Dan and Connie Burkhardt have been named Master Conservationists, Magnificent Missouri announced — recognition for two people who’ve spent close to two decades putting their own land and their own organizing into Missouri’s rivers and trails.
Dan Burkhardt co-founded Magnificent Missouri in 2012 alongside John McPheeters, and co-founded the Katy Land Trust back in 2010 — work that, per the organization’s own account, now runs through Magnificent Missouri. The Burkhardts have also placed their own land, Bethlehem Valley Farm & Vineyards in Warren County, into a conservation easement — putting their own property under the same kind of protection their organizations work to extend to the Katy Trail corridor and the Missouri River valley.
Magnificent Missouri’s own announcement is short on the specifics of why the award committee chose this particular year to honor them — we’re not going to fill that in with a guess. What’s confirmed: the award, the date, and a conservation résumé that speaks for itself.