All Outdoors, October 10, 1999

1. New book means happy trails to you
2. FWS to meet with public in Kansas City on snow geese
3. Wildlife funding bleak, according to survey of 50 states
4. Call Oct. 5 for results of waterfowl reservation drawing
5. Missouri hunters should be successful with fall turkeys
6. Outdoor Calendar

Available via Internet at: http://www.mdc.mo.gov/news/out

"The earth spins and tilts, the seasons tumble, and the single small creature the woodcock, the duck, the grouse, the dog, the human emerges and fades in a great placid cycling of God. How shall I fear dying, when I see my reflection in a dying woodcock's eye? How shall I quake at the void, when I myself become the woodcock, become the worms he has eaten, become the earth of the worms?" Charles Fergus, "A Rough-Shooting Dog"

1. New book means happy trails to you

Here's the key that unlocks hiking and backpacking fun in Missouri.

JEFFERSON CITY--A new Missouri Department of Conservation guidebook can put you hot on the trail to outdoor adventures. "Conservation Trails, A Guide to Missouri Department of Conservation Hiking Trails" will direct you to and through 86 trails on conservation areas across the state.

The guidebook can help hikers plan outings that best fit their skill levels. Featured trails range from .2 to 18 miles, from level paved paths to rugged, rocky trails and from foot-traffic-only paths to trails where biking and horseback riding are permitted. User-friendly maps accompany each trail description.

Descriptions of the 40 sites with highlighted trails let you pick trips based on scenery as well as facilities. The guidebook lists the plants and wildlife you may encounter and scenic points of interest along the trails.

The hiking guide offers everything you need for an enjoyable excursion. It gives directions to the trails, an overview of regulations at each and information about facilities and recreational opportunities.

Other features of the guidebook include helpful tips on hiking etiquette, recommendations on hiking gear and blank pages for jotting down trail notes.

To order "Conservation Trails, A Guide to Missouri Department of Conservation Hiking Trails" send $4 plus $2 shipping and handling to: Nature Shop, Missouri Department of Conservation, PO Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180. Missouri residents should add 25 cents sales tax. The guidebook also is available for purchase at conservation service centers statewide and conservation nature centers in Jefferson City, Kansas City, Springfield and St. Louis.

- Arleasha Mays -

2. Feds to meet with public in Kansas City on snow geese

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants public comments on how to deal with environmental problems caused by burgeoning snow goose numbers.

KANSAS CITY--The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will hold a public meeting Oct. 14 in Kansas City to take public comments on the scope of an environmental impact study evaluating possible solutions to environmental damage being caused by North America's burgeoning snow goose population.

The meeting will take place from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Sports Complex, 4011 Blue Ridge Cutoff. It is one of nine such meetings nationwide in September and October. The meetings allow FWS officials to explain proposed management options to be evaluated in the EIS and to gather public comments on those options or other potential remedies proposed by the public.

"These meetings offer members of the public a chance to shape the direction of our efforts, and to propose their own potential solutions as we attempt to halt the spreading destruction of arctic breeding habitat caused by increasing white goose populations," said acting FWS director John Rogers. "We encourage everyone, whether they attend a meeting or not, to comment on the scope of this important issue."

The Service has identified a series of potential responses to population increases of white geese, a term that encompasses both greater and lesser snow geese and Ross' geese. The effects of each of these responses will be evaluated in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The responses are based on public comments received for an Environmental Assessment of the problem completed in 1998. The final set of alternatives to be analyzed in the EIS will be determined based on comments received during the public scoping process that began May 13 with a Federal Register notice of intent to prepare an EIS.

Among the alternatives being considered are the creation of a conservation order and the legalization of additional hunting methods,such as electronic calls, unplugged shotguns and expanded shooting hours. The Service will also consider the effects of taking no action.

The EIS will also evaluate a management alternative that includes direct population control strategies on the birds' wintering grounds and migration routes in the U.S., including trapping and culling programs. While the Service does not have the authority to implement direct population control measures on the breeding grounds in Canada, it proposes to evaluate those measures in consultation with Canadian wildlife officials. Additional management alternatives may be identified by the scoping process.

Increasing agricultural and refuge development along waterfowl flyways through the Midwest and South is thought to have provided ample forage for geese during their yearly migrations. As a result, adult mortality rates for snow and Ross' geese have fallen steadily over the past three decades, triggering explosive population growth. The Service is also concerned about the rapid growth of the greater snow geese population, and proposes to stabilize that population at about 1 million birds.

Annual winter population counts of mid-continent lesser snow and Ross' geese estimate that the combined population has more than tripled in the past 30 years, from just more than 800,000 birds in 1969 to approximately 2.8 million birds today. Scientists believe the actual spring breeding population may be at least 4.5 million birds. The spring population of greater snow geese has expanded from less than 50,000 birds in the late 1960s to approximately 700,000 today. With a growth rate of approximately 9 percent per year, the population is expected to reach 1 million by 2002 and 2 million by 2010.

The fragile Canadian Arctic, with its short growing season, cannot support populations of that size. For example, the birds have denuded large areas of the breeding grounds around Hudson Bay of all vegetation through overgrazing, a situation that scientists believe may also be contributing to the decline of other, less numerous migratory bird species that share the breeding grounds and winter in the United States.

The FWS welcomes public comment on the scope of the EIS and will accept oral and written comments at the scoping meetings. Written comments may also be submitted by November 22, 1999, addressed to the Chief, Office of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, 4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 634, Arlington, VA 22203.

