Capitol Report 10/12/2026

Missouri News Network: Statehouse News for MPA Members

This report is written by Missouri School of Journalism students for publication by MPA member newspapers in print and online.

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Among Missouri News Network’s stories are reports on a federal land easement program designed to preserve farmland and an AirBNB option for farmers, a lawsuit challenging state funding gaps for historically black Lincoln University, and information on federal reporting on campaign donations.

If you have thoughts or questions, contact Fred Anklam at anklamf@missouri.edu.

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WEDNESDAY

Aging farmers and the government want to save farms, but for many the cost is too high

By Jana Rose Schleis, Missouri News Network

Dan Kuebler is out on a hot August morning on what used to be his farm.

Kuebler grew fruits and vegetables on 30 acres in Ashland, and for decades he sold his produce at the Columbia Farmers Market.

“Ashland was a little, bitty, sleepy town in ’77 when we bought it,” Kuebler said.

Then, small towns in southern Boone County started becoming homes to those working in nearby Columbia or Jefferson City. Kuebler watched farmland on his 2-mile dead end road get sold and broken up into parcels. As he neared retirement, he needed to come up with a plan for the future of his farmland.

“I don’t want it split up into five-acre plots … and become a development. That is just like — that’s sacrilege,” he said.

Kuebler began farming at the age of 40. For the next 33 years, he grew dozens of varieties of vegetables and eventually branched out into making fermented foods such as sauerkraut, pickles and kimchi. He balanced managing the farm along with his other job as an in-home physical therapist.

Kuebler is passionate about local farmers providing food for their community. He was an active seller at the farmers market and advocated for the permanent shelter that now houses the market on the west side of Columbia.

As new development encroached on his neighborhood, Kuebler wanted to protect his farm from being broken up.

“I don’t want to sell it to the highest bidder. I want it to stay in farmland. So how should I do that?” he said.

The demand for more housing often comes at the expense of farmland. Flat, cleared fields are ideal for development.

Now, some agriculture advocates are encouraging farmers and landowners to use a legal tool to ensure their land remains farmable.

They believe the need is critical. At least 50 million acres of farmland in the Midwest is set to change hands by the end of the decade due in part to the average age of farmers and landowners.

Kuebler worked with a local land trust to attach what’s known as a conservation or agriculture easement to his property deed. It dictates that the farmland must remain farmland no matter who owns it — forever.

“You cannot subdivide it, you cannot sell it off for residential development or commercial development. That is the guiding principle,” said Nick Shapiro, executive director of the Greenbelt Land Trust of Mid-Missouri, the organization Kuebler worked with.

Land trusts do the work of ensuring current and future property owners follow the stipulations laid out in agriculture easements.

“The initial landowner who donates the easement knows, not only is there this legal document out there that binds future owners, there is also an organization out there that is required to look after that easement in perpetuity and to defend it and to make sure that it is upheld and respected,” Shapiro said.

‘Best use’ of land

In recent years, about 2,000 acres of American farmland a day has been lost or compromised by development, according to American Farmland Trust, a national land preservation organization. The group estimates another 18.4 million acres — an area almost the size of South Carolina — will be converted by 2040.

Development pressures come from urban sprawl, when metropolitan areas continue to creep outward, paving over once-rural places. But what’s known as “low-density residential” development is also a threat.

Housing built in the country on large plots of former farmland repurposed nearly 7 million acres of agricultural land between 2001 and 2016.

American Farmland Trust’s analysis shows rural housing development is especially high in Missouri, elsewhere in the Midwest and in the South.

Josh Wright is with American Farmland Trust, where he helps landowners through the often yearslong legal and financial process of securing an easement to protect land from development.

“People who have spent their entire lives working their land, whether it be in their family for many generations or not, you become so attached to it and all of your effort could be snatched up and paved over as soon as you sell the property,” he said.

But placing development restrictions on a piece of land could reduce its value by up to 65%. Exactly how much depends on a number of factors, including location, nearby development pressures and how restrictive the easement is.

