Places To Go

Ozark Region | Twin Pines Conservation Education Center

Heritage skills, forestry past, and native gardens highlight area

By Larry Archer

With a name inspired by a blanket, and beds that regularly attract visitors, it’s understandable if one were to confuse Twin Pines Conservation Education Center (CEC) with a cozy Ozark inn.

Located in Shannon County just east of Winona, Twin Pines CEC is named for a regional style of coverlet — a type of bedspread — that incorporates the area’s shortleaf pine trees in its design, said Reva Dow, the center’s manager.

The connection to this area craftwork also influences two of the center’s primary focuses: heritage skills — traditional outdoor skills associated with the Ozarks — and the area’s connection to the forest industry.

“One of the unique things about the facility is that we are able to tie Missouri’s fish, forest, and wildlife into those heritage practices,” she said.

With an exhibit building originally designed as a forest heritage museum, Twin Pines CEC continues to highlight the area’s forestry past, but perhaps one of its most popular features is its native flower beds, she said.

“We do have people who come just to look at the beds,” she said. “We do have a plethora of pollinators come through due to the size of our native beds.”

“There’s a lot of draws to the area, whether it be some of our springs — like Big Spring or Ally Spring or Blue Spring — or you have the Jack’s Fork and the Current rivers, you have Rocky Falls just down the way, and we also have Peck Ranch.”

—Twin Pines CEC Manager Reva Dow

Twin Pines Conservation Education Center consists of 442.2 acres in Shannon County. From the junction of Highway 19 North and U.S. Highway 60, take Highway 60 east 1.3 miles.

short.mdc.mo.gov/ZnT 573-325-1384

What to do When You Visit

• Archery Unstaffed range with targets of varying distances
• Birdwatching Included in the National Audubon Society’s Current/Jack’s Fork Watershed Important Bird Area (short.mdc.mo.gov/ZcC). Included in the Great Missouri Birding Trail (short.mdc.mo.gov/ZnS). The eBird list of birds recorded at Twin Pines CEC is available at short.mdc.mo.gov/Zn5.
• Trails One trail loop with spurs combining to total 2.9 miles.

Discover MO Outdoors

Users can quickly and easily find outdoor activities close to home with our free mobile app, MO Outdoors. Available in Android or iPhone platforms at mdc.mo.gov/mooutdoors.

What to Look for When You Visit

• Black bear
• Yellow-throated warbler
• Painted lady
• Five-lined skink