but however old they are,
you could bring them to enjoy lotsof different things that we have. So
sort of our general public programs startwith children that are as young as babies.
That's called Babes in the Woods,and we ask the parents to bring
them in strollers and we take ashort little walk on the trails and we
(14:09):
do mostly sensory stuff with that one. So we'll let them touch different things,
natural objects and see the differences inhow they feel. If they have
scent, they can smell things andnotice the different colors of things. So
it's very basic, but it's nevertoo early to start learning about nature.
So we have that Little Acorns isfor kids three to six years old,
(14:33):
and we offer at least two differenttopics of Little Acorns classes every month.
We have one today in fact,today's topic is what is it? It
is crawdads. Crawdad craze is thename of it. Oh, they're going
to be learning all about crayfish inthere and see live products too, Yes,
(14:54):
live products that we caught out ofGallowy creeks. Yeah. And then
next up from that is Conservation Kids. That's the Those are evening programs usually,
and we encourage families to work togetherfor those ones, so parents will
stay with the kids and kind ofinteract with the different activities that we have.
(15:15):
We just had that last night andthey did a creek crawl, So
they went down to Galloway Creek andgot in the water a little bit and
splashed around and looked at all thedifferent little macro and vertebrates that live under
the rock. So little mayfly nymphsand caddis fly nymphs, and of course
the crowdads too. And then nextstep from that we have Conservation Teens.
(15:37):
So we even have something for teenagersand I am doing that later today we're
going to go kayaking on Lake Springfield. So there's really something for all ages.
Even after you become an adult,you can still hang out. We
have hiking programs we have different virtualprograms that all ages can attend, So
yeah, there's something for everybody here. Sure. That is obviously a ton
(16:02):
of things that you guys are puttingon and managing on a weekly basis.
It's also a lot of things forme to remember. Is there just one
website or something that I could goto and just find all of this,
you know? Yes, I'm gladyou asked. It is MDC dot MO
dot gov goov and from there youcan click on the events tab and then
(16:26):
select the Southwest region and that'll showyou everything that's going on in the Southwest,
not just at the Springfield Nature Center, but at the Shooting Range at
Andy Dalton Shooting Range. And thenalso once the Shepherd of the Hill's Fish
Hatchery opens in Brandson, they'll havesome events again too, but they're under
construction so and then also we haveour own in house program sheet, so
(16:52):
if people come to the nature Center, we can give you a whole list
that has a month or two worthof programs on it that they can find
out about as well. And youmentioned you guys are open Tuesday through Saturday.
Yes, okay, just making sureif somebody wanted to stop by that's
awesome. So m VC they getthere, right, I am VC.
No, Yeah, that was realdumb. As soon as I said it,
(17:15):
I was like that, what dowe Missouri Valley Conference that's where that's
from. Because the sports got MBno. I'm sorry, m D see
I wrote it down wrong. Nd C dot MO dot gov. And
then click on our southwest area.Rudy Martinez, director of the Springfield Conservation
Nature Center, Morgan Wyatt, whoyou just heard from there as the naturalist
(17:37):
or one of the three they haveon staff there. Morgan, I'm gonna
ask you this question, then,Rudy, I'm gonna ask you the same
question, just trying to get youguys like know you a little bit better.
Why do you I mean, doyou love it Morgan being a naturalist
there? And if so, likewhy why do you? Why do you
love working there? You love it? It's it's a dream come true.
(18:03):
Nature has meant a lot to meever since I was small, So the
chance to share that with other peopleis like I said, it's just a
dream come true. I'm I'm Ireally do love it here. There's a
lot of people that maybe didn't getto grow up camping and fishing like I
(18:25):
did, and I just really welcomedthe opportunity to to be the one to
help introduce them to that. Soyeah, like Rudy said earlier, being
outside is so much more than justlooking at plants and animals. It's stress
relief, it's it's just it's everythingto me. So yes, I really
love it here, Rudy, Whatabout you, man, I mean,
(18:48):
director is a totally different perspective maybewhy I guess the question I have for
you is more kind of umbrella andpiggybacking off of what Morgan said. You
know, I would imagine being thedirector there is where you want to be.
