Missouri Revised Statutes Title XI. Education and Libraries § 174.753. Director of the arboretum, appointment--powers and duties--director to be only employee of state

(1) Acquire, archive, process, and disseminate information on horticultural and botanical resources that are or could be of value to the governor, members of the general assembly, and other policy- and decision-makers in this state;

(2) Act as a representative of the state in horticultural matters as pertains to agriculture, both within and outside the state when necessary or appropriate, or when requested to do so by a proper authority, which shall include the legislative and executive branches of this state;

(3) Conduct interpretative programs, investigations, and research pertaining to horticulture and botanical resources, including, but not limited to, native woody plant and certain herbaceous plant species distribution in this state, their relationships to each other and certain faunae and their environment as it pertains to agriculture and horticulture;

(4) Maintain plant inventories on or near the Northwest Missouri State University campus in natural or contrived ecosystems;

(5) Establish a depository for preservation of live, native, and adaptive plant germ plasm, and the arboretum may act as a distribution source of such germ plasm for cooperating affiliated arboretums involved in plant evaluation, teaching and research programs;

(6) Maintain, as part of the statewide arboretum plant collections, plants which are representative of but not necessarily restricted to the flora and plant communities of Missouri, which among other benefits will support research and investigative programs;

(7) Contract with private entities or state agencies to assist in training of students and the citizenry with respect to native and introduced woody and herbaceous plant materials and their importance to Missouri. In connection therewith, the director may establish a graduate level internship program;

(8) The director shall be the only state employee of the Missouri arboretum.