March 2002
Monster paddlefish sets state record
Thursday, March 28, 2002
KIMBERLING CITY, Mo.---Some anglers fish a lifetime and never catch a record fish. Then there are anglers like Wayne Russell of De Soto who, on his first paddlefishing trip, snagged the largest spoonbill ever taken from Missouri waters.
On the second day of season, March 16, the 56-year old retiree hauled in a 139-pound, 4-ounce paddlefish from Table Rock Lake. The fish measured 57.5 inches from the eye to the fork of the tail and was 42.5 inches in girth. The previous record, a paddlefish weighing 134 pounds, 12- ounces, came from the Lake of the Ozarks in 1998.
Russell fought a tough half-hour long battle to bring in the behemoth. He says the battle left him a little sore, but very happy.
"When I hooked it I thought I was hung up on a log," said Russell. "Then it turned the boat and headed off. After that it was like a tug-of-war where I tried to pull him in and he tried to pull away."
Russell finally got the fish close enough to use a gaff hook and tie it to the boat. "I couldn't have caught the fish without the help of my two brothers-in-law," said Russell. "Jim Skiles introduced me to the sport and Paul Pruitt kept the boat straight in the water so I wouldn't lose the fish."
Although they are among the largest fish found in Missouri, paddlefish feed by straining tiny plants and animals from the water. The feeding method makes them next to impossible to catch with bait. Instead, anglers pursue them by jerking lines with big, three-pointed hooks through the water and snagging the behemoths.
The only time paddlefish gather in sufficient numbers to make this method of fishing practical is in the spring. Driven by the urge to spawn, the big fish swim upstream. Dams stop them below Lake of the Ozarks and Truman Lake. At Table Rock Lake, they swim up the James River and Flat Creek in the Cape Fair area. These seasonal concentrations create terrific fishing opportunities for anglers who are hardy enough to brave sometimes frightful weather and muscle huge fish out of the swirling water.
Paddlefish snagging season continues through April 30. The daily limit is two. In most waters, paddlefish must be released immediately if they measure less than 24 inches from eye to fork of tail.
The minimum length limit is 34 inches on Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake and Truman Lake and their tributaries. The Osage River between Bagnell Dam and the U.S. Highway 54 bridge is closed to snagging, snaring and grabbing from March 15 through April 30.
Also, you must stop snagging, snaring or grabbing for any species of fish after taking a daily limit of two paddlefish on Truman Lake and Lake of the Ozarks and their tributaries and on the Osage River below Highway 54.
Full details of paddlefish regulations are listed in the 2002 Summary of Fishing Regulations, which is available free wherever fishing permits are sold.
Since lakes now cover virtually all the paddlefish(s historic spawning areas, the state(s paddlefish population is sustained by stocking fish spawned in captivity. The Conservation Department stocks approximately 25,000 paddlefish annually.
- Arleasha Mays -
Design for Conservation has cost small change but yielded big changes in wildlife management
Thursday, March 28, 2002
JEFFERSON CITY---Questions: Why do Missourians have more than 700 state-owned public areas for hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, camping, birdwatching and nature study while most other eastern states have only a fraction as many? Why do private landowners in Missouri have access to a wide array of locally-administered wildlife assistance programs? Why are deer, turkey, Canada goose and other wildlife populations robust in the Show-Me State? The answer to these questions lies in events set in motion in the general election of 1976.
That year, Missouri voters approved a one-eighth of 1 percent sales tax earmarked for the state's conservation program. When citizen conservation groups proposed the sales tax, the Missouri Department of Conservation devised a blueprint for using the money. Work on this Design for Conservation began in 1977, when the Conservation Department started receiving revenues from the sales tax.
Since that time, the Conservation Department's Wildlife Division has undergone extensive changes. Reorganization has pared away some functions that were part of the division in 1976. These include wildlife damage control, donations, federal aid liaison and administering managed hunts. Helping private landowners - an important function because 93 percent of the state's acreage is in private hands - now also is performed by a separate, new division created specifically for that purpose.
The number of workers directly involved in wildlife management has increased during the past 25 years, but the number of Wildlife Division employees in Jefferson City has been cut significantly. In 1976, the central office staff consisted of 12 wildlife professionals and five clerical workers. Today it comprises just six professionals and three clericals. The remaining 200 Wildlife Division employees work out of local offices at dozens of locations around the state.