Why is this Springfield Conservation Nature Centersuch an important thing for our community?
(19:17):
So for a lot of the samereasons Morgan mentioned are a lot of
the same, you know, thoseare the reasons that I got into the
career. In fact, I wasa naturalist for a number of years and
then slowly, you know, mademy way up with promotions. But I
also find it so fascinating to cometo work every day and it being different
(19:40):
every single day because of the peopleI see and able to talk to,
and that's the community. Coming hereand sharing my past for the outdoors with
the community, and it's it's verygratifying to see somebody come back or call
(20:00):
back and say, hey, Ijust saw this Midland brown snake that you
told me about, you know,I found it in my backyard. And
it's so rewarding to see people lightup, you know, when they learned
something and take it a step furtheron their own. And again that's that's
what we're trying to do, isintroduce people to the outdoors to where they
(20:22):
can continue it on their own,you know, but always have a place
here to come back to and toshare it with others and and continue their
growth with nature and really just beingoutdoors because the moment you step outside.
Of course, I'm in an officemost of the time, and every once
(20:44):
I just like I need to getsome sun. I just need to go
outside for a little bit. Yeah, benefit, So I would hope that
at a place like where you work, that would be not frowned upon at
all. Like it's like if youwere working in an office at the Springfield
Conservation Nature Center and you're like todo nature things that they would be like,
no, stay in your office,you know, come up. Yeah,
(21:06):
it's not rounded upon We're definitely encouragedto get out there and see what's
blooming all the seasonal changes. Thatway we can help teach about it a
little bit better. So Rudy Martinezand Morgan why joining us here on iHeart
the Ozarks This week? We gota couple of minutes left a lot of
times when we do these shows,and I appreciate you guys stepping up here
(21:26):
kind of last minute because we hadsomebody jump out and then I was like,
Hey, what's going on? Canwe do this thing real fast?
And you guys were so willing toSo thank you for that. Number one.
Number two, I know a lotof the time when I come in,
I have a set things that Iknow I want to ask, and
I think people on the other endalso have things that they want to make
(21:47):
sure gets mentioned. So I wantto make sure that I give you guys
some time. Were there things wehaven't talked about yet that you guys wanted
to make sure we did talk about. Yeah, there's a few events that
I'd like to mention briefly. So, for ext example, just the word
snake oftentimes creates a reaction with people, for good or bad. You know
(22:08):
it's bad it's always bad. It'salways bad, Rudy, I don't know
who these people are. It comesto we need to share some snake info
with you. Oh, you cangive me all the information you want.
The irrational side of my brain isnever going to allow you to infiltrate.
(22:29):
I'm just saying no, I'm justkidding. Go ahead. So next month
in July, we see a lotof families doing staycations, and you know,
families will have relatives in town thatthey're looking for things to do.
That's one month where we always tryto include one in person snake program.
We have them coming up Tuesday,July twenty third, from two to three
(22:49):
thirty. There is registration required.It's a popular program, but you can
see snakes in person and maybe evenhave the opportunity to touch one if you're
so feel inclined to do, butwe don't. It's not a requirement or
anything, but it's great to learnabout them. And then we also have
(23:11):
insect programs, you know, especiallyin the summer months. But next or
not next month, in August,we have a special event on Friday,
August ninth, in the evening fromsix thirty to nine pm. It's called
insect o Rama. So it's allabout insects, and we have a lot
of live insects that we collect justfor that night and then release afterwards.
(23:33):
We have games, guest speakers,well entomologists here to answer very specific type
of questions related to anything about bugs. So it's a really fun event for
not just the kids, but theadults too. Everyone really enjoys it,
and I think the staff have volunteers. We probably enjoy it just as anybody
because we really kind of nerd outif you will, you mentioned volunteers,
(24:03):
you know, I would imagine thateven being state funded, you guys do
a lot of things, and becausewhat you do is so beloved by people
in this community that yeah, likeobviously you'd get volunteers. How does somebody
become involved on a volunteer level withyou guys at the Nature Center? So
we have volunteer interest meetings and arewe going to have one in January?
