A Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on Thursday, December 19, marked the official opening of MDC’s new Shepherd of the Hills Conservation Education Center (Center). Members of the MDC staff, the Missouri Conservation Commission, and local and state officials participated. After the ceremony, the Center was opened to the public. “People from all around the world travel to Branson and many visit the Shepherd of the Hills Conservation Education Center and the fish hatchery,” said MDC Director Jason Sumners. “Missouri has a great conservation story to tell, so it makes sense to tell it at one of Missouri’s top tourist destinations.”
Branson Mayor Larry Milton said, “One of the exciting features of this Center is the hatchery, conservation, and local wildlife and habit educational opportunities it offers. It is another free and unique thing that our residents and millions of visitors to Branson can enjoy.”
Shepherd of the Hills Conservation Education Center is two and a half times the size of the previous visitor center at the exact location. It features a large multi-purpose room divisible into two classrooms, a 7,500-gallon indoor aquarium, a large lobby and new exhibits that focus on local wildlife and habitat. One of the classrooms will have a new video showing how the hatchery, annually, raises 350,000 and 400,000 pounds of 10–11-inch rainbow and brown trout, of which 80% goes in Lake Taneycomo with the remainder going to other Missouri trout management areas.
In addition to the Center’s new building opening to the public, access to the Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery raceways will also reopen. This reopening will again provide the public with an opportunity to feed trout and to get an up close and personal look at tens of thousands of trout ranging in size from a few inches to the large brooder trout as they walk through the hatchery’s raceways between the Center and the hatchery building.
In addition to the Center, the Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery offers other amenities on its 155-acre grounds. There are about three miles of hiking trails available on the grounds, easy wading access to some of the world-class trout fishing Lake Taneycomo offers, two picnic areas available on a first-come, first-served basis, and boat access to Lake Taneycomo via a concrete boat ramp.
The Center will be open to the public from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday, and closed on Sunday and Monday. The grounds are open from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. For further information, call 417-334-4865 or visit the Center’s website at https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/shepherd-hills-conservation-education-center.
“We appreciate the public’s patience throughout the construction and preparation process,” said Shepherd of the Hills Conservation Education Center Manager Alison Bleich. “We are excited for everyone to visit our new facility.”