Report No. 2007-36
August 2007

The following findings were included in our audit report on the Department of Conservation.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) owns, leases, or manages 461 named conservation areas, as well as about 840 other properties. The MDC does not maintain a centralized area plan tracking system. Our review of 10 conservation areas that contained at least 500 acres or had undergone recent significant development found that in three of the areas, MDC had undertaken major expansions and/or facility development without developing an area plan or updating an existing area plan. The MDC spent nearly $3 million for an additional lake and hatchery improvements at one of the three properties.

The MDC Protection Division does not maintain adequate records for seized evidence, including guns and knives. Almost half of the 1,600 records in the MDC electronic case tracking system listed no storage location, and 508 records had a seizure date that was more than three years old. Evidence logs for the freezer used to store confiscated wildlife at MDC central headquarters had been misplaced, so there were no records of evidence items placed in the freezer between January 23, 2003, and December 14, 2006. In addition, MDC agents also occasionally seized illegal contraband that, according to the seized evidence report, were stored at various MDC locations and, in some cases, at an office located at an agent's home.

The MDC reimbursed the state General Revenue Fund $66,388 for about 2,400 hours of law enforcement services provided by the Missouri State Water Patrol (MSWP); however, it appears no additional services, beyond the statutorily required duties of the MSWP, were received by the MDC that would warrant or justify this one-time reimbursement.

For fiscal year 2006, costs incurred by the MDC for its flight operations unit totaled about $579,000. Utilization of the MDC aircraft has significantly decreased since 2001 while MDC has maintained the same number of aircraft and pilots. It appears the number of general transportation trips has remained relatively steady while the number of flights related to resource management have dramatically reduced. The MDC should review the utilization and related flight operations costs to determine if this unit should continue to operate at its current level.

The MDC reported a combined operating loss of more $1,075,000 for its five manned shooting ranges for fiscal year 2006. The MDC also has 17 archery only, 7 shotgun only, and 40 firearms unmanned shooting ranges. The most recently constructed manned range, completed in 2001, cost approximately $3,000,000, and the planned replacement of another existing manned range is budgeted at $4,000,000. The estimated cost to develop a typical unmanned firearms shooting range is between $200,000 and $300,000 and a small archery range is between $7,000 and $10,000. The MDC should evaluate shooting range fees, operating costs, and public usage to determine if current and future planned operations of manned shooting ranges is cost beneficial.

The MDC does not always document roll call votes taken in closed session and does not always report decisions made in the closed sessions in the department's public records, as required by state law. The MDC discussed an issue in closed session which did not appear to be allowable for closed session under state law. Similar conditions were noted in our prior audit report.

It should be noted that, based upon their interpretation of the Sunshine Law, the MDC refused to provide complete copies of closed session minutes for our review. The MDC did provide redacted versions of the closed session minutes; however, the information provided was so limited that we were unable to determine if many of the actions taken in closed session were reported in open session. The MDC has determined and assured us that the withheld information would have no material effect upon our audit of the department. This action by the department resulted in a scope limitation related to our audit.

Our report also included recommendations related to department area planning procedures and the inspection of some commercial permit holder facilities.

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