Green Horizons

Fall Color Reports

Missouri is blessed with a great variety of trees, shrubs and vines. Their leaves turn at different times and, as a result, Missourians enjoy a fall color season that may last four to six weeks. Visit the Missouri Department of Conservation web site for fall color information, scenic driving routes and the current status of forests around the state. www.mdc.mo.gov/

"November is, for many reasons, the month for the axe. It is warm enough to grind an axe without freezing, but cold enough to fell a tree in comfort. The leaves are off the hardwoods, so that one can see just how the branches intertwine, and what growth occurred last summer. Without this clear view of treetops, one cannot be sure of which tree, if any, needs felling for the good of the land.

I have read many de. nitions of what is a conservationist, and written not a few myself, but I suspect that the best one is written not with a pen, but with an axe. It is a matter of what a man thinks while chopping, or while deciding what to chop. A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of his land. Signatures of course differ, whether written with axe or pen, and this is as it should be."

- Aldo Leopold,
A Sand County Almanac

At the turn of the last century, Missouri was a leading timber- producing state. The peak of Missouri’s timber production was in 1909, By 1910, nearly all the pine was cut.