"Our office staff is the smallest in the central office," says Wildlife Division Administrator Ollie Torgerson. "That's the way it should be. We have put more of our work force and decision making in field offices closer to where the resources are."
Just as copy machines, computers and e-mail have permitted central-office staff reductions, technological innovations like global positioning systems and all-terrain vehicles have dramatically improved the effectiveness of field workers. "Our folks in the field accomplish things now that we could only dream of 25 years ago," says Torgerson. "And as we continue to accumulate experience and knowledge, our management gets better and better. Every year wildlife management becomes more of a science and less of an art."
As an example, Torgerson points to sophisticated population models that biologists now use to determine how changes in deer or turkey hunting regulations will affect game populations. "Twenty-five years ago, we had to implement new regulations to learn how they would affect game populations," he says. "Today, computer technology coupled with our past experience take a lot of the guesswork out of management decisions."
Functions still performed by the Wildlife Division include conducting wildlife research and managing 372 conservation areas. These include more than 500,000 acres of wetland, upland and forest areas. Thousands of these acres are within an hour's drive of urban areas, putting quality outdoor experiences within easy reach of the majority of Missourians.
"This is land that will never be bulldozed for subdivisions or shopping malls," said Torgerson. "It's land where rabbits and songbirds, ducks and deer can rest, nest and thrive. For the average Missourian, who can't afford to buy his or her own piece of nature, conservation areas provide solitude and a chance to reconnect with the natural world. That's a priceless legacy of the Design for Conservation."
The effectiveness of Missouri's wildlife management program under the Design for Conservation is evident in game harvest figures. In 1977, firearms hunters bagged 36,562 deer. That figure increased steadily over the following quarter century, topping 229,000 last season. Similarly, the state's spring turkey harvest has increased from 7,853 in 1976 to more than 57,800 in 2001.
But Missouri's wildlife management progress is not measured only by game taken. It also is apparent in the tens of thousands of giant Canada geese that now populate lakes and ponds from corporate campuses in Kansas City and St. Louis to remote farm ponds. Most other waterfowl also have rebounded from historic lows, due in part to the Conservation Department's role in the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.
Bald eagles, ospreys, peregrine falcons and otters no longer are rarities in Missouri, thanks to restoration programs supported by money from the conservation sales tax.
Rather than resting on its successes, the Conservation Department continues to look for ways to improve its wildlife restoration and management programs. Torgerson says the entire philosophy underlying his division's activities has undergone a sea change in the past quarter century.
"We used to focus on single species," he says. "We would manage each conservation area as if it was an island, planting food plots and trying to provide habitat for quail or deer or turkey or whatever the target species was."
Today, he says, workers from all disciplines within the Conservation Department work together to develop broader management plans that recognize the interdependence of different species and areas. "We look at plant and animal communities on a landscape scale, trying to figure out where the weaknesses are," says Torgerson. "Then the different divisions - fisheries, natural history, forestry, protection, private land services and wildlife - work together to find ways to shore up those weak spots. If you focus too narrowly on quail, you lose other birds. If you focus only on streams, you neglect forests and uplands, and when those areas are abused your stream can't be healthy. It's a more integrated approach now."
Summing up what the one-eighth of 1 percent sales tax has meant for wildlife conservation, Torgerson says it comes down to having tools to do the job. Some of the tools are human. Having a top-notch agency enables the Conservation Department to attract and keep the most gifted wildlife professionals. Having a source of funding beyond hunting and fishing permit revenues allows those professionals to devote time and resources to nongame wildlife like bald eagles, pallid sturgeon, Indiana gray bats and collared lizards. It allows them to study cave life and prairie management, improving the agency's ability to maintain the state's ecological integrity.
"Aldo Leopold said that the first rule of intelligent tinkering was to save all the pieces," says Torgerson. "The kind of conservation program we have been able to build with sales tax money gives us a much better chance of being intelligent tinkerers. Whether they knew it consciously or not, Missouri voters in 1976 were voting to save all the pieces. Looking back on it, you realize the stunning and unprecedented wisdom of that decision. Missourians have invested small change and gotten big changes in return. It may be the best investment we as a state ever made."
- Jim Low -
(Editor's note: This is the first in a series of stories detailing the changes and progress achieved with money that Missourians have provided through the 1/8 of one percent sales tax for conservation. Future installments will deal with forests, fish, non-game and endangered wildlife, research and recreational opportunities funded as part of the Conservation Department's "Design for Conservation.")
