YES on 1 - Preserve MO State Parks, Soil & Water

07/15/2026

Meet Ryan Britt.

Randolph County farmer. Uses the Soil and Water Conservation practices funded by Amendment 1 on his own land. Voting YES on August 4th.

That's two coalition partners in two days telling their own stories, Laura Hunter Collins, now Ryan Britt, both Missouri farmers, both actually using the cost-share programs Amendment 1 funds. The coalition of Missouri farmers behind this renewal keeps growing because they know exactly what it does on their land.

Watch. Share. Vote.

Vote YES on Amendment 1 by August 4th.

Thank you, Missouri Farm Bureau for putting Ryan's story out there.

07/14/2026

The Missouri Birding Society is part of the YES on 1 coalition and they’re not just endorsing, they’re working in Missouri state parks every day.

Through the SPARKS program, MBS members conduct bird surveys, maintain the bird checklist for every state park, and write the site birding guides that Missouri families use to introduce their kids to Missouri’s wildlife. That work happens because our state park system exists and our state park system exists because Missourians have voted to keep it since 1984.

Amendment 1 is on the ballot August 4.

Thank you to the Missouri Birding Society for the endorsement, the beautiful photo from Stockton Lake State Park, and every day for making Missouri’s parks better for the next generation of birders.

Amendment 1: State Parks, Soil & Water Tax on the August 4 primary election ballot
The .10% sales tax (that's one-tenth of one cent) revenue is split 50/50 between supporting the Missouri Division of Natural Resources (DNR) Division of State Parks and soil & water conservation. Unlike the .08% tax supporting the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), this one has a “sunset clause,” which means that voters must renew it to keep it in effect.
When you vote, please consider:
With a 97% public approval rate, ours is the top-ranked park system in the U.S.
Missouri is one of only 8 states with free admission to all state parks and historic sites (93 in all). TN, KY, IL, IA, AR, OH and PA are the other states with free admission.
The Missouri park system includes more than 2,000 structures, 3,500 campsites and 1,000 miles of trails--all requiring maintenance. (The photo shows MBS members enjoying a trail at Stockton Lake SP)
MBS conducts contracted services for the Division of State Parks (the SPARKS program). These include bird surveying, maintaining the bird checklist for every park, writing site birding guides, etc. The funds earned are used to support a variety of partnerships in education, habitat work, and youth birding opportunities.
The Missouri Birding Society has signed onto a coalition supporting the Amendment. You can join the coalition as an individual, and an authorized person can sign on for an organization at this website: https://form.jotform.com/253336305125146

07/13/2026

St. Louis Public Radio takes a look at Amendment 1 and at what it says about Missouri.

From Missouri Farm Bureau to the Sierra Club. From ranchers in the Ozarks to families at Bennett Springs. From the Bootheel to the Boonslick. It's rare in 2026 to see a Missouri coalition this broad line up behind anything, and Amendment 1 has it.

That's because Amendment 1 isn't a partisan cause. It's the renewal of a Missouri tradition. Since 1984, a 1/10 of 1% state sales tax has funded 93 free state parks and soil and water conservation in all 114 counties. Missourians have said YES to it five times and this August 4th will be number six.

This renewal only costs about $20 a year per Missourian. And a rare moment when we can all agree.

Thanks to for the coverage.

Vote YES on Amendment 1 · August 4th.

Read the full piece 👇

Missouri voters will decide Aug. 4 whether to renew the sales tax that funds state parks and soil and water conservation projects.

The measure has drawn broad bipartisan support and no organized opposition.

The tax raises about $140 million annually, with half of the money going to state parks and the other half going to soil and water conservation projects.

Missouri Parks Association Executive Director Kendra Varns Wallis said the tax helps keep parks free. That’s not the case in other states, where people have to pay not only to enter or park — but to shower.

“I think that's one of the reasons it keeps getting passed is because, in my opinion, we have one of the best state park systems in the country,” Wallis said. “Part of it is because dedicated funding is very helpful.”

Wallis said the tax helps pay for a lot of projects, including maintaining the Katy Trail, taking care of campgrounds and wastewater projects.

Find more about Amendment 1 down below. ⬇️ https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2026-07-13/missouri-parks-farming-amendment-1

07/12/2026

Meet Laura Hunter Collins.