“Whenever you go to sell your property, it’s going to be appraised, and that’s going to be judged at best, highest dollar — and they call it best use in the industry,” Wright said.

In other words, the most profitable use, which farming generally isn’t.

“Unfortunately, it’s probably considered the worst use,” he said.

Twelve years ago, Congress expanded federal easement initiatives, setting aside about $450 million a year to compensate farm owners for a portion of reduced value of their land through a program known as ACEP-ALE, which stands for Agricultural Conservation Easement Program — Agricultural Land Easements.

That funding, which has since been increased to $650 million annually, filters through nonprofit organizations, such as land trusts, state and local agencies, or tribal governments, to essentially buy a property’s development rights from the farm owner.

Eric Gramlich works with Ozark Land Trust, a conservation organization focused on preserving land in Arkansas and Missouri.

Although the government can provide a financial cushion to soften the blow of the drop in value a piece of property under easement will experience, Gramlich said it’s unlikely to be the landowner’s most lucrative option.

“Even those payments would struggle to keep up with the demand and the price of land for commercial development or large scale subdivision development,” Gramlich said. “So I think the financial means, even for willing land owners, that’s a big challenge for them, and also a big challenge for us to rise up and … be on some sort of a playing field with the other competing interests for that land.”

More than 1 million acres of farmland have been preserved through easements since the federal program began in 2014. But more than half of that land is in just three states: Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.

Currently, no farmland in Missouri has been restricted from development under the federal program. Illinois has 445 acres of farmland under permanent easements and Iowa has 2,320 acres.

Gramlich said that’s because there still aren’t that many land trust organizations in Missouri, and the agricultural community is still learning about the option.

“I’d like to think that we’ll be gaining more efficiencies in the program now that it’s been established, but it is generally a multiyear process to get the application in, the contracting paperwork, and then to actually do the boots-on-the-ground work of getting the easement in place,” he said.

President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill increased the federal easement program funding to $650 million annually, to be used to preserve both farmland and wetlands.

But preserving farmland through easements is time consuming, while losing farmland to development can happen rapidly.

A few years ago the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the agency that administers the easement program, made an effort to “streamline” multiple parts of the process including land appraisals, surveys and certifying organizations such as land trusts.

In mid-Missouri, Shapiro hopes the land owners out there who value their farm’s legacy will consider preserving it with an easement.

“The older farmers who are looking to get out might be willing to take less than top dollar if they know that there is someone who really wants to take their land and run it and manage it in a way that is consistent with their shared values,” Shapiro said.

His organization, Green Belt Land Trust, was formed to preserve natural areas such as forests and wetlands. It expanded its work to farmland as development pressures increased.

“So much of mid-Missouri’s not just economy, but culture and heritage is based in farming,” Shapiro said. “There is an important role for us to play in helping to preserve that heritage as well.”

Giving up the farm

On the north side of Kansas City, Kansas, Rick Mareske has been growing berries and forest farming on 40 acres of land for the past 20 years. His food gets to local customers through a community supported agriculture, or CSA, subscription program.

Mareske and his wife are weighing options for the future of their business and farmland. They considered an easement for their property.

“The cons are, it’s expensive,” he said. “It’s like 20, 25 thousand dollars just to do it, and then you lose money.”

Mareske’s land is a financial asset he’s counting on for retirement income. He said he doesn’t want the years he spent caring for his land to be erased, but he can’t afford to sell for less.

“We’re trying to make it as beautiful as possible and as enticing as possible for someone to buy it and keep it going the way we have it,” he said.

With or without an easement, Mareske hopes the future of his land includes farming.

Meanwhile, in Boone County, after 33 years Dan Kuebler has stopped selling produce and preserves at the farmers market. He still goes each Saturday to buy his food for the week and catch up with his former customers as he shops.

“I see them and we talk, and it’s like I really didn’t lose my community,” he said.

Kuebler estimates that it cost him about $20,000 to place an easement on his land, most of that cost coming from the land survey and appraisal. He didn’t take advantage of the federal ACEP-ALE program and its compensation offer, even though his 30 acres of fields, forest and pastures dropped about $90,000 in value once development rights were stripped.