Commission to meet April 29-30 at Presley Center
Thursday, March 28, 2002
JEFFERSON CITY---The Missouri Conservation Commission will meet April 29 and 30 at the Jerry J. Presley Education Center, Eminence.
Commission meetings are open to the public. Items to be placed on the agenda for presentations or other business should be sent in writing to: Director, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180; fax 573/751-4467. Requests must be received by April 15. People requiring special services or accommodations to attend the meeting can make arrangements at the same address, or by phone at 573/751-4115.
Commission officers are: Anita B. Gorman, Kansas City, chairman; Howard L. Wood, Bonne Terre, vice chairman, Stephen C. Bradford, Cape Girardeau, secretary, and Cynthia Metcalfe, St. Louis, member.
- Jim Low -
Conservation Department calls for river changes
Thursday, March 21, 2002
The Conservation Department's recommendations include a reduced summer flow, but not the "spring rise" that some interests support.
JEFFERSON CITY -- Citing the importance of farming as well as fish, wildlife and recreation, the Missouri Department of Conservation has asked for "a finer balance" in management of the Missouri River.
The Conservation Department's recommendations for river management are summarized in a recent letter commenting on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Missouri River Master Water Control Manual.
The Conservation Department letter recommends reducing the flow of the Missouri River to 41,000 cubic feet per second at Kansas City from Aug. 1 through Sept. 15 six out of every 10 years. The Conservation Department says this reduced flow would benefit fish, wildlife and recreation. At the same time, it says this level of flow is sufficient to keep barges moving up and down the river. Furthermore, said the Conservation Department's letter, increased flows after Sept. 15 could provide important benefits for navigation on the Mississippi River.
Some of the river management alternatives the Corps of Engineers is considering call for increased spring flows to mimic natural seasonal flows. In its comments, the Conservation Department noted that the Missouri River already experiences a spring rise in Missouri due to normal rises in tributary streams. The Conservation Department's letter, signed by Director Jerry Conley, said ". . .we caution that the effects of a periodic spring rise on Missouri's agricultural community must be a top priority in consideration of this important Master Manual issue. We want the agricultural community along the Missouri River to remain viable and profitable in the twenty-first century, and we believe this can be achieved within the context of careful river management decisions."
The Conservation Department's comments were based on information from the Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Research Council's recent report, "The Missouri River Ecosystem: Exploring the Prospects for Recovery."
The Conservation Department also based its recommendations on an analysis of river depths by its own staff. This analysis used Corps of Engineers data to create a three-dimensional computer model of the river that shows how the river would look with different water flows. This analysis suggests that some Corps of Engineers estimates of how much water is needed to sustain barge transportation on the river might not be accurate any longer.
In the past 100 years, the Corps of Engineers has used wood and rock structures to confine the Missouri River's flow to a much narrower channel than the original. Farther upstream, the Corps has built huge reservoirs that make it possible to hold vast amounts of water from spring rains and snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains.
These changes enable the Corps to reduce spring flooding and release water for sustained river flow throughout the dry months. However, the same changes have drastically reduced areas suitable for fish and wildlife. Straightening the river has shortened it by 127 miles between St. Louis and Sioux City, Iowa. For each mile of river length lost, wildlife experts estimate that one square mile of islands, oxbow lakes, sandbars, mud flats, and other wetlands and shallow water habitat have been lost. The Conservation Department estimates that only 2 to 5 percent of the river's historic shallow-water acreage remains today.
"The current Master Manual needs to be revised to strike a better balance between the many uses that the river sees today," said Conley. "The recreational potential of our namesake river is absolutely enormous and largely unfulfilled. We can come a lot closer to realizing that potential while maintaining or even enhancing benefits for agriculture, shipping and flood control. I'm very optimistic that the Missouri River will provide many more benefits tomorrow than it does today."
- Jim Low -
Prehistoric fish hang on in the Missouri River
Thursday, March 21, 2002
Human-wrought changes in the river haven't left much room for the pallid sturgeon, a fish that has been around since dinosaurs walked the earth.
CHAMOIS, Mo. -- "This is a real uncertain thing," said Fisheries Management Biologist Craig Gemming as he motored downstream from the Mokane boat ramp at 8 a.m. March 6. Nearby, in a backwater of the Missouri River, three fisheries workers were preparing to haul the first of five nets up from 30 feet beneath the surface of the Missouri River. AWe could find lots of fish, or there could be almost none."
