Coyne Prairie

About Coyne Prairie

On March 6, 2025, MPF purchased an 80-acre, unplowed, old-growth prairie remnant near Lockwood in Dade County, Missouri. MPF has designated this new acquisition the Snadon Tract of Coyne Prairie.

Coyne Prairie, including the Snadon Tract, had been in continuous ownership by one family since the late 1800s. Patrick Coyne purchased the southern 80 acres in 1883 and the northern 80 acres in 1892 with his Civil War mustering-out money and passed the land on to his granddaughter, Dorothy Coyne Snadon. She bequeathed the southern half of the property to her son Julian, who passed away in 2023, and the northern half to her other son, Patrick.

MPF purchased the northern half in 2006 and the southern half (the Snadon Tract) on March 6, 2025 from Patrick Snadon. MPF is grateful to the family for keeping the prairie intact for generations and honored to protect it.

Coyne Prairie is a dry-mesic sandstone/shale prairie natural community and includes a segment of a prairie headwater stream and a rare prairie swale. This prairie supports 174 native plant species, with 27 restricted to remnant habitat. Grassland birds including the northern bobwhite and Henslow’s sparrows have been recorded here in the breeding season, as well as Lapland longspurs in winter.

“All of us with MPF are thrilled that we were able to purchase this rare, old-growth prairie remnant for permanent protection,” said Bruce Schuette, the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Vice President of Science & Management. “The Snadon Tract of Coyne Prairie also adds important habitat connectivity to adjacent MPF old-growth prairies and the other native grasslands in conservation ownership in the immediate vicinity,” said Schuette.

Coyne Prairie is part of an MPF complex of prairies including the old-growth, 160-acre Penn-Sylvania Prairie, immediately to the south, and the Welsch Tract, 80 acres of prairie plantings and restored, original savanna, immediately to the west.

Immediately west of Penn-Sylvania Prairie is the Dr. Harry and Lina Berrier Memorial Tract of Sons Creek Conservation Area, which is former agricultural land now owned by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), which will be reconstructed to a prairie planting over the coming years.

This complex lies within the Golden Grasslands Conservation Priority Geography and the Golden Grasslands Important Bird Area. Additionally, Coyne prairie is approximately 0.75 mile southwest of MDC’s Niawathe Prairie Natural Area and fewer than two miles southeast of MDC’s Stony Point Prairie Conservation Area.

MPF is grateful to funders who made the Snadon Tract acquisition possible: the Missouri Department of Conservation, for a Land Conservation Partnership Program grant and the late Dr. Clifford Welsch, who made a gift to MPF restricted to the protection of prairie in this geography.

A public dedication of the Snadon Tract will take place on National Prairie Day, Saturday, June 7, with MPF’s weekend of Prairie BioBlitz activities to follow. Watch forthcoming issues of this enewsletter for details about the event.

Coyne Prairie: A Gem at the Edge of the Ozarks, Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 27, No. 2, 2006

A Prairie Family History, Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 27, No. 2, 2006

Coyne Acquisiton Completed, Missouri Prairie Journal Vol. 28, No. 4, 2007

2020 Floristic Integrity Report: Coyne, Golden, Linden’s, and Rae Letsinger Prairies by the Institute of Botanical Training, LLC.

2020 Missouri River Bird Observatory Breeding Bird Surveys on MPF Properties

2018 Missouri River Bird Observatory Breeding Bird Surveys on MPF Properties (includes Coyne Prairie)

2012 Institute of Botanical Training Coyne Prairie Floristic Integrity Report 

2017 Institute of Botanical Training Floristic Integrity Report (includes Coyne Prairie)

Directions

Coyne Prairie is located in Dade County on Highway E, about 16 miles east of Lamar.  Drive 2 miles west of Highway 97 on Highway E, then south on CR 199.  Parking is available along the gravel road, or drive 0.5 miles to the gate on the west side of CR 199.  By GPS, N37 30.380 W93 59.149 (in decimal degrees, 37.50634 -93.98581).