The story of Woods Prairie and OLT’s conservation efforts
By Andy Thomas, Longtime Board Member, and former President
Originally Published in the Winter 2025 Ozark Holler
When I learned that what is now called Woods Prairie was for sale and at great risk for subdivision and development way back about 1998, I had only been on the Ozark Land Trust board for a year.
I had m
oved to Southwest Missouri just two years before and quickly became enamored with Ozark prairies, exploring every prairie preserve I could find in the region (turns out –there were actually very few). I also soon learned how incredibly fragile native prairie ecosystems were –and still are.
I knew I had to act to protect this exceptional prairie, and OLT was the perfect vehicle to accomplish this daunting feat. Fast forward nearly 30 years, and I can look back proudly at what OLT(and many others) have done to protect and restore this amazing jewel.
WhileI may have been the Woods Prairie point person for many years, it was countless hardworking volunteers, generous donors, and risk-taking visionaries within OLT who made Woods Prairie’s permanent protection a reality.