(24:29):
We're not sure at this point,but we take volunteer contact information throughout the
year. Then usually in September wedecide we kind of look where we're at,
what our needs are, and decidein September if we're going to have
a formal volunteer training class in Januaryand February. Dontcha, Okay, So
it is a process. And ifyou do go to the Nature Center and
(24:51):
want to, like fingers crossed,be involved with it, just make sure
they have your information there and it'sall good, awesome. We can't do
what we do thought the volunteers.Yeah, they help with everything here.
So yeah, they're just incredible forsure. For those joining here. In
the last few minutes of iHeart theOzarks, we speaking with Rudy Martinez who
(25:12):
you just heard, and Morgan Wyatt, both in the Springfield Conservation Nature Center,
and of course that's the Missouri Departmentof Conservation. Briefly, we have
about four minutes left. At thevery top, we talked about kind of
what the overview of the Nature Centerwas, and I'd like to if we
could squeeze in another just overview forthose here catching up late, what do
(25:33):
you guys do with the Nature Center? Like what kind of activities can people
expect to come out there and do? Sure, so, the Springfield Nature
Center is a place to discover natureand make connections with nature. If you
come here for the first time,maybe you're going to take a walk on
our hiking trails. Maybe we'll cometo the front desk and ask us about
(25:56):
a bird that you saw or aplant that you saw. You can check
out the exhibits while you're here.And there's also tons of free programming,
so general public programs like Insectorama,a special event that we've got coming up
on August ninth, you can comelearn all about bugs. We've got kayaking
also coming up in August on Laketanny Como, so different outdoor skills programs
(26:21):
that we offer to We do somefishing stuff occasionally, so make sure you
check that one out. It's justa place to connect with nature more than
anything. Also, i'm glad youheld this up. There is a project
that we're doing. It's called YourBig Year. If you don't want to
attend a formal program, this issomething anyone can do. So it's just
(26:45):
sort of an informal bird watching contest, a friendly little competition where you keep
a list, keep track of allthe birds that you're seeing in twenty twenty
four and as you hit milestones everytwenty five fifty seventy five one hundred spc
of birds that you see, youcan be entered into contest to win prizes
like field guides and things like that. So even if you don't want to
(27:10):
attend a program, there's something foreverybody here. You tell me there's a
hundred species of birds in southwest Missouri, you bet at least no, that's
not I mean, I realized thatyou work for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
I realized this, But my brainsays, there's four. Right,
there's only four I've only seen.There's the brown one, there's the red
(27:30):
one, there's the blue one,and then the other brown one. Right,
that's it. Yeah, Wow,that's super cool. I appreciate you
guys joining so much today. It'sbeen a ton of fun. I wish
we can keep going, but wedo have musics to play and all kinds
of stuff. So for all theinformation without going to the Nature Center,
which is very easy to do rightthere, kind of at the Glenstone Republic
(27:55):
Road meet point there on the curve, you just head down Nature Center Way
and you can't miss it. Youcan go to MDC dom dot gov and
click on the Southwest area since welive in that area, and get all
the info there, especially these reallyfun sounding programs, and I think fears
aside. I think the snake thingcoming up in July is one my kids
(28:15):
would love to go to, soI think I'm absolutely going to look into
that. Do not if you recognizeme from this, do not ask me
to do anything. I will bein the back petrophile. Okay, good
deal, Ruby Martinez, Morgan wythank you guys so much for doing this.
(28:36):
Really do appreciate it, and youguys are awesome at this, so
we'll have to do it again forsure. Yep, the Springfield Conservation Nature
Center and our friends at the MissouriDepartment of Conservation. Huge thank you to
everybody involved with that. We hereat iHeart the Ozarks loved having you guys
as guests and also love all ofour guests. Man, we have a
(28:57):
great time every week. If youcaught this this episode, want to hear
the entire thing, maybe only founda few minutes of it, you could
look same place. All the restof our episodes are. Just look on
iHeartRadio the app or on your computerphone, whatever you use, and search
iHeart theosar so you can find thisepisode and back episodes there. For myself,
Clint Gurley, and the rest ofour iHeartRadio staff have a great rest
(29:18):
of your day,
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