L-A-D Foundation - Land Stewardship in the Missouri Ozark Highlands Since 1962

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Leo Drey & Pioneer Forest

Leo A. Drey - Founder of the L-A-D Foundation

Leo Drey founded Pioneer Forest in 1951 and the L-A-D Foundation in 1962. This documentary, produced by the Missouri Department of Conservation (©Missouri Outdoors), shares the story of Leo's mission to demonstrate responsible management of Missouri resources. The L-A-D Foundation is indebted to Leo and Kay Drey for their vision, leadership, and unending generosity which has allowed us to carry forward their dream of protecting Missouri's unique historical, cultural, geologic, and ecological resources.

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Discover what L-A-D Land Has to Offer

With so many natural wonders, L-A-D Foundation lands have something to offer everyone. Click here to begin exploring L−A−D Foundation lands.

The L-A-D Foundation

Incorporated in 1962, the L-A-D Foundation is a Missouri private operating foundation dedicated to the responsible management of Pioneer Forest as a working demonstration of renewable resource use compatible with the long-term carrying capacity and health of the land and water. The Foundation also acquires and preserves in the public interest outstanding areas of natural, geologic, cultural or historic interest. In addition, the Foundation provides support to various projects consistent with its conservation goals, with a particular focus on the Missouri Ozark region.

The Story of the L-A-D Foundation

In the beginning, the principal mission of the L-A-D Foundation was to protect natural areas. From 1964 to 1974, our founder Leo Drey donated important Missouri lands he had acquired to the Foundation so that these areas could be protected in perpetuity. Most of these original lands were designated Missouri Natural Areas; others became state parks and historic sites through donated leases of land to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

In the years that followed, Drey and others donated land or contributed resources that have enabled the Foundation to acquire, protect, and sustainably manage land which offers many benefits for the public.

Today, L-A-D Foundation properties include twelve designated Missouri Natural Areas, one state park, one state historic site, and nearly a thousand acres of river corridor lands along the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, all of which are open to the public for research and recreation. Discover our other lands on this website.

Even before founding the L-A-D Foundation, Leo Drey began acquiring land in the Missouri Ozarks to operate a sustainable timber business using a conservative method of single-tree selection harvest. He called these lands Pioneer Forest, and from 1951 to 2004, Pioneer was operated as a sole proprietorship of Leo Drey.

During that time, Leo advocated for his method of forest management, which kept forest landscapes largely intact and habitable for native species even while supporting periodic timber harvest. He was fighting an uphill battle against the even-aged techniques (clear cutting) championed by most of the forest industry at the time, including by the US Forest Service. However, Leo’s persistence eventually won out, and in a big victory, the Mark Twain National Forest adopted his methods in the 1990s.

In 2001, Pioneer Forest dedicated the Roger Pryor Pioneer Backcountry, a 62,000 acre section of Pioneer Forest, as a primitive outdoor recreation area.

In 2004, Leo and Kay Drey donated most of Pioneer Forest to L-A-D in one of the single largest philanthropic donations in the country that year. This donation of more than 143,000 acres dramatically increased L-A-D’s land holdings.

Today, the L-A-D Foundation continues to operate Pioneer Forest as a demonstration forest, modeling its successful method of conservative forest management and contributing to regional, national, and international dialogue around sustainable use of forest resources. Discover more about Pioneer Forest here.

Most of our lands are located in southeast Missouri within the Current River watershed. Both L-A-D Foundation properties and Pioneer Forest are open to the public. We invite you to visit and learn more about what we do.

You Can Benefit From or Contribute to Research on L-A-D Lands

The L-A-D Foundation has conducted extensive research for several decades on sustainably managed forest lands. Additionally, many other organizations have conducted research and published their findings. Bibliographies are shown in the Publications section of this site.

L-A-D Foundation encourages others to conduct research on foundation managed lands. Click here for more information on research.

Grantmaking and Community Support

The L-A-D Foundation supports organizations whose work benefits the conservation of natural and cultural resources in the Missouri Ozarks. During its history the foundation has awarded more than $600,000 in small grants to more than 65 nonprofit and public interest organizations. The foundation expresses its interest in engaging young people from the Ozarks through providing scholarships and supporting conservation projects involving students. Learn more about our grant-making activities on this website.

Jennifer Battson Warren to Follow Roger Still at L-A-D Foundation Helm

A longtime stalwart of the Missouri Department of Conservation has been selected to lead the L-A-D
Foundation, taking over from Roger Still, who retired April 28 from more than a quarter century of full-time conservation work in order to devote more time to his family. He has promised to help orient the new executive director, and is particularly delighted that the board has selected Jennifer Battson Warren for that role, having worked closely with her on many joint efforts.


The L-A-D Foundation was established by Leo A. Drey of St. Louis to protect outstanding natural and
cultural areas. In 2004 Drey and his wife Kay donated to the foundation their 144,000-acre Pioneer Forest,
the state’s largest private landholding, which spans seven counties in the southeastern Missouri Ozarks.
Headquartered in Salem, this property is a working forest, demonstrating exemplary ecological stewardship and conservative forest management using single-tree selection harvests.


After major leadership roles with The Nature Conservancy and then the National Audubon Society Missouri offices, Roger was promoted to lead Audubon’s 18-state Mississippi Flyway initiative in the 2000s, then turned to private consulting with conservation organizations and family foundations in the 2010s. He first became actively engaged with L-A-D in 2019 when he facilitated a highly productive strategic planning retreat for board and staff, then joined the board soon thereafter, and subsequently joined the staff. He made vital contributions to advancing L-A-D’s mission and priority initiatives, and deeply appreciated following in the footsteps of our founder, Leo Drey,


“Sad as all of us—board, staff, advisors, and our many partners—have been to see Roger retire, we know
that he cares deeply about our organization, that he has left us in a strong position to carry forward the
many projects he initiated, and that he will help in any way he can in the future. We know also that Jennifer Battson Warren, with whom Roger worked in many capacities over the years, is superbly qualified for her new role, and we can’t wait to start working with her,” said Susan Flader, president of the foundation.


Jennifer is a native Missourian, raised in rural Osage County. Her passion for natural resources, land
management, and the outdoors began there on grandparents’ farms. She began her college studies in
business school, then gravitated to the MU School of Natural Resources, where she earned a degree in
forestry and first learned about Pioneer Forest and the L-A-D Foundation. In her 31-year career with MDC,
she has had field experience and risen to leadership positions in virtually every aspect of MDC’s work,
including forestry, geographic information systems, information technology, private lands conservation,
wildlife management, planning, and agency administration. She currently serves as MDC’s Deputy Director for Business and Operations, where she collaboratively guides the “business of conservation” by providing oversight for human resources, infrastructure, IT, budget, financial services, grants, and all aspects of realty.


Jennifer became excited about the L-A-D executive director opening when she read the position description and realized her experience aligned almost perfectly with the duties and responsibilities of the role. “Through every decade of my career,” she says, “I have wondered at and deeply respected the
determination and vision of Leo and Kay Drey, the L-A-D Board, and the Pioneer Forest management staff.” She looks forward to October 2 when she will begin her “precious opportunity to share my skills,
knowledge, abilities, and passion for forest and natural community management and organizational
excellence with a team who share the same passions.”

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