Archive for the ‘Conservation’ Category

Teaming With Wildlife Act Has South Dakota In Mind

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

PIERRE, S.D. – Thanks to the state’s Congressional representation, South Dakota’s wildlife and natural habitat could have a banner year.

The Teaming with Wildlife Act, introduced by U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson and co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Thune, would provide $350 million annually over five years to help states carry out their Wildlife Action Plans. The comprehensive plans are the primary conservation tools adopted in every state and U.S. territory to keep fish and wildlife healthy and off the list of threatened and endangered species.

The Teaming with Wildlife Act is funded by a portion of  royalties collected from Outer Continental Shelf drilling and mineral development on federal lands.

South Dakota would be eligible to receive $3.4 million each year from the Act for five years.

Sen. Johnson was honored by the Teaming with Wildlife Coalition and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies for championing federal funding for state-based wildlife conservation as part of the Teaming with Wildlife Act, which was introduced in March 2009.

The award recognizes the senator’s leadership in supporting legislation to establish a first-of-its-kind funding program to help state fish and wildlife agencies advance their State Wildlife Action Plans into on-the-ground action to prevent at-risk wildlife from becoming endangered nationwide.

“I am honored to receive this award from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies,” Johnson said. “South Dakota has a deep history of appreciation for the outdoors, and that’s why I introduced important legislation that will help preserve our wildlife.”

“We are fortunate to have a very supportive congressional representation when it comes to healthy wildlife and suitable habitat,” said GFP Wildlife Diversity Coordinator Eileen Dowd Stukel.  “We are the only state to have both of our senators signed onto the Act.  Working with the cooperation of Governor Mike Rounds, and Senators Johnson and Thune, our staff is very pleased with the Teaming with Wildlife Act and the benefits it will provide South Dakota’s wildlife.”

Stukel noted that South Dakota’s Teaming with Wildlife coalition includes 179 groups and businesses, representing several hundred thousand South Dakotans. There is no charge to join the coalition. Members simply go on record in support of the need to ensure responsible management of wildlife and natural habitat in South Dakota and the nation.

People may join by visiting South Dakota’s Teaming with Wildlife Web site at: http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/Diversity/teaming.htm

To lean more about Teaming with Wildlife and State Wildlife Action Plans, visit www.teaming.com and www.wildlifeactionplans.org

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Is Hunting A Sport?

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

I came across this post from Rich Fletcher’s Blog while following some hunting tweeps on Twitter and it really made me take a step back and think how I feel about the activity that I love to pursue.

As I read Rich’s article, I thought about my own hunting experiences and how my competitive drive while hunting South Dakota pheasants or stalking whitetails is really no different when I am in the field than when I am on the golf course or playing a pick-up game of B-ball.  No matter what the  location be it field, green or court, I gauge my overall abilities by the group I am with.

This natural desire to seek success leaves me unsure on my feeling with Rich’s  article below: On one hand, I do see hunting as a sport, where guys like me seek out the competition just as we do in many of the activities we do -  thus “Sport” is a broad term. On the other hand, I despise those that simply go out for the kill with reckless abandon flinging bullets or arrows in the hopes on landing a shot that kills their target.

In any sport, practice is what sets apart the good from the bad – hunting is no different. Take time to practice your craft to ensure that what you enjoy today is available for generations to come.


Re-Posted from Rich Fletcher’s blog: Observations of a land owning hunter - 7.25.2009

After playing baseball for 25 years I can remember my days in the sun ‑ both of them.

Some high points come to mind… stealing a base and knocking in the game winning run a couple times, but unfortunately there were many more times when I missed fat pitches that came “right down the pipe.”

As a kid, baseball was very important to me. It was one of the ways I defined myself. In sports, athlete’s go for it. They swing for the fence, sometimes connecting and often failing. But in hunting, “going for it” often has unintended consequences.

My first year of deer hunting took place in 1971. I unleashed a rain of arrows on the deer of Lassen County. I finally killed the twelfth buck I shot at. It was not an efficient event, nor was my conduct a standard to follow. I wasn’t thinking about those things. I just wanted to kill a buck. I thought hunting was a sport. Amazingly, I didn’t wound any animals before I finally killed my buck.

A few years later, while hunting in Oregon’s Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, I shot at a forked horn mule deer. The arrow was on line but fell low, hitting the buck in his left front leg. The sight of him stotting off on three legs with his front leg dangling by a tendon comes to mind.

As vividly as a recall the thrill of my first buck, I also recall my anguish of wounding that forked horn. We have limited ability to control the course of events in the physical world. Going five for five or hitting a home is a great thrill for a baseball player, and killing a nice buck is just as thrilling for the hunter, but once one has wounded an animal the difference between these activities is made much clearer.

