By Caroline Pufalt
Eight years ago we faced a crisis when our Ozark Chapter staff person resigned due to illness. We were trying to find a workable and affordable arrangement on fairly short notice. I was the staff manager at that time and someone told me about a Sierran in Columbia who was interested in trying to fill the gap in our state lobbying program. His name was Ken Midkiff and he had a business called Tavern Creek Canoes. That sounded sort of promising. I just hoped that someone who built canoes for a living had some idea of what working with the Missouri state legislature would be like. Well, as they say, the rest is history.
Ken started that year working part time as a lobbyist. His skills were obvious. It turned out that he had not built canoes all his life. He had also worked as an advocate for a teachers organization in Illinois. He knew something about lobbying, politics, working with agencies, as well as having an appreciation for Missouri’s float streams.
Ken grew quickly in the job and he eventually became Chapter Director, working full time on conservation issues and lobbying. He had a broad range of interests, working on pollution issues, sprawl, clean water, endangered species, mining, forest protection, factory farms and more. He became well known in Missouri’s agencies, including the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Transportation. He even met with the Governor’s staff on a regular basis. Ken did an enormous amount to raise the profile of the Sierra Club and conservation issues in Missouri. He was effective.
Sierrans across the state were inspired by his hard work and his often entertaining way of explaining the ways things worked, or didn’t work. We had many a meeting/party at his home. We became aquatinted with his wife, Julie, who generously shared her house and time for Sierra Club functions. Julie also contributes her wonderful pottery to our Chapter auctions.
Ken took a special interest in rural Missouri and the issues surrounding family farms. He and Scott Dye worked hard to help farmers resist the impacts of factory farms (CAFOs) in the state. His work attracted the attention of the Sierra Club leaders at the national level and a few years ago he began working part time on national level issues mostly related to clean water issues. That work easily complemented many Missouri issues as well.
At the end of October 2001, after 8 years working for the Ozark chapter, Ken took a full time job with the Sierra Club working as campaign director for the Club's Clean Water Campaign. Ken will fortunately be staying in Columbia and his office is currently just above the existing Chapter. Thus, while we are losing his much valued work for the Chapter, we will be in touch and will be able to hear some of his famous stories on occasion. Most importantly, he is still using his talents to further environmental progress. We can’t say enough about Ken’s contribution to the Ozark Chapter and to the cause of the environment in Missouri. Thank you, Ken!
Now we are back where this article started, looking for a new staff person. But we are better off this time. Given our experience with Ken, we have a solid foundation on which to build. Also due to a generous bequest we are in a little better financial situation than we were 8 years ago when we hired Ken as a part time lobbyist. By the time this article is printed we will have advertised for a new Chapter Director. We will not be able to replace Ken. But our hopes are high that we will soon begin again to carry on the good work on behalf of Missouri's environment.