He sold the land to another local farmer last year. The easement requires the land remain in agriculture and that the methods used to grow crops are sustainable or regenerative.

There’s a small, old cabin on the property, and one of the more unique stipulations of the easement is that Kuebler gets to spend time there, and on the land, until he dies.

“I really couldn’t give up the farm totally because I (am) so attached to it,” he said.

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Lincoln University students and alumni sue Missouri, alleging unequal funding

By Max Quinn, Missouri News Network

Lincoln University students and alumni filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state of Missouri on Wednesday, alleging decades of unequal funding between it and the University of Missouri.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. It is the first case brought by the 1890 Project challenging a state allegedly failing to appropriately fund an 1890 land-grant university, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

The 1890 Project monitors promises made in the federal government’s second Morrill Act in 1890, which aimed to ensure historically Black universities were equitably funded as certain white universities had been through the original 1862 Morrill Act.

These land-grant institutions were supposed to be provided funding for programs to strengthen research, extension and teaching, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The New York Times reported that between 1987 and 2020, federal officials found Missouri appropriated $361.6 million less to Lincoln on a per-student basis than to the University of Missouri.

The students and alumni are seeking a court-ordered remedy to combat the alleged disparity and permanently require that Missouri fully match Lincoln’s federal land-grant funding.

They also allege that the funding disparity stems from the University of Missouri being founded in 1839 for white students and Lincoln University being separately designated as a land-grant institution in 1890 for Black students.

The University of Missouri is an 1862 land-grant university, established under different legislation than the 1890 land-grant universities.

Lincoln students and alumni, as well as their lawyers, spoke about the lawsuit at a news conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Missouri State Capitol Rotunda.

The 1890 Project wrote that in September 2023, the U.S. secretaries of agriculture and education documented more than $12 billion in funding shortfalls across 16 states.

These were measured between 1987 and 2020 and compared to each state’s 1862 land-grant university.

The lawsuit’s defendants include the Coordinating Board for Higher Education, Gov. Mike Kehoe, Commissioner of Higher Education and Workforce Development Bennett Boggs and UM System President Mun Choi.

The plaintiffs include one alumni, a former student and four currently enrolled Lincoln University students, according to court documents.

Lincoln University had no comment on this case as of Wednesday morning.

Voter registration closes ahead of November election

By Jack Schouten, Missouri News Network

Boone County will have at least 1,115 new voters registered for the Nov. 3 general election.

Wednesday marked the final day for Missouri voters to register for the election. Registration activity provides a snapshot of how many residents entered the voter rolls.

“We’ve had a pretty consistent and stable number of registered voters, so we don’t normally see a huge uptick when it gets closer to the voter registration deadline for new voters,” Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said.

Overall, the county saw numbers for new voter registrations on par with past elections, Lennon said.

The most traffic the Boone County clerk’s office has seen the past few days is from residents and former residents updating addresses, she said.

“People do update their address quite frequently, and partly that’s because of our sample ballot mailing and our sample ballot emailing really prompt people to update their information before Election Day,” Lennon said.

Now that the deadline has passed, residents can no longer register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election. However, if someone is already registered to vote, there are still things voters can do to plan for Election Day.

Lennon encourages everyone to go to the Boone County Government website at vote.boonemo.gov to check your registration and make sure it is up to date. The site also includes information on polling places and sample ballots voters will see on Nov. 3.

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TUESDAY

'Tis the season to follow campaign donations

By Kalli Fowler, Missouri News Network

With the general election less than a month away, many are already seeing an increase in advertising for political candidates and campaigns.

These political advertisements aren’t just to get the candidates’ faces and talking points around the community, but also to encourage citizens to contribute financially to their campaigns.

Candidates running in the general election in November are required to report their finances to the Federal Election Commission for the third quarter of the year on Oct. 15, according to the FEC.

If a candidate hasn’t raised or spent $5,000 for their campaign, they aren’t legally required to file a report.

The reports allow the public to look at these records and see how their elected officials, and challengers, are receiving money and how they are using that money to run for office.

