Registration is NOW OPEN for the 2026 MLTC Annual Meeting!
We are excited to invite you to the Missouri Land Trust Coalition’s Annual Meeting, June 2-3, in Mid-Missouri!
Starting with field trips and a reception on Tuesday, and continuing on Wednesday with learning sessions at the MDC Runge Conservation Nature Center in Jefferson City. This will be a wonderful opportunity to bond with land trust friends and our many partners.
Deadline to register is May 27 at 11:59 PM
Schedule of Events
Tuesday, June 2
Tuesday, June 2, Greenbelt Land Trust of Mid-Missouri is hosting visits to three properties on which they hold conservation easements. We thank Greenbelt and their partner landowners for welcoming MLTC. See the agenda on the registration for more information on each! In the evening, we will gather at Cooper’s Landing in Easley (near Columbia) for a reception and visit. Food trucks will be available while we enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Missouri River!
Afternoon Field Trips:
1:00 – 2:00 pm: Greenbelt Land Trust’s Birch Cove Farm Conservation Easement near Fulton in central Callaway County, an 85-acre property consisting of formerly strip-mined land along Stinson Creek that has been reclaimed and “healed” by means of a sheep farming/breeding/genetic-research operation utilizing rotational grazing and the planting of native grasses for forage.
2:30 – 3:30 pm: Greenbelt Land Trust’s Chinkapin Bluff Conservation Easement near Millersburg in western Callaway County at the border with Boone County, a 144-acre property featuring a mix of woodlands, grasslands, a wetland complex, a walnut orchard, and 1.75 miles of frontage on Cedar Creek.
4:00 – 5:00 pm: Greenbelt Land Trust’s Hinkson Valley Nature Preserve in the heart of Columbia in central Boone County, a 65-acre fee property owned by Greenbelt that features Hinkson Creek running through it, floodplain forest, meadows, river bluffs, upland woodland, a city-maintained paved hiking/biking trail that’s part of a larger citywide trail system, and a recreational unpaved hiking/mountain-biking trail complex created and maintained by one of Greenbelt’s nonprofit partners.
5:30 pm: Reception, Cooper’s Landing – Join us after a full day of field trips at Cooper’s Landing for a beautiful view of the Missouri River, food trucks, and optional trivia! Individuals can make beverage and food purchases as they wish.
Wednesday, June 3
Location: Runge Conservation Nature Center
We will have a great lineup for learning in the morning. Kurt Schaefer, MDNR Director, will walk us through the history and future of Missouri’s water, soils, and park tax. That will be followed by our focus on “Beginning to Forever,” as The Conservation Fund’s Ginny Moore hosts a panel on how land trusts coordinate all their work to ensure permanent and successful protection from the first landowner contact to perpetual stewardship. Then an expert panel from three organizations will join us for an update on data centers in Missouri and how both the public and conservation groups are addressing this important and challenging phenomenon.
Wednesday afternoon will be MLTC’s first Annual Meeting since our incorporation has become a Missouri nonprofit corporation! During our annual meeting, the Participant Organizations will elect our Board of Directors, review our budget and get updates on our plans for the year. And we want to hear from YOU about how we can best promote the work of land trusts and their partners to protect land across our beautiful state.
8:00 am: Registration, Networking, light refreshments, and drinks
9:00 am: Welcome
9:15 am: History, Success, and Future of Missouri’s Water, Soils & Parks Tax, with a speaker from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Leadership
Keynote: Kurt Schaefer, MDNR Director
10:00 – 11:00 am: From the Beginning to Forever: A Seamless Approach to Land Protection
The panel will focus on developing a holistic and coordinated organizational approach to land conservation projects from inception through forever.
Moderator: Ginny Moore, Kansas State Director, The Conservation Fund
Panelists:
- Ally Ringhausen, Executive Director, Great Rivers Land Trust
- Bruce Schuette, Vice President of Science & Management, Missouri Prairie Foundation
- Holly Neill, Business Developer, Mitigation Solutions, The Conservation Fund.
11:15 am – 12:15 pm: Data Centers & other Large- Scale Threats to Land Conservation and Natural Resources
Land trusts, as well, are grappling with the impacts of data centers on land conservation. Panelists will share facts about rural energy infrastructure, the proliferation of data centers and their resource demands, and how land trusts can address their threats to land conservation.
Panelists:
- James Owen, Executive Director, Renew Missouri
- Henry Robertson, Energy Chair, Missouri Sierra Club, and retired lawyer, Great Rivers Environmental Law Center
- Makenna Nickens, Community Outreach Specialist – Kansas City, Missouri Coalition for the Environment
12:30 pm: Lunch and Networking Time; group photo
1:30 – 2:00 pm: Conservation Legal Update – Ted Heisel
2:00 pm: MLTC Business Meeting
- Update – Incorporation, Board actions
- Committee Reports: Communications & Training
- Election of Board Directors and Officers
- Financial status and Budget review
- Next Steps
3:30 pm: Adjourn
Accommodations
A room block is available for meeting attendees at the Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites, Jefferson City. The rate per night is $149.00 plus tax.
- 3621 W Truman Blvd, Jefferson City, MO 65109
- Phone Reservations Only: (573) 761-0400
- Code: MLTC
- Discount expires: Tuesday, May 5