Unlike baseball, my archery hunting carries on. I’ll never go five for five again, but I may take a great mule buck with wide antlers. Maybe it will happen this year. I’ll never go back and analyze my swing to figure out why I couldn’t hit more balls over the fence, but I can improve my shooting technique and self control. I can care for my equipment and tune my bow. I can practice to become the best archer I can be.

My archery career is still in full bloom. I can become a better archer and a better hunter, but I must spend time evaluating what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.

A friend of mine recently discovered his grandfather’s bow, a hand crafted Osage orange wooden long bow. He was excited by the find and committed himself to hunting with it. He has sought out advice from professionals and is preparing to hunt with the primitive weapon. I hope it will be a satisfying hunt for him.

There was a time when I made a similar choice. About 20 years ago, I purchased a long bow and vowed that I would hunt mule deer with it. I remember my first stalk. I came around a large boulder on a Nevada mountain within 15 yards of a modest three‑point buck with pitch‑black, velvet antlers. I drew and released. The arrow sailed several feet over his back as he walked off. I have never felt as defeated as I did at that moment. I had no chance. At fifteen yards, the buck might as well have been 100.

I wasn’t prepared to wait for the ten yard shot, so I hung the primitive bow up, realizing I would never acquire the skill necessary for effective big game hunting with a long bow. If hunting were just a sport, there would have been no reason to give up on the primitive bow.  But,  hunting is not a sport.

You can treat hunting like a sport, but if you do so long enough, you’ll probably agree with me that hunting is a unique activity which has great merit, very personal results and is best practiced with a high level of individual integrity.

That’s why it’s so worthwhile.

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South Dakota Wetlands Reserve Program deadline May 1st.

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

An additional call for applications has been issued for the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 funding. May 1, 2009, will be the deadline by which a landowner must sign an application at their local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office, according to Sara Thompson, WRP program coordinator, NRCS, Huron.

“Any landowner in South Dakota can apply for the WRP,” said Thompson. “Applications for WRP are accepted on a continual basis, however, if landowners want to be considered in FY2009, they need to have their applications complete by May 1. Easement payments are based on an established rate and the FY2009 easement payments are the highest per acre to date.”

Administered by the NRCS, the WRP provides eligible landowners the technical and financial assistance they need to address wetland, wildlife habitat, soil, water, and related natural resource concerns. It is a voluntary program offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property through a 30-year or permanent easement, or a restoration cost-share agreement. Marginal cropland and pasture with eligible wetlands are typically what landowners enroll into WRP. Eligible wetlands include farmed or prior converted wetlands, or new this year, land flooded by a closed basin or lake is eligible.

“The majority of the more than 30,000 acres enrolled in WRP in South Dakota are found in the prairie pothole region of the eastern half of the state,” said Thompson. The term “pothole” is due to their “pothole” appearance when viewing the region from a landscape perspective. These wetlands provide critical habitat for migratory waterfowl throughout their breeding, nesting, and brood rearing cycles, as well as many other species. Resident species such as deer and pheasants utilize wetlands for winter cover.”

For more information about WRP in South Dakota, please contact your local NRCS office or Sara Thompson at (605) 352-1281. For more information about technical assistance and conservation programs go to http://www.sd.nrcs.usda.gov

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Tony Dean’s conservation dream for South Dakota

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

Imagine a plot of land 1,000 acres large in South Dakota, teeming with pheasants, home to deer and frequented in autumn by hunters.

But not just any hunters.

Hunters who have little money to pay landowners hundreds of dollars a day for access. Hunters who have kids who need a place to seek out their first ringneck. Hunters who take the time to read the memorial plaque near the area’s parking lot.

Tony Dean the sign would say. Conservationist.

Darlene (Dar) Dean can imagine such a place. The widow of the late Tony Dean, outdoor television host, radio guy, writer — conservationist –who died last fall at age 67, Dar is in town at the Northwest Sportshow, helping to market the many outdoor wonders of South Dakota.

But if you ask, she’ll also tell you about the land acquisition effort undertaken by scores of conservationists in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota to remember her husband.

“We hope to find a thousand acres to buy in Tony’s memory with diverse habitats — some water, some woodlands and some prairie,” she said.

Tony Dean was a native North Dakotan, and in some ways not made for TV. He wasn’t movie star handsome and wasn’t given to jumping up and down in a boat when he hooked a fish.

Plain-spoken, Tony, starring in his “Tony Dean Outdoors” show, seemed more the country boy — and a friendly one. Knowledgeable about fish and game, he nevertheless was content to let his outdoor broadcasts unfold without pretense. He didn’t want to show off, and bragging wasn’t his style.

“Country boy” might in fact say it best.

Except that this particular North Dakota native removed to South Dakota by way of Iowa suffered fools not one iota when issues of natural-resource conservation arose.

Drain a wetland and Tony got his back up in a hurry.

Plow a native prairie and he’d be on your case in a heartbeat.

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