Muskogee County Conservation District Nature Reserve Reception

From left are Rodney Farris, MCCD director; Rep. Ed Cannady; Ken Silver, MCCD director; Bonnie Geer, land donor; Andy Qualls, MCCD equipment manager; Robert Ross and Audrey Adney, MCCD directors; Mike Thralls, OCC executive director; Butch Garner, MCCD director; Joe Harrington, EODD director; Trish Kloecker, MCCD secretary; and state Rep. Jerry McPeak.

Muskogee County Conservation District (MCCD) hosted a reception and luncheon on Oct. 7 to show off the land where a nature reserve will be developed nine miles west of Muskogee.

In March Bonnie Geer donated 152 acres to the district for the Richard and Bonnie Geer Nature Reserve named for her and her late husband Richard. State Sen. Earl Garrison and Rep. Jerry McPeak were among about 50 people who attended the reception. Originally planned as a tour of the site of the future reserve, cold and damp weather led to most of the day’s events being conducted in a metal building on the donated land. Photographs of the land including aerial photos substituted for the tour.

Andy Qualls, MCCD equipment manager, explained that the district’s goal is to use the Rogers State University Conservation Education Reserve at Claremore as a model. He further explained that the new reserve near Muskogee would not be in competition with the one managed by the Rogers County Conservation District, but complementary. “Theirs is mostly hardwood and wetlands while ours will be tallgrass prairie, wetland and riparian in nature,” Qualls said. “Two separate reserves with common objectives but vastly different landscapes and habitat,” he said.

Joe Harrington, EODD director, presented the district a check to help develop the reserve.

Joe Harrington, executive director of the Eastern Oklahoma Development District, presented MCCD with a check for $23,000 to help develop the reserve and onsite educational facilities.

The district presented its Conservationist of the Year award to local producer Danny Williams during the reception for conservation work Williams has done on his land in southern Muskogee County including work to stop erosion along the Canadian River.

Site of the future nature reserve.