“The vast majority of the money either is coming from individual donors, political action committees or self-funding,” said Andrew Mayersohn, committees researcher for Open Secrets, a nonpartisan Washington-based nonprofit organization that specializes in tracking money in American politics.

Individual donors

Individual donors can be U.S. citizens or green card holders, and are allowed to donate up to $3,500 per candidate per election, according to a FEC chart about contribution limits.

“The vast majority of the money that federal campaigns raise comes from individual donors, usually pretty rich donors making large contributions,” Mayersohn said. “Thanks to the internet, raising lots of money from small donors is more viable than it used to be.”

If the candidate is running in both the primary and general election, donors can give up to $3,500 for each of those elections for a total cap of $7,000, Mayersohn said.

“In recent cycles in particular, individual donors have really dominated because the amount that an individual can donate to a federal campaign is indexed to inflation,” Mayersohn said.

Between 2002 and 2026, there has been a $2,500 increase in how much individuals are allowed to donate to a candidate campaign, according to FEC archive of contribution limits.

Personal funds

Candidates can donate an unlimited amount of money to themselves, as long as it’s income in their name, such as salary income, assets, personal gift received before cycle or dividend from stocks.

“The third big bucket, aside from individuals and political action committees, I guess, would be self-funding,” Mayersohn said. “You know, when rich people run for office and loan or donate themselves millions of dollars to support their own campaign.”

Not only can a candidate use personal funds, they can also take out personal loans. A candidate can use the raised campaign contributions to repay a personal loan made to their campaign, or they can forgive a loan if it is their own personal loan, according to the FEC.

Political action committees

Political action committees, better known as PACs, represent a way for organizations to put together funds for a candidate they support.

“Political action committees (are) entities that are formed by things like corporations and labor unions to take in contributions from their members and then forward it to candidates to support the interests of those entities,” Mayersohn said.

A PAC can donate up to $5,000 per election cycle. If the candidate runs in the primary and general election the PAC can give up to $10,000 total.

“PACs heavily, heavily back incumbent candidates who they think will be actually in power to favor their interests,” Mayersohn said.

To be a PAC, the organization must contribute to at least five candidates, receive 51 contributions and be registered with the FEC for at least six months, according to the FEC.

If a PAC does not meet these requirements, it can be a non-multicandidate PAC. It can donate to multiple candidates but cannot contribute as much. This donation limit is also on a scale indexed to inflation.

Between 2003 and 2026, the amount non-multicandidate PACs can contribute to a candidate has increased by $1,500, according to the FEC.

Super PACs

A super PAC can raise and give an unlimited amount by raising money from individuals, corporations, unions and other PACs. The donors that give to the super PAC don’t get to decide where, or who, the money goes to.

“A super PAC is a type of PAC that cannot make contributions to candidates,” Mayersohn said. “What they can do is spend unlimited amounts of money on what are called ‘independent expenditures.’”

Independent expenditures are things like television commercials, digital campaigns and mailers that endorse or condemn a certain candidate or issue.

Once a super PAC spends over $1,000 in a calendar year, it has 10 days to register, according to the FEC.

“The major super PACs will raise hundreds of millions of dollars, the vast majority of that coming from very wealthy individuals,” Mayersohn said.

Dark money and 501©(4)

“Dark money” is when an individual’s or group’s trail goes cold after donating to a nonprofit, Mayersohn said.

“A nonprofit does not need to disclose its donors, and therefore a nonprofit can give to a super PAC,” Mayersohn said. “The super PAC reports the contribution from the nonprofit, but the trail goes dead from there because we don’t know who gave to the nonprofit.”

If a donor wants to contribute to a certain campaign without being identified, they can go through a nonprofit.

“People who want to support a super PAC but don’t want it to be known publicly can donate to the nonprofit, which then donates to the super PAC,” Mayersohn said.

The amount of money given to super PACs influences how much they can help their chosen candidates.

“Every cycle, the major super PACs receive hundreds of millions of dollars from politically active nonprofits,” Mayersohn said. “Last cycle, we’re talking about something in the realm of like $1.3 or $1.4 billion that is basically just completely … we have very little idea where it came from and we probably never will.”