As the 200- by 10-foot net emerged from the mocha-colored water it exposed a writhing, scaly jackpot, glittering like moist treasure in the early morning sun. The crew set to work gently extracting sturgeon, scaly, prehistoric-looking fish, from the square-meshed gill nets and depositing them in a holding tank. As the crew continued hauling in fish, Gemming and Fisheries Regional Supervisor Tim Grace began identifying and measuring each fish, recording species, length and weight on data sheets.
With the air temperature hovering near the 40-degree mark and the water a few degrees colder, this was numbing labor. Working in neoprene gloves, chest waders and rubber overalls helped ward off the chill. But what really warmed the crew was the anticipation of finding an endangered pallid or lake sturgeon among the scores of more common shovelnose sturgeon.
Gemming calls sturgeon "Missouri's aquatic dinosaurs." They evolved during the Jurassic Era, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. "It's a real shame that these fish that have thrived for 150 million years have come to the brink of extinction in the last 100 years," said Gemming.
As pallid sturgeon recovery plan coordinator for the Missouri Department of Conservation, it's Gemming's job to see what can be done to prevent the pallid sturgeon from losing its battle for survival. To do that, he has to have some handle on the species' numbers, and the only way to get that is to go out and find them.
Late winter isn't the most convenient time to look for pallid sturgeon. But according to Gemming it is the most effective time. March finds the cold-blooded creatures stacked like cordwood in deep scour holes behind rock wing dikes. The water is a few degrees warmer at the bottom of such holes than at the surface.
Rather than trying to count all the pallid sturgeon in Missouri -- which clearly isn't possible -- Gemming and other Conservation Department workers conduct an annual sturgeon survey. They set nets at the same time each year. The number of fish they catch can be affected by water level and other factors, but each annual survey provides a statistical snapshot of pallid sturgeon populations. Over time, the annual data reveal trends, up or down. So far, the trend isn't good.
"Since we began looking at pallid sturgeon numbers, we have seen a decreasing trend," Gemming said. "I'd say we see half as many now as we did 20 years ago."
Sturgeon monitoring isn't cheap. Gemming estimates the cost of the current 10-year program will be $175,000. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has shown a genuine interest in the effects of its activities on fish and wildlife, has put up about $10,000 of that cost.
In their most recent survey on the Missouri River in central Missouri, Gemming's crew netted 799 sturgeon. Of that total, 19 were lake sturgeon, two were pallid sturgeon, and one was a pallid/shovelnose sturgeon hybrid. The largest of the lake sturgeon weighed 25 pounds. The largest of the pallid sturgeon weighed 4 pounds. Pallid sturgeon can grow to 80 pounds. Few grow to larger than 10 pounds, however.
Gemming was pleased with the lake sturgeon catch. "In my previous four years of sampling, I have only taken 12 lake sturgeon," he said. "It's too early to say if this reflects an increase in the number of lake sturgeon present or if this was just a lucky year. Either way, though, it's nice to see."
Regarding the two lonely pallid sturgeon and a hybrid that turned up in this year's sample, Gemming was less positive. "They are still here, but they are hanging on by a thread. We need to do everything we can to help this species out."
Besides advocating changes in river management, the Conservation Department is stocking captive-reared pallid sturgeon to augment the existing wild population. In 1994 the agency released 10,000 16- to 18-inch pallid sturgeon spawned artificially at Blind Pony Hatchery near Marshall. It stocked another 3,000 in 1997.
One of the 1997 stockers, which were released in the Mississippi River near New Madrid, turned up on Valentine's Day 362 miles downstream, in a net at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Waterways Experiment Station near Greenville, Miss., Feb. 14. That fish had grown to nearly twice its release length and weighed 1.5 pounds. Workers recognized the fish because it wore an external tag placed by the Conservation Department.
Gemming said the stocking program is an important part of pallid sturgeon recovery efforts, but rearing the fish in captivity is tricky and doesn't yield large numbers of fish year after year.
Although surveys are picking up good numbers of shovelnose sturgeon on the Missouri River, the catch rate on the Mississippi River is significantly lower. He says that could be related to commercial harvest of the fish, both legal and illegal.
"Missouri's regulations are a little more conservative than some other states," says Gemming. "Some other states allow commercial anglers to take an unlimited number of shovelnose sturgeon of any size. Since the sturgeon population in the Caspian Sea crashed several years ago, there has been a tremendous demand for sturgeon roe for the caviar trade. With caviar selling for $275 for a 14-ounce tin, we are seeing a huge increase in the number of shovelnose sturgeon taken from the Mississippi River."
