Pioneer Forest is located in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks. Forests here are dominated by oak, hickory and pine. Here, our conservative uneven-aged forest management method, known as single-tree selection harvesting, has been used for more than half a century. Our decades long use and research of this successful method strongly indicate it as a truly sustainable forest management practice. Leo Drey began acquisition of the lands that are now Pioneer Forest in March 1951. When National Distillers, a private company with lands located in the Ozarks, decided to liquidate its holdings in 1954, it sold approximately 90,000 acres of land to Leo Drey, who continued to purchase other forestland in the Ozarks for Pioneer Forest. For more than half a century, Pioneer Forest has restored more than 153,000 acres of Ozark woodlands across six Missouri counties through conservative, natural forest management.
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.