Passion & Purpose: Summer 2024
L-A-D Foundation collaborates with CFO for new grantmaking program
When Leo Drey began his work in forestry, his method of selectively harvesting trees supported multiple wins. Chief among them were ongoing timber production and the restoration and maintenance of thousands of acres of Ozarks woodlands, for which his Pioneer Forest has become an industry leader.
Decades later, and years after Drey’s death, those efforts are still bearing benefits for ecology and the Ozarks. A new example is through more than $54,000 in grant funding, which was distributed by Drey’s L-A-D Foundation — which now owns Pioneer Forest — in partnership with the CFO in 2024.
“While L-A-D Foundation is the state’s largest private landowner, they really aren’t well known,” says Jennifer Battson Warren, the L-A-D Foundation’s manager. “It’s a routine topic of conversation of the things we could do to connect better and be as supportive as possible.”
The grant round is one of those efforts. Seven nonprofits received support for the conservation of natural and cultural resources in its 12-county service area, ranging from cultural history to pure conservation.
“The proceeds from the timber managements fund the land-management side, but to the extent possible, we try to offer grants that are more aligned with our strategic goal to support communities in the Ozarks,” Battson Warren says.
Kristie Nelson and Cheri Low educate visitors to Montauk State Park on local history and science. “There’s a big part of Ozark culture that’s being lost,” Low says. “When we teach about the history, we’re also teaching about that culture and kind of bringing it back to life.”
L-A-D’s Ozarks story
Pioneer Forest began in 1951. Initially supported by inheritance from Drey’s family canning jar company, a series of land acquisitions led to more than 150,000 acres today. Those holdings also include sites of historic and cultural importance, such as Dillard Mill, a water mill from 1908 in Crawford County, and Grand Gulf, a significant sinkhole near the Missouri-Arkansas state line. Both are leased back to state agencies and accessible to the public.
“No one really owns land,” Drey told a Springfield newspaper reporter in 1980. “I prefer to think of my role as a stewardship. We all are custodians of the land.”
Drey died in 2015 at 98. His work, however, lives on through sustainable timber production — and, in a new way, through L-A-D’s collaborative grantmaking with the CFO.
“We have really enjoyed working with L-A-D Foundation in our first year of this partnership to support their grantmaking goals,” says Bridget Dierks, vice president of Programs at the CFO. “This work to provide grantmaking services to other foundations is something the CFO is excited to grow as we partner with fellow funders to maximize their grantmaking effectiveness.
“Joining our individual areas of expertise allow us to best serve our communities and the greater region.”
Grinding Out History at Montauk
An example of the grant program’s quick impact is seen deep in Dent County at Montauk State Park. Located along the Current River, Montauk began as a community before it became a state park in 1926. Today, there is a trout hatchery — and plenty of fishing opportunities — as well as a mill, which is seasonally open for guests.
A hand-powered mill, used for demonstrations at the Old Mill at Montauk State Park, was purchased through a grant from the L-A-D Foundation.
Through the joint L-A-D and CFO grant program, $6,280 will help accentuate its history and conservation opportunities, both by supporting cultural programming and research.
“I think that helps with the connection to place and history and the whole experience,” says Kristie Nelson, Montauk State Park naturalist, of the grant funding.
To help tell that story, the funding covered the acquisition of manual corn grinder and shellers, which were first in use at Old Mill Day in May. It also supports the acquisition of period attire — to be worn by presenters during historical programming — an archery program and a storybook initiative.
There is, too, a focus on the natural world. A citizen science project will help document the park’s cerulean warblers, an imperiled bird species that will be tracked and documented by staff and trained volunteers — which may create lasting change beyond the grant, as a model for other parks to use.
Giving back: Just like Pioneer Forest and the L-A-D Foundation continue to do in sustainable forestry, preservation and conservation.
By Kaitlyn McConnell · This essay is featured in the summer 2024 edition of Passion & Purpose: The CFO Magazine.
