MDC director announces retirement

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri Department of Conservation Director Sara Parker Pauley will retire on July 1, according to a Wednesday press release.

The Columbia native spent 30 years in public service and became the MDC’s first female director in November 2016, the release states. A search for the next director will begin in February.

“The opportunity to serve as director of one of the top conservation agencies in the country over the last seven years -- and to work alongside an immensely talented team of staff, partners, and commissioners -- has been a life-changing experience for me,” Pauley said in the release. “As a lifelong Missourian, conservationist, and hunter, I am beyond grateful to have served the citizens of Missouri and helped to push conservation forward in Missouri on a state and national level.”

Pauley has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a law degree from the University of Missouri, the release states. She also served as the director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources from 2010-1 and was an instructor at MU’s School of Natural Resources, her biography on the MDC’s website says.

The release states Pauley was involved with restructuring the MDC, developing a partnership with Columbia Public Schools to create the Boone County Nature School, working with MU and other partners to create the Johnny Morris Institute of Fisheries, Wetlands & Aquatic Systems and creating the Missouri Conservation Partners Roundtable.

“Sara has been a trailblazer throughout her years of dedicated public service to Missourians, and we will certainly miss her as part of our Cabinet team,” Gov. Mike Parson said in the release. “As a proud outdoorswoman, Sara’s passion for Missouri’s natural resources and great outdoors and efforts to conserve them for the next generations has been welcomed and greatly appreciated. Under her leadership, Missouri has maintained our status as a leader in all things conservation, and we look forward to that continuing. We thank Sara for her service and wish her the best in retirement.”