MARCH 2008 NATURAL RESOURCES
COMMISSION (NRC) MEETING
The Conservation Stewards Program was reviewed. This is an adult education and volunteerism
program that provides 40 hours of natural resource instruction and requires 40
hours of volunteer service. The program
is new and has been met with success.
State-wide expansion is planned.
The “No Child Left Inside” program will be putting on events all over the
state in April. The program is designed to expose youngsters
to the natural resources of our state. I
don’t have to tell you about the importance of this effort. However, there was one chart that really sent
the message home. Thanks to Ray Rustem
of the DNR, the chart displayed a quote by Baba Dioum, a Central Africa
Naturalist, “For in the end, we will
conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we
understand only what we are taught.”
The State Forest Management Plan was brought up for information. The loggers requested clarification of some
areas of the plan. On the whole the plan
was considered complete and comprehensive.
The plan calls for the taking of an inventory of the trees, by
type. I mentioned that the DNR has
something less than a high acceptability of their counting methods. I also asked for an explanation of how an
inventory is taken. I’ll let you know
about that some time.
The discussion on wildlife regulations and quotas was interspersed with
questions on the allowed take by the Indians as a result of the recent consent
agreement. Indians are allowed to take a
percent of the total desired harvest.
This percent is pretty low and is established by species. One point; the Tribes can issue as many
licenses as they want but cannot exceed their allowed take. How that is enforced and what the working relationship
between our CO’s and Tribe law enforcement is yet to be determined.
The pheasant regulations were unchanged except for expanding the hunting
area in the U.P.
The proposed Elk seasons for this year are: Period #1; Unit L, August
26-29 & September 12-16, 100 permits with 35 any elk. Period #2; Units A-E, December 9-16, 220
permits in total with 75 any elk.
Optional Period #3; permit quantity and units to be determined by the
Director. The hunt hours were changed to
be the same as the hunting hours for other species – ˝ hour before sunrise to ˝
hour after sunset.
13,000 bear permits will be issued, disbursed by hunt and area so as to
meet population goals. The trends in the
U.P. show an increasing population with the plan being to stabilize or allow a
slight increase. The
trends in the Lower show a stabilized to lessening population with the plan
being to decrease the population.
Avitrol is a pesticide used to remove avian pests. The major use is in pigeon control. There is a fear that the pesticide will be
transmitted to raptors. A new regulation
was introduced which will require permitting wherever the chemical is used
outside of buildings. Currently no
permit is required on private property.
Pigeons are most prevelant in the cities where the manmade cliffs
attract raptors.
Quality Deer Management regulations were extended for Leelanau
County. A group from that area was in
with lots of pictures to show the results.
The nice thing was that they made no attempt to sell QDM. There is concern about a number of proposed harvest
and antler restrictions being pushed by various hunting groups. The latest deer hunter survey shows a desire
for more deer, more bucks and bigger bucks.
Standard fair for deer hunters. The survey included factors influencing
hunter enjoyment; Time outdoors, time with family and friends and the
excitement of seeing deer ranked highest.
Over half the hunters ranked the last three deer seasons as very good or
good. When you include “fair” the
percent goes up to 75. Although half the
hunters supported additional restrictions on buck harvest, 70% want the
existing rules to remain unchanged. A
couple of months ago our membership expressed the same opinion.
There was a jump in the number of deer testing positive for TB in
2006. That dropped back in 2007 but was
greater than 2005 and about the same as 2004.
There is still a lot of concern about eliminating the number of positive
hits. Baiting/feeding is the main avenue
for spreading the disease.
The Wolf Management Plan was discussed.
The draft plan outlined four principal goals: Maintain a viable Michigan
wolf population above a level that would warrant its classification as
threatened or endangered, Facilitate wolf related benefits, Minimize wolf
related conflicts, and, Conduct science-based wolf management with socially
acceptable methods. There is nothing I
could see about population control. When
I asked about that I was told the committee who came up with the draft could
not agree on control methods. If the
plan does not have this in it , how can the wolf be
legislated as a game animal. If it’s not
a game animal, why am I paying for it?
Where is the return. The plan was to have 200 wolves in the upper
portion of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
We have about three times that many in Michigan alone. I would like to see the population trends for
deer, moose and wolves to see if there is a correlation that, at least
partially, explains the decrease in the U.P. deer population. A decrease that cannot be explained
by weather. There is a Senate
bill which will allow anybody to dispatch a wolf if it is attacking a person’s
dog. I can see the U.P. folks buying a
lot of dogs.
Speaking of legislature, there are two House bills in the works that
declare 60 and 69 year olds as disabled.
HB 5640 will allow 60 year olds or disabled persons to ride ORV’s
anywhere on the state lands at any time.
HB 5741 will allow 69 year olds and disabled persons to use a cross
bow. Age is not a sign of
disability. If it were we would have to
consider the 10 to 14 year olds who cannot pull a bow any better than the
oldsters.
The Finance Committee reviewed the status of the budget and the various
funds. Detail is available on the DNR
web site.
Then came a bevy of public appearances. Their concerns were as follows:
- 3 people thanked the NRC for extending QDM in Leelanau County.
- 7 people opposed mandatory QDM.
- 4 people favored the Avitrol regulation.
- 1 person complained about the $10 million problem.
- 1 person wanted Parks and Recreation to be more transparent – sometimes
I get lost in the conversation.
- 3 suggested improvements to or had questions about the proposed State
Forest Management Plan.
- 1 didn’t like the Kennecott decision.
- 8 farmers had concerns about TB and thought there are too many deer.
- 5 wanted to ban baiting.
- 2 wanted to expand the pike spearing season.
- 1 wanted to liberalize the cross bow regulations.
- 1 complained about being abused by two CO’s – didn’t say why he
attracted their attention.
- 1 said the deer, elk and moose were destroying the forests – didn’t say
where.
- 1 trail rider (horses) complained about being denied access, in the
Pigeon, where they had done a lot of work.
- 1 had problems with the bear hunting participant’s license.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jim De Clerck