ABOUT L-A-D FOUNDATION

The L-A-D Foundation was established by Leo A. Drey in 1962 to preserve lands of natural and cultural significance and undertake related scientific, educational, and charitable activities. Its holdings grew to nearly 4,000 acres in fourteen units, seven of them state designated natural areas leased to the Missouri Department of Conservation, two areas and a trail system leased to Missouri Department of Natural Resources for management by Missouri State Parks, and nearly 1,000 acres of land under scenic easement to the NPS-Ozark National Scenic Riverways. In 2004, Leo Drey and his wife Kay donated to the foundation their Pioneer Forest, now about 144,000 acres in six counties in the southeastern Missouri Ozarks, to be managed as a demonstration working fores