Gemming says the skyrocketing cost of caviar and the caviar trade could be part of the reason for this difference in shovelnose catch between the Missouri River and the Mississippi. "It's one of the primary reasons we started the monitoring project," he says."
The pallid and lake sturgeon's declines began with unregulated commercial fishing in the 18th century. At that time, lake sturgeon were quite common. The fish lived as long as 150 years, reaching weights of more than 300 pounds. Thousands were killed and discarded just to prevent damage to fishing nets. Their flesh was so oily that steamboats sometimes burned them in their boilers. Rendering plants processed them for oil and fertilizer. In the 19th century sturgeon came into favor for their flesh and for their eggs, or roe, which produced fair-quality caviar.
Today, the Conservation Department regulates commercial fishing. This makes it easier to prevent excessive harvesting of sturgeon. Current regulations allow commercial anglers to take only shovelnose sturgeon and only those less than 30 inches long. But sturgeon face other problems, and those same problems plague other fish and wildlife, too.
Gemming says that in the past 100 years, 28 percent of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers have been converted to reservoirs. On the Missouri River the change has taken place mainly in North and South Dakota, where enormous reservoirs now cover what once was hundreds of miles of prime sturgeon habitat. On the Mississippi River, locks and dams back up deep, narrow, lake-like corridors that are of little use to sturgeon, which are adapted to life in flowing water.
River channelization has taken a toll, too. Restricting the Missouri and Mississippi rivers to narrow, deep, swift-flowing channels for the benefit of barges has reduced the livable area of the rivers by half.
Finally, humans have altered the way the rivers' levels change seasonally. Under natural conditions, the Missouri and Mississippi would rise in the spring in response to rainfall and snowmelt. In the late summer and fall, their levels would drop drastically. These natural variations in flow produce a variety of habitats, from flooded bottomland to exposed sand bars and extensive areas of shallow, slow-flowing water. Today, however, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers holds water in reservoirs during the spring and releases it throughout the dry months. This keeps river flows high enough to sustain barge traffic, but it also reduces the natural diversity of habitats needed by sturgeon and other wildlife.
"Even with protection from well-designed fishing regulations, sturgeon face an uphill battle," says Gemming. "Most of the places where they once could spawn and find food have disappeared. It isn't easy to bring a species that has survived 150 million years to its knees, but channelizing and damming the Missouri River has done it."
Gemming says that while changes in river management would help the lake and pallid sturgeon, these aren't the only animals that have been hurt by changes to Missouri's big rivers. Furthermore, he says, they aren't the only ones that would benefit from changes that favored fish and wildlife.
"A more balanced approach to river management that enhances fish and wildlife would mean more fishing, hunting and nature viewing recreation," he said. "It would mean a more diverse, stable environment. There's no reason we can't have agriculture, commercial barge traffic and more abundant fish and wildlife, too."
Jim Low -
Conservation Department has grants for tree planters
Thursday, March 21, 2002
Program provides up to 60 percent of funds to improve community forests
JEFFERSON CITY -- Shade that blocks the searing heat of a summer day and leaves that help generate the air we breathe are among the wealth of reasons to care for your community forest. Get the funds to enhance or help start a community tree care project from the Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance II (T.R.I.M. II) program.
T.R.I.M. II is a cost-share tree care program administered by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Missouri Community Forest Council. The program provides reimbursement of $1,000 to $10,000 to assist government agencies, public schools and non-profit groups with the management, improvement or conservation of trees on public lands.
Projects eligible for T.R.I.M II grants include programs to inventory trees, remove or prune hazardous trees, and programs to train volunteers and city or county employees to best care for community forests.
Applicants for T.R.I.M II grants must submit a completed application form that details project costs, funding sources, maps and drawings of the project site, a three-year maintenance plan for the project and a letter of approval from the governmental body owning the proposed project site. The application deadline is May 1.
The grant selection process is competitive. A panel of judges assesses each proposal for its value to the community, thoroughness as a tree management program, ability to promote, improve and develop a community's urban forest and economic feasibility Grant recipients can receive up to 60 percent of the money needed for their projects. Projects located in communities with Tree City USA designations are eligible for an additional 15 percent in matching funds.