She's a Missouri farmer from Scott County. She's used Amendment 1's cost-share program on her own operation. And she's voting YES on August 4.

When a Missouri farmer takes the time to explain in her own words why the Soil and Water side of Amendment 1 matters, it's worth 90 seconds of your day.

Watch. Share. Vote.

Amendment 1 is a renewal of a success story more than forty years in the making. Vote YES on August 4.
Thank you to our coalition partner, Missouri Farm Bureau, for putting Laura's story out there.

07/12/2026

Big shout out to our campaign coalition partners, Missouri Parks Association. The campaign team is out in force today encouraging Missourians to Renew the State Parks, Soil & Water sales tax on August 4th.

If you love our Missouri State Parks, enjoy clean drinking water and want to ensure the next generation of Missourians can do the same, remember to Vote YES on 1 by August 4th!!

07/11/2026

Morning at Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Overnight at Lake of the Ozarks State Park.

The YES on 1 Freedom Camper is out today, handing yard signs and bumper stickers to Missouri state park campers, the folks who already know exactly what Amendment 1 protects.

If you're at Lake of the Ozarks State Park today or tomorrow, stop by and say hi. Grab a sign for the yard. Grab a sticker for the truck. Meet the crew.

Renew Amendment 1. Vote YES on August 4.

07/04/2026

America is 250 years old today.

Missouri’s part of that story is still standing in the state parks and historic sites we’ve preserved for every generation.

The Civil War battlefields at Wilson’s Creek, Lexington, Pilot K**b, and Athens. The birthplaces of Mark Twain and Harry Truman. The homes of Nathan and Olive Boone, sons and daughters of the frontier that built this state. The stone shelters the Civilian Conservation Corps built during the Great Depression, still open, still free, still ours.

None of that is preserved by accident. Missouri chose it. In 1984, Missouri voters passed a 1/10 of 1% sales tax to fund state parks and soil and water conservation. They’ve renewed it four times since. Every renewal, another generation gets to walk into these places and touch the American story where it happened.

Amendment 1 is renewal #5. It’s on the ballot August 4.

Happy 250th birthday, America. Happy renewal, Missouri.

Vote YES on Amendment 1 — August 4th.

07/02/2026

Clean Water: every county. All 114 of them.

Whether you get your water from the Missouri River in Kansas City, the Meramec near St. Louis, the White River in the Ozarks, or a rural water district drawing from a farm-country reservoir, you're downstream of Amendment 1.

Every Missouri county has a locally elected Soil & Water Conservation District. Every district cost-shares with farmers on the practices that keep soil, nutrients, and sediment out of the streams that feed your tap. That's the whole system. Missourian farmers doing voluntary conservation, funded in part by a 1/10 of 1% sales tax voters approved in 1984 and have renewed five times.

Renewal #5 is on the ballot August 4th.
About $20 a year per Missourian.

Vote YES on Amendment 1.

06/30/2026

8 million acres.

That's how much Missouri farmland has been touched by a conservation practice cost-shared through Amendment 1 since 1984.

To put it in Missouri terms: that's almost a third of the working farmland in this state.

Cover crops on 8 million acres. Contour terraces on 8 million acres. Grass waterways across 8 million acres. Livestock ponds, no-till plots, nutrient management, riparian buffers. All voluntary. All cost-shared with the farmer. All decided locally by your county Soil & Water Conservation District, five supervisors, elected by other farmers.

40 years of locally led conservation. Funded by a 1/10 of 1% sales tax Missourians have approved five times.

The programs next renewal is on the ballot August 4th.

Vote YES on Amendment 1.

06/29/2026

Are you the kind of Missourian who spends weekends at Bennett Spring, hiking Ha Ha Tonka, swimming at Echo Bluff?

Or are you the kind whose family farm has cost-shared a terrace, a grass waterway, or a livestock pond through your county Soil & Water District?

Amendment 1 is what funds both and has for 42 years.

Half of a 1/10 of 1% state sales tax goes to 93 free state parks. Half goes to soil and water conservation in all 114 Missouri counties. One program. One tax. Renewed five times since 1984.

About $20 a year per Missourian. Renew Missouri State Parks, Soil and Water sales tax.

Vote YES on Amendment 1 - August 4th.