Alongside dark money are 501©(4) organizations, which are a tax-exempt social welfare groups that contribute to political campaigns.

“Some of the biggest donors every election cycle in recent years will be groups like Majority Forward, which is a 501©(4) that gives much, if not most, of its money to House majority PACs, which then spends most of its money helping House Democrats,” Mayersohn said.

When someone gives to a 501©(4), they don’t have to put their name or address. That makes this dark money because you can’t track a person to the money.

“They’re kind of like arms of the party committees in all but name,” Mayersohn said. “They could do super PAC stuff like taking unlimited contributions. Then what happens is those groups then created their own affiliated nonprofits.”

There are multiple 501©(4) organizations, Mayersohn said.

Even though dark money isn’t recognized under federal campaign finance law, it makes a difference in political campaigns.

“We do have this disclosure system, which is very powerful, and we do know where most of the money comes from. And I want people to appreciate that, but I also want them to appreciate the extent to which a large chunk of this is just completely, completely opaque to us,” Mayersohn said.

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Incumbents outpace challengers in local congressional contests

By Jack Schouten, Missouri News Network

Millions of dollars have been raised by candidates running for Congress in Missouri — with incumbents leading the way.

Federal Election Commission filings show how candidates in Missouri’s 3rd, 4th and 5th congressional districts are financing their campaigns. The filings also show how much candidates have spent, alongside how much money and debt their campaigns carried at the July 15 reporting deadline.

Two more reports are expected before the vote — a regular quarterly report on Oct. 15 and a report required 12 days before the general election on Oct. 12.

3rd Congressional District

Republican incumbent Bob Onder has gathered just over $950,000 in receipts so far, with half of those funds coming from individual donations. Receipts are the sum of all contributions received during a filing period.

Onder’s campaign also carries a significant amount of debt totaling nearly $900,000. Most of Onder’s campaign debt is from outstanding expenses such as advertising, consulting fees or from money owed to vendors for services.

According to the filings, Onder’s campaign has around $470,000 on hand. On June 15, the campaign spent over $25,000 with Targeted Victory, a consulting firm based in New York.

Top PAC donors to the Onder Campaign include $84,500 from 24 different committees related to medical or physician specialties. Onder is a physician and one of his top issues is lowering healthcare costs.

While in Congress, he sponsored multiple health-related bills, including the Health Data Access, Transparency and Affordability Act, which passed out of committee in June.

The Democrat running in the 3rd District is Bethany Mann, who has raised just over $43,000, almost all of it coming from individual donations. Her campaign has about $2,700 on hand and reported $541 in debt.

The only PAC to donate to Mann’s Campaign so far is the Communication Workers of America, a labor union PAC that donated $250.

This is Mann’s third time running in this district and her second time running against Onder. She lost in 2024 to Onder and to Blaine Luetkemeyer in 2022, getting an average of 35.1% of the vote.

4th Congressional District

Republican incumbent Mark Alford has raised over $1.3 million, with $770,000 coming in individual donations. His campaign reports no debt and about $745,000 on hand.

While in Congress, Alford voted along party lines 96% of the time. He sits on eight committees, including the House Appropriations Committee and other committees covering small businesses.

Boeing’s PAC donated $10,000 to his campaign. Alford’s position on the Appropriations Committee oversees defense spending.

The Democrat challenging Alford is Jordan Herrera, who has $41,656 in receipts, including $32,830 in individual contributions. His campaign also reports no debt, with over $19,000 in cash on hand.

Of Herrera’s individual donations, over $200 around 50% comes from within the state — totaling $8,458. Donations under $200 are not itemized and have no address associated with them.

5th Congressional District

In the long debate and legal battle over the 5th Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Emanuel Cleaver has raised over $1.3 million, with $486,831 coming from individuals. His campaign carries no debt and has over $1.1 million on hand for the general election.