To receive a T.R.I.M II grant application and application workbook write to: Community Forestry Coordinator, Forestry Division, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180.
- Arleasha Mays -
Carl Noren leaves a conservation legacy
Thursday, March 14, 2002
In eight years as director, he helped put the agency on a stable financial footing and built programs that made Missouri a model for other states.
JEFFERSON CITY -- Transforming the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) from primarily a hunting and fishing agency to a national leader in wildlife and plant species protection, and a shining example of how to bring people and nature together is among the many accomplishments of Carl Noren.
Noren, who served as Conservation Department Director from 1967 to 1978, died March 2 at Boone Hospital Center in Columbia. He was 88.
For 39 years Noren dedicated himself to the protection and enhancement of Missouri's natural and wildlife resources. His devotion included ensuring that as much of the agency's budget as possible was dedicated to management programs. An example of this was his request in 1969 that the Missouri Conservation Commission reduce his salary from $24,500 to $23,000, so his pay would be more in line with those of other department heads.
Noren's influence in Missouri wildlife management began prior to joining the MDC as a furbearer biologist in 1940. A year earlier, while attending the University of Missouri, he established a tagging and quota system that helped restore Missouri's racoon population. Assistance in drafting state policies for river basin protection, participating in the state's deer restoration program and work to preserve Missouri's rivers and streams are among Noren's early career accomplishments.
Noren's most notable work in conservation came during his tenure as the MDC's third director. Determined to provide a stable funding base for the agency, he laid the groundwork which led to the approval of the 1/8 of one cent sales tax that helps fund the MDC today. Noren was the driving force behind the plan to expand the state's conservation programs and services. This plan, known as the "Design for Conservation," pledged to expand outdoor recreational opportunities, buy land for recreation and forestry and protect critical habitats for rare or endangered species.
Other achievements of the Conservation Department while under Noren's direction include:
--first historic weapons deer hunt held in 1967
--first statewide archery deer hunt in 1968
--first trout stamps sold to make the trout stocking programs more self-supporting in 1969
--established urban fishing program in St. Louis in 1969 and expanded it to Kansas City in 1978
--Created the Natural Areas System in 1970
--adopted an equal employment policy for the MDC in 1972
--established the Natural History Section in 1977 to protect native plants and non-game species
--authorized the first fall turkey hunt in 1978
--initiated a giant Canada goose restoration project in 1978
The Conservationist of the Year award issued by the Missouri Conservation Federation and the MDC Master Conservation award are among the many honors Noren received. As a fitting tribute to a man who worked to provide access to streams throughout Missouri, the MDC dedicated the Missouri River Access at Jefferson City in Noren's honor in 2000.
- Arleasha Mays -
Missouri's wild deer test negative for fatal disease
Thursday, March 14, 2002
JEFFERSON CITY--The Missouri Department of Conservation announced today that the test results from wild deer harvested during the 2001 firearms deer season show no sign of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). CWD has been detected in isolated wild deer populations in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Canada's Saskatchewan province.
"Seventy-two wild deer were tested," said Wildlife Division Administrator Ollie Torgerson. "At check stations, we sampled deer that looked sick or emaciated. Our thanks go out to the hunters who harvested the deer and provided the samples we needed."
Sampling of wild deer will intensify in the fall 2002 season. "We are asking the public to report sightings of deer that look sick or are behaving oddly to their local conservation agent or conservation office," said Torgerson. The increased effort against CWD was stimulated by recent sales of captive elk from CWD-infected herds in Colorado to Missouri elk farms. These sales had the potential to introduce the disease into Missouri. Traced live elk in Missouri all tested negative.
The disease appears to be spreading in both wild and captive populations of elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer in the United States and Canada. "State officials and stakeholders are working diligently to safeguard Missouri's wild deer population. With CWD detected in the wild in Wisconsin–the first detection east of the Mississippi River–our concerns have grown," said Torgerson. "The potential for this disease to spread to Missouri poses a real risk to our wildlife resources, to the elk and deer farmers and the big game hunting preserves."
Under an agreement, the Missouri Conservation and Agriculture departments are developing a voluntary surveillance program for captive deer and elk and new regulations to prevent introduction of the disease. "We encourage full participation in the voluntary surveillance program," said Torgerson. "Surveillance and continued monitoring of wild and captive deer are the only practical ways to check for the disease."
