MEDIA CONTACT: Dan Zarlenga Media Specialist 636-300-1953 ext. 4112 Dan.Zarlenga@mdc.mo.gov
For immediate release:
MDC announces opening of Howard Wood Urban Outreach Office in the City of St. Louis. The new office will be available for walk-in service and connect urban residents directly with conservation resources.
St. LOUIS, Mo.—The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has opened a public outreach office in the City of St. Louis. The MDC Howard Wood Urban Outreach Office at 4640 Shenandoah Ave, St. Louis MO 63110, just east of the Vandeventer Ave./South Kingshighway Blvd. intersection, is now open to the public.
The office can be reached by phone at: 314-301-1504. The new facility is in the Brightside-St. Louis Building.
“The Howard Wood Urban Outreach Office is a collaboration space that will serve as a central hub for MDC staff with expertise in urban wildlife, fish, forestry, and conservation education. We want to provide opportunities for urban residents to enjoy and conserve nature close to where they live, including access to new communities who may not have a lot of conservation exposure or a connection to nature,” said MDC Director Sara Parker Pauley.
The new MDC Howard Wood Urban Outreach Office will provide a staffed facility and walk-in service for the public, along with conservation-related information and free publications. The office will also offer hunting and fishing permits for sale, as well as MDC Natural Events Calendars. It will not carry other MDC Nature Shop items.
The new facility will be open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Thursday 4 p.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m.-2 p.m., and closed Sunday and Monday.
“We are very excited to be returning to the City of St. Louis after eight years. The new office will make it
easier to bring urban community conservation best practices, resources, and information to City and
inner-ring St. Louis County residents, schools, and partner organizations,” said Julianne Stone, MDC St.
Louis Regional Administrator.
The last time MDC had an office in the City of St. Louis was 2015 at the Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor Center in Forest Park. Previously MDC had an office in the City from 1994-2015. The urban location will enable MDC staff to work with our many nearby partners including Brightside-St. Louis, Tower Grove Park (where MDC also has staff), the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Saint Louis Zoo, Forest Park, Great Rivers Greenway, Forest ReLeaf, St. Louis Public Schools, Beyond Housing, the St. Louis Public Library, and the City of St. Louis.
Howard Wood served a six-year term on the Missouri Conservation Commission, appointed by the late Governor Mel Carnahan in 1997. Wood is also a past President of the Conservation Federation of Missouri. He is a graduate of Washington University and co-founded numerous telecommunications companies in St. Louis, including Charter Communications. Mr. Wood has spent his life supporting conservation and protecting the outdoors in Missouri. He helped establish Missouri’s conservation program as one of the best in the nation.
The office space sits adjacent to the Cornelson Conservation Corner and the Brightside Demonstration Garden. The Demonstration Garden hosts educational programming about native habitats and was created through support from MDC, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and the City of St. Louis
A community open house and official ribbon cutting are planned for this spring.
MDC Howard Wood Urban Outreach Office at 4646 Shenandoah Ave. is now open. The new office is located just east of the Vandeventer Ave./South Kingshighway
Blvd. intersection.