The Missourian is including information on the 5th Congressional District because it was drawn to represent much of northern Boone County throughout the August primary election. Under a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on Nov. 3, residents in Columbia instead will vote using the 4th and 3rd district lines used since 2022.

Representatives of both campaigns said the court battles did not affect their ability to raise funds. The U.S. Constitution does not require a candidate to live in a particular House district, although it is common practice to live within the district one represents in Congress.

While in Congress, Cleaver voted along party lines 98% of the time. He mostly supported bills covering the environment, criminal justice, healthcare and labor. He voted yes on bills covering those topics around 70% of the time.

The largest donation a PAC has given the Cleaver campaign is $12,500 from the Mortgage Bankers Association PAC. Cleaver sits on the Financial Services Committee as well as the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee.

Republican challenger Rick Brattin has raised around $331,000, with about $290,000 of that coming from individual donations. His campaign also reports no debts and has over $222,500 on hand.

Outside groups have spent heavily to support Brattin’s campaign independently. The Win it Back PAC has spent over $950,000 supporting Brattin, including $129,000 in spending on TV ad placement and $41,000 in mail production.

In the Republican primary election for the 5th District, the Missouri Independent reported almost $2.8 million in outside spending.

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Nuclear power tops energy priorities in new state plan

By Jana Rose Schleis, Missouri News Network

Missouri energy leaders are all in on nuclear power. A new state energy plan from Missouri’s Department of Natural Resources prioritizes new nuclear plants, as well as energy independence and grid reliability.

Missouri uses eight times more energy than it produces, a statistic state energy leaders want to change by building more nuclear power plants, increasing transmission capacity and reusing closed power plants.

“In recent years, Missouri has become more dependent on electricity from outside our state borders. The State Energy Plan provides a roadmap for reversing that trend,” Gov. Mike Kehoe said in the report.

With electricity demand expected to rise from the development of artificial intelligence data centers, Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Jake Buxton said nuclear power is best suited to provide the state around the clock electricity.

“Really, the only one that’s on the table that doesn’t have the emissions that has the ability to flip the switch on and provide that dispatchable power is nuclear,” Buxton said.

Missouri lawmakers debated how to pay for new multibillion dollar nuclear power plants in the last legislative session. The discussion was partly fueled by the public’s concerns about rising energy bills and the increasing cost of living.

“Anticipated increases in demand due to AI and other data center load could drive energy bills even higher. Continued reliance on importing electricity generated in other states exposes Missourians to these strings and risks further escalation of energy bills,” the report said. “Although building new generation in Missouri carries costs, it can help limit the pace of future bill increases for Missouri customers.”

Missouri’s new state energy plan says that by replacing the electricity produced by power plants set to retire, in addition to meeting projected future energy demand, the state would need to produce 2.6 times more energy than it does now.

Buxton and Department of Natural Resources energy leaders want lawmakers to designate “priority energy zones” across the state — areas such as brownfields, former power plants and industrial-ready sites to redevelop.

Buxton leads a nuclear power task force assembled by Kehoe that is expected to bring the new report’s policy recommendations to lawmakers. Buxton said the plan reflects Kehoe’s energy priorities.

“When you have a nuclear plant, it is producing energy 97% of the time that it’s in operation, that’s true dispatchable power,” he said.

Ameren Missouri operates the state’s only commercial nuclear power plant in Callaway County.

Ajay Arora, Ameren’s chief generation development officer, said gas is the company’s “anchor” generation resource for the future, but the utility aims to add additional nuclear power facilities in 2040.

“Over the last year, we have really focused on assessing the various technologies — whether it’s large nuclear or small modular nuclear reactors — and also understanding policy aspects at the state in order to enable us to make that investment,” Arora said.

Electricity demand is projected to spike in Missouri, due to current and future development of AI data centers. The state energy plan notes Missouri has moved from a “minor data center market to a rapidly expanding hub” — with construction concentrated in the Kansas City corridor and more planned along Interstate 70 and Interstate 44.

Two large data center projects are in development in Montgomery County, which have brought varying levels of community pushback and concerns.