For further information, call the Office of Migratory Bird Management, (703) 358-1714. You can submit comments electronically until Nov. 22, 1999, to <white_goose_eis@fws.gov>.

- Jim Low -

3. Wildlife funding bleak, according to survey of 50 states

Federal funds originally set aside to benefit outdoor recreational resources have been commandeered for a host of unrelated uses.

JEFFERSON CITY--States lack the funding necessary to conserve most of our nation's wildlife species. That's the conclusion of a new survey conducted by the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (IAFWA). The report presents state-by-state funding information and comparisons.

The report released today, "State Wildlife Diversity Program Funding: a 1998 Survey," found that program funding for species not hunted or fished totaled $134.9 million nationwide in 1998, far short of the $1 billion needed, according to IAFWA estimates. An estimated 2000 species or 90% of the nation's fish and wildlife fall into this category.

"Every state fish and wildlife agency faces tremendous challenges trying to conserve a diverse array of wildlife, plus provide for recreation and education all on a shoestring budget," said Max Peterson, IAFWA executive vice president. User fees paid by sportsmen and women primarily finance state wildlife agencies, thus these funds are mostly used for conservation of game species and are not sufficient to address the needs of all species.

Fourteen states had less than $500,000 available annually. Twenty-eight states spent less than $1 million. Only nine states had $2 million or more to conserve hundreds of fish and wildlife species. The consequences of inadequate funding are strikingmore than 1000 species currently are listed under the Endangered Species Act with hundreds more in the pipeline. Adequate and reliable funding would help states reverse this trend and prevent species from becoming endangered.

Many agencies have worked to find alternative funding sources at the state level, the report concluded. Other funding sources detailed in the report include state sales taxes, state lotteries, trust funds, interest income, private donations and money from merchandise sales. However, one of the main alternative funding sources, state income tax checkoffs, has continued a downward slide since 1992. Even though 35 states have checkoffs for wildlife funding, they raised just 6 percent of wildlife diversity budgets.

Overall, less than 15 percent of state fish and wildlife funding is targeted at the conservation of 90 percent of our nation's fish and wildlife species. "State agencies have scarcely enough funding for game species conservation," Peterson said. "However, dedicated funding sources make a tremendous difference for those programs derived primarily from hunting and fishing licenses and from excise taxes paid by hunters and anglers. We believe it is time to infuse fish and wildlife agencies with the additional reliable funding they need to repeat the success stories of the past for all species."

"Congress is considering legislation that promises to go a long way toward remedying the funding shortage before more species become endangered," Peterson said. The Conservation and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 701/S.25) contains funding for state wildlife diversity under their Title III sections.

For more information and copies of the report, call the IAFWA at (202) 624-7890, or visit IAFWA's web site <http://www.sso.org/iafwa>.

- Jim Low -

4. Call Oct. 5 for results of waterfowl reservation drawing

Call toll-free to learn if you got a reservation for a waterfowl hunting blind.

JEFFERSON CITY--Starting Oct. 5, hunters who registered for waterfowl blind drawing can call the Missouri Department of Conservation's toll-free waterfowl blind reservation hot line to learn if their names were drawn.

The Conservation Department accepted applications from Sept. 7 through Sept. 26 for drawings for waterfowl blinds. Hunters were allowed to apply for as many as three areas.

After the drawing Oct. 4, hunters who applied for blind reservations can call (800) 829-2956 to learn the outcome of the drawing. All they need is a touch-tone phone and their Conservation ID number.

Reservations will be issued for half the hunting opportunities at each of 14 managed wetland areas. The remaining hunting slots will be allocated to hunters without reservations on a walk-in basis. Each day, reservation holders and walk-in hunters will take part in early-morning drawings to determine where on the area they hunt.

- Jim Low -

5. Missouri hunters should be successful with fall turkeys

There are plenty of turkeys on hand for hunters headed into the woods.

JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri's 1999 fall turkey season will rival last year's two-week hunting season when scattergunners harvested more than 15,000 birds. An early leaf-drop caused by drought should make turkeys easier to see in the woods, but it will also demand that hunters make the most of camouflage and keep movements on their stand to a minimum.

The fall wild turkey season opens Oct. 11 and runs through Oct. 24. The season limit is two birds of either sex. Only one turkey may be taken the first week, and only one per day during the remainder of the season. Children hunting on a Youth Deer and Turkey Hunting Permit may take only one turkey during the season.
The Conservation Department conducts a turkey brood survey each summer. The survey consists of observations of how many poults are seen with hens. "This year's survey showed an average number of young birds," says Mike Hubbard, a wildlife research biologist with the Conservation Department. "Average looks good when you consider the large numbers of wild turkeys Missouri has," Hubbard adds.

Researchers through the summer check on the nesting success of radio-tagged hen turkeys. At the Peck Ranch Conservation Area in the south-central Ozarks, of the hens that initiated a nest, 32 percent successfully hatched poults, while hens at a different site had a nest success of only about 12 percent. "Thirty to 40 percent is average across most of the turkey's range," Hubbard says. Even the low area had good survival of radio-tagged hens, though.

Juvenile turkeys make up a significant part of the fall bag. Last year 60 percent of the fall harvest was young-of-the-year birds. "This year should be similar," Hubbard adds. "The number of hunters is variable from year to year, but if we have a similar number of hunters, we should have a kill equal to or a little larger than last year."

We should have a tremendous crop of two-year-old birds come spring 2000," Hubbard says. "We had good production last year, so we should have good carry-over and real good numbers of birds out there this fall for anybody who chooses to get out and chase them. There should be a fair number of young birds, too."

- Jim Auckley -