Additionally, the Conservation Commission voted unanimously at its March 7 meeting to authorize financial support–for at least two years–for testing costs associated with the new Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance program. "The Commission voted to cover the cost of lab tests if free testing through current federal programs ends," said Torgerson. "This is a step to stimulate participation in the surveillance program."
"Voluntary surveillance of elk for chronic wasting disease will give us a base line for monitoring for CWD in our elk herds, and will allow Missouri elk producers who participate in the program to ship elk from state to state," said Dr. Taylor Woods, state veterinarian with the Missouri Department of Agriculture. "This effort, coupled with the new rule that prohibits the entry of any elk or deer coming from an area infected with CWD, will safeguard against the introduction of the disease in Missouri."
CWD belongs to a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). It is unknown how the disease is spread. Infected deer or elk may transmit the disease through animal-to-animal contact or by contaminating feed or water sources with saliva, urine or feces. TSEs are thought to result from mutated proteins called prions that cause fatal degeneration, or wasting, of the brain. There is no evidence at this time that CWD affects humans.
-Stephanie Ramsey Westbrook-
Regional councils give landowners a voice
Friday, March 08, 2002
Landowners seen as key to addressing wildlife needs
JEFFERSON CITY ?The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) wants landowners to help develop programs to assist their neighbors interested in providing habitat for wildlife.
The MDC Private Land Services Division is working to create Regional Landowner Councils to help the agency address private land management issues. The councils, consisting of landowners from across the state, are designed to foster communication between the MDC and landowners that leads to increased participation in efforts to enhance the state's natural resources. The initial plan is for each regional council to meet at least twice a year. The meetings will serve as forums for council members to voice comments and concerns from their respective areas. The meetings also will provide opportunities to discuss land management issues with Conservation Department resource experts.
"Our success on private land depends upon our ability to help landowners meet their personal land use objectives and, at the same time, enhance natural resources, said Bob Schroeppel, Private Land Services Division Southwest Regional Supervisor. "What better way to find out what these objectives are than by simply asking and then letting those landowners help shape our programs?
Schroeppel has been meeting with the seven landowners who comprise the Southwest Regional Landowner Council since last April. Issues examined by the group include habitat improvement for upland game, stream and riparian habitat management and educating the public about state and federal assistance programs.
With nearly 93 percent of the state's land in private ownership cooperation of state residents is imperative to the success of Conservation Department efforts to improve and expand wildlife habitat.
Improved resources management and hunting opportunities and restoration of imperiled species are among the benefits the MDC hopes to gain from the establishment of the regional councils. Cleaner watering sources for livestock and higher quality timber stands that provide additional income are among the benefits improved land management practices can provide private landowners.
To learn more about the regional landowner councils contact the MDC private land services division regional supervisor for your area.
- Arleasha Mays and Francis Skalicky -
Arbor Day trees memorialize Sept. 11 victims
Friday, March 08, 2002
MDC to offer trees as lasting tribute to victims of terrorism
JEFFERSON CITY ?The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) looks to give added meaning to this year's Arbor Day celebrations by helping school children honor the memory of those killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The MDC will provide each school in the state with a Shumard Oak seedling to plant as a memorial.
"Trees are often planted to recognize births, deaths and special occasions," said MDC Forestry Administrator Bob Krepps. "We hope the children will select a special place in their schoolyards or city parks to plant these special memorial trees. Our selection of an oak has particular meaning because it was chosen as our national tree last year."
The Conservation Department, as it has done for the past 22 years, also will provide seedlings for all of the state's fourth grade students. The MDC will distribute 120,000 white pine seedlings, along with information to help budding tree planters ensure that their trees survive to provide shade and beauty to Missouri's landscape.
Teachers will be provided with Arbor Week Activity Guides. The guides outline five days of lessons on how trees grow and how they benefit people. At the conclusion of the week, students will know the parts of a tree and its life cycle and understand how trees generate the oxygen we breathe, help the environment and provide forest products that help our economy.
The Arbor Week activities also include information on the history of Missouri's forests, as well as the origins of state and national Arbor Day celebrations. Arbor Day is celebrated on the first Friday in April in Missouri. The state first observed Arbor Day in 1886, when the legislature declared the day should be set aside for the appreciation and planting of trees.
The seedlings come from George O. White State Forest Nursery near Licking. To learn more about the nursery or to order planting materials, contact: George O. White Nursery, 14027 Shafer Road, Licking, MO 65542. Phone 573/674-3229.
- Arleasha Mays -