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MONDAY

Repeal of federal roadless rule could touch Missouri’s national forest

By Trevor Grandin, Missouri News Network

It takes time for a horse to get comfortable around chainsaws, but Becki Krueger and Bob Wolf are willing to put in the hours. As executive members of the Backcountry Horsemen of Missouri, Krueger and Wolf are dedicated to keeping the state’s recreational trails open and accessible for horseback riding.

Wolf cleans trails off the back of his lovable horse Duke, a Missouri Fox Trotter. For Krueger, work happens atop her 17-year-old Quarter Horse, Easter. She and Easter do a little bit of everything together, from working cattle to hauling debris.

“I’ve had her all over the United States riding out west, so I trust her with my life,” Krueger said. “Her four feet get me places that I can’t get on my own two feet.”

Krueger, Wolf and the Backcountry Horsemen of Missouri’s 400 members spend many of their weekends maintaining trails in natural areas all across Missouri, including the Mark Twain National Forest.

Krueger and Wolf see America’s national forests as a haven for peace and quiet, but that reality could get louder.

In August, the U.S. Forest Service started repealing the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, a law that prevents road construction and timber harvesting within millions of acres of national forest land across the country.

Opponents of the law call it a one-size-fits-all solution that has led to a decline in the health of public land, keeping it off limits to practices that would improve forest health. Rescinding it would prevent wildfires and give control back to local foresters. Environmental groups think it’ll do the opposite and open the door to pollution, construction and wildlife fragmentation. For them, this effort is one link in a long chain of federal deregulations that could change the terrain of public lands for generations to come.

A federal Band-Aid

Of the more than 190 million acres in the national forest system, 44 million acres of that is designated as roadless, a landmass roughly the size of Missouri. Areas that are designated roadless consist of relatively undisturbed and biologically diverse land, providing clean drinking water and serving as safe havens for threatened species.

At 1.5 million acres, the Mark Twain National Forest makes up less than 1% of all the land in the national forest system, but in Missouri, it consists of close to 85% of the state’s publicly owned forested land.

Hundreds of freshwater springs start in the Mark Twain National Forest. Krueger said those springs directly impact the water quality of waterways throughout the Ozarks.

“A lot of these streams, those are the headwaters out there in those roadless areas,” Krueger said. “We allow access in there [and] that’s going to cause a major problem, pollution, and it’s going to change the ecosystem.”

The Mark Twain National Forest’s mixed hardwood and pine forests occupy much of southern Missouri, stretching from Branson to Poplar Bluff and reaching as far north as Columbia. More than 25,000 acres of the Mark Twain are covered under the “roadless rule.”

Many of the Mark Twain National Forest’s roadless areas would retain some form of protected status if the rule is eventually repealed. Ted Heisel, environmental and natural resource attorney in the St. Louis region, said the Mark Twain National Forest’s local forest plan covers these areas with their own makeshift roadless rule.

“As a conservationist, I see the roadless rule as an added or a second layer of protection for the areas on the Mark Twain, even if the forest plan sort of already gives them more or less a hands-off designation,” Heisel said.

The Mark Twain National Forest’s roadless areas are considered “semi-primitive” and “non-motorized” according to the forest plan, which was adopted in 2005. These overlapping designations are like two Band-Aids covering the same wound. A local Band-Aid ensures the areas are protected even if the federal Band-Aid is taken away.

Heisel said, despite the local protections in place, the roadless rule is still worth preserving.

“There’s just so few wild areas where there’s no roads and no logging, where nature gets to take its course,” Heisel said.

‘We’ll never get that land back’

Not every roadless area has two Band-Aids. Big Creek is the Mark Twain National Forest’s largest federally protected roadless area at more than 9,000 acres. Its designation as a “roaded natural area” doesn’t include provisions like the roadless rule.

According to an email from Cody Norris, public affairs officer for the Mark Twain National Forest, building roads in Big Creek would require environmental impact and transportation studies. Areas with stronger designations would require the forest plan itself to be revised. That process usually takes place every decade or so.

