“The treasure of the Ozarks”
My family and I like to travel around the Ozarks and enjoy the historic water mills that dot the areas landscape. For me it’s the appreciation of physical- tangible history. Such places are worthy of protecting. They are, in a manner of speaking endangered in their own right.
The protection of endangered places is often on my mind. Recently I visited the Ozarks Natural History Museum located at the entrance to the River Bluff Golf Course. The museum is a small building that houses artifacts from the adjoining River Bluff Cave. It also has other items from around the ice age era- about the time the Cave was occupied, and Greene County funds the museum. Ancient artifacts intrigue me because they are tangible pieces of history. The closed hidden world of caves likewise captures my interest. 
It was with genuine curiosity my sons and I regularly observed the water level in the natural spring that flows behind my home in Western Greene County. 2005 was a particularly dry summer. The lack of rain slowed the flow down to the point that we could see the bottom of the hole. There was a vertical shaft 22’ deep with a small room within view. Excitedly we rigged a digital camera on strings and lowered it down to hopefully discover a larger cave system that could be explored. The treasure we discovered intrigued not only my boys and I, but also excited the Missouri Department of Conservation as well.
On that day we captured in the photographs six albino crawfish. The crawfish are on the endangered species list. Knowing that they are rare I called the Department of Conservation to come take a look. What they found next triggered a deeper look into the cave. On several visits to the spring the Missouri Department of Conservation photographed the federally endangered albino cave fish, known at that time to exist in only 14 locations in the entire world.
In the summer of 2006, the drought had progressed to the point that the spring had quit flowing all together. Under the supervision of the caving experts in the Department of Conservation we climbed down the shaft for a closer look. Cave crickets, blind gilled salamanders and other cave dwelling critters showed us their homes. And passages leading off in various directions (too small for a person to explore) gave proof of a larger cave system just out of human reach. 
My family and I are excited to have these additions to the unique place we call home. In order to survive, these two endangered species must have absolutely clean water. They are very susceptible to pollutants. The watershed that replenishes the cave system is relatively small, only about 40 acres. To preserve the natural habitat, good land stewardship practices must be applied. These practices are not difficult or even out of the ordinary. They simply include using fewer chemicals, regular pumping of septic tanks, proper storage of potential containments and other general land use principals.
As the campaign for Presiding Commissioner progresses, history has shown we can expect my opponent to ramp up and thump his chests claiming he is the “clean water” expert. Under my leadership, Greene County will continue to protect our water resources. The difference in our administrations will lie more in the practice of assisting landowners in preserving our resources, not forcing landowners into submission of politically driven agendas, concepts and regulations by politicians who claim to know what is “best” for us. My administration will, through education and grants, assist landowners in their stewardship of our abundant Ozarks treasure- clean water. These practices will preserve our water resources for all of us to use and enjoy, and will help protect our natural resources for generations to come. 
In case you’re wondering, the normal rains came the next spring and naturally replenished the cave system once again. The spring ran like it has for previous generations, making it one of the natural “treasurers” of the Ozarks.
News-Leader article: Rare species reside on representative's land Tuesday Jun 17, 2008
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P.O. Box 176
Republic, MO. 65738
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