Supporters of the rule’s rescission have said it’ll reduce the risk of wildfires. Timber harvesting is prohibited in roadless areas, and forest management is strictly regulated. Repealing the rule would allow firefighters and forest managers to access tree stands that have since turned into “tinderboxes,” according to supporters.

In Missouri, as well as across the country, the largest cause of wildfires is humans. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation wildfire dashboard, more than 750 fires have burned 5 acres or more in Missouri this year; more than one-third of those were caused by human debris.

Bruce Palmer, who has taught fire safety to foresters across multiple agencies, said more access could actually lead to more fires.

“Having road access to every place lets people in to travel those roads,” Palmer said. “When you have people, then you increase the probability of having fires getting started.”

Palmer is also the executive director of the Missouri Consulting Foresters Association. He said there’s probably a middle ground, something between a one-size-fits-all regulation and rescinding the rule altogether. Idaho and Colorado may have already found it when they passed their own state-level roadless regulations in 2008 and 2012, respectively.

Krueger with the Backcountry Horsemen has mixed feelings about the term “local control.” On the one hand, natural resource departments need to listen to their foresters on the ground, but she sees these decisions being made from up above in D.C. Regardless, she said everyone should comment on the proposed rescission.

The U.S. Forest Service extended the comment period on the policy change and citizens now have till Oct. 6 to voice their opinion of the roadless rule’s rescission at regulation.gov. More than half a million comments have been made so far.

In the end, Krueger worries the consequences of repealing the roadless rule could reach far into the future and be hard to reverse.

“If we start building roads in there, and they decide that maybe for some reason, ‘Oops, we made a mistake and it’s not working,’ we’ll never get that land back,” Krueger said.

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WEEKEND

Airbnb offers $10,000 for farmers to host guests on their property

By Hannah McDonough, Missouri News Network

Airbnb is offering farmers and ranchers up to $10,000 to start an agritourism experience or expand a current one for guests on their property.

Between 25 and 30 grants will be distributed, according to the American Farmland Trust, a partner with Airbnb in the plan.

The goal is to encourage more agritourism to help farmers as they face financial burdens such as fuel shortages, increasing prices and weather concerns, according to a news release from Airbnb.

Lynette Ralph runs a horse farm near Pacific, Missouri, where she offers horseback riding lessons and operates a short-term rental cabin on her property listed on Airbnb.

“What’s really impacting the farmers is the price of fertilizer, and that trickles down to me because I have to buy hay for the horses, and the hay requires fertilizer, so prices of hay have just gone through the roof,” Ralph said.

Ralph plans on applying for the grant to assist in the upkeep of her property. She also has a disability, meaning that driving to a job would be difficult for her.

“It’s amazing to be able to use the property and the horses to make a living,” Ralph said. “If I didn’t have that resource, I would have to sell the farm and move to some suburban area. So I’m really thankful for the opportunity.”

By providing grant money, Airbnb hopes to encourage farm stays across the country, not only as a way to help farmers, but also to boost a growing agritourism industry as tourists seek authentic rural experiences.

The Missouri Farm Bureau has identified 646 farm properties for agritourism stays and attractions in the state, with 12 of them in Boone County.

“We actually found that farm stay hosts in Missouri earned approximately $6,100 last year,” Airbnb spokesperson Ivan Valladares said. “So that’s real money that’s going directly into their pockets.”

According to Airbnb, farm stay hosts’ earnings increased 400% since 2018, providing farmers with supplemental income when farming profit is low.

Airbnb has also seen a trend in young people looking for affordable travel. Farm stays offer a way for people to explore a new community while staying on a budget.

“We’ve seen that Gen Z travelers are really interested in domestic travel that’s been increasing over the last few years,” Valladares said. “They’re interested in exploring places that are off the map, and not necessarily the big cities, but discovering new things.”

Bringing in more agritourism business could also help boost local economies.

“It doesn’t just lift up the earnings of that particular house, but it also lifts up the earnings of other farm stays and other small businesses in that region,” Valladares said.

Applications for the “Farm to Stay” grant program will open in November, but Airbnb is currently hosting webinars to provide more information on how to get an Airbnb started in rural areas.