Post by ridge on Dec 16, 2014 1:49:21 GMT -5
Greetings to members of The Concerned Sportsmen of Michigan & friends. It was interesting and informative
meeting this month, a number of topics related to deer hunting were touched on.
December 2014 NRC meeting summary
Wildlife Committee meeting–
Fisheries Division report -
Chief Jim Dexter gave a brief report. For a number of years the Fisheries Division had operated a web cam at the
Berrien Springs fish ladder observation site, which is the first fish ladder upstream from Lake Michigan on the St.
Joe River. That web cam had been very popular among anglers but had to be discontinued several years ago due
to budgetary pressure. Chief Dexter announced that recently a private entity offered to fund the web cam’s
operation, so it has been re-established at no cost to the DNR through this donation.
He also detailed the department’s 2014 Muskellunge stocking program. The department was successful in
harvesting 400,000 Muskellunge eggs this spring for their stocking efforts. They were able to raise 36,000
fingerlings which were stocked in 23 waters, located in 18 counties and were also able to sell some surplus
fingerlings to Wisconsin & Indiana. The goal of the department is to expand the Musky stocking program, they
would like to raise it to approx. 100,000 fingerlings a year. Currently it’s difficult for them to stock Musky in the
Western UP, due to the distance involved in transporting fingerlings from the hatchery where they are raised
near Kalamazoo. The department is investigating converting a hatchery in Northern Michigan to raising Musky,
as it would greatly reduce travel distance for UP stocking and increase survival rates. It currently costs about
$2.50 per fingerling to raise them to the point of release. The department has also started to raise their own
minnows, which is what they use to feed the fingerlings, which should cut down on some of the expense
involved in expanding the stocking program. One of the UP waters which was stocked this year was Little Bay De
Noc, with about 5,000 fingerlings planted.
Chief Dexter also announced ongoing beta testing of a centralized bass fishing tournament scheduling
application that the DNR has developed. The purpose is to allow tournament hosts to better coordinate where
and when tournaments are held, so that smaller lakes do not get slammed with simultaneous tournaments that
can deplete the fish and also cause logistical issues for other fishermen at ramps, etc. The scheduling system
also provides the ability for tournament sponsors to be able to provide data to the DNR after the tourney is
over, which will provide some valuable data for the Fisheries division. Beta testing will continue for some time
before the application is fully functional.
Wildlife Division report –
Division Chief Russ Mason informed the NRC that DNR Director Creagh was going to be signing an interim
supplemental feeding order for the Upper Peninsula, in response to the early onset of winter. Normally the DNR
allows supplemental feeding in areas of the UP, within defined parameters, starting in January. This order moves up the start date to December 15th, the day after muzzleloading season closes in the UP. Chief Mason cautioned
that there may be complications resulting from allowing supplemental feeding to take place while hunting
season is still open. Per the order, it is illegal to hunt on any property where supplemental feeding is taking
place, so there may be violations occurring with archery hunters who are unaware of this rule. He also cautioned
about the potential risk involved with feeding deer supplementally with high carbohydrate feeds such as shelled
corn and hay, due to lack of required bacteria in deer rumens this time of year, such feeding can cause digestion
problems, sometimes resulting in death. This feeding order is for private land only, the DNR is also going to be
working with timber operators to leave additional tops and engage in some browse cuttings in areas where deer
concentrate, if the weather warrants it this year.
Chief Mason also presented a brief over-view of the current Michigan CWD response plan;
Feeding & baiting will be banned in any future CWD management zone (MZ) established.
The current trigger response occurs if CWD is identified in either captive cervids or in wild cervids within Michigan
or within 10 miles of the Michigan border.
The plan calls for the establishment of management zones 10 miles in radius if wild deer test positive, 5 miles if
it’s a captive cervid.
Mason announced that the USF&W is going to increase the cost of Federal Duck Stamps for the first time in 20+
years. The cost is going to increase from $15 to $25 dollars; an accompanying analysis predicts that this cost
increase will cause a 25% to 40% loss in license buyers. Several states located in the Mississippi flyway have
voiced concerns and are working with USF&W to see if both a youth license and a short term (3 day or 1 week)
license can be developed which would cost less. There is some concern over how this increase may impact
license sales in Michigan.
Chad Stewart was introduced as the new DNR deer management specialist for Michigan, replacing Brent
Rudolph in that position. Chad comes from the Indiana DNR, where he was their deer specialist. Brent is going to
be filling a newly created job position of Wildlife research specialist, where he will be dealing more with
research efforts and less with management & policy issues.
Chad & Brent presented a deer season update.
Preliminary results show a significant drop both in deer harvest and in hunter participation. Comparing data
from check stations that were open last year and this year, indicates a 31% decrease in deer checked in the UP,
an 11% decrease in the NLP and a 6% decrease in the SLP, resulting in a 17% decline statewide. Brent attributed
these decreases to inclement weather and noted that both Minnesota and Wisconsin have seen similar
decreases in harvests.
Check station data gathered during the firearm season indicated continuing decreases in the percentage of
yearling bucks included in the total antlered buck harvest. In the UP, only about 17% of the bucks harvested
were yearlings, in the NLP it was around 31% and in the SLP it was approx. 52%. Again, this was attributed to
back to back severe winters which resulted in lower yearling buck survival rates. Interestingly, yearling buck
beam diameters in the UP showed an increase last year, which was unexplained. Brent surmised that the yearling bucks that survived would have been the healthiest ones, which might be an explanation for the
increase in average bean diameter seen but said that was pure speculation.
The preliminary harvest estimates show a 30% - 40% decrease in the UP, 10% decrease in the NLP and a 5%
decrease in the SLP. Those are rough estimates, the annual harvest survey results will provide a more accurate
estimate next spring. Brent indicated that Minnesota experienced a 19% drop in their firearms deer harvest and
Wisconsin saw a 15% drop, so these trends are regional. The DNR will be making recommendations for any
adjustments in antlerless quotas they feel are needed in March/April.
Snowshoe Hare Presentation –
Dr. Gary Roloff of MSU gave a presentation on research looking at declining snowshoe hare populations in
Michigan. Snowshoe hare populations have been steadily declining, as has interest in hunting them in Michigan
due to their decreased abundance. It was a very interesting presentation. The upshot is that there are two
different factors driving decreases in hares, one is climate change which is delaying the start of snow cover in
the southern edge of snowshoe hare range. Due to changes in color phase that occurs, this leaves white hares
in brown environments for extended periods, increasing levels of predation, resulting in declines in populations.
The other factor is decreasing amounts of habitat. Dr. Roloff has been able to identify the type of habitat needed
to allow hares to thrive and has created recommendations for DNR timber practices which would facilitate the
creation of such habitat (which incidentally would also benefit deer and other species) and hopes that the DNR
will integrate those practices into their Timber Management plans on projects occurring in areas where hares
are found. One factoid that I found interesting is that in addition to the normal predators that one would think
of, apparently red squirrels are major predators of young hares.
UP deer wintering complex cooperative habitat management pilot project.
Bill Scullon, a DNR wildlife biologist from the UP, gave an interesting presentation on a joint cooperative project
that is being done between the DNR and Plum Creek corporation to adapt timber cutting practices to enhance
and improve regeneration in winter deer yards in the UP.
Plum Creek is the largest private land owner in Michigan, they own 580,000 acres in the UP, most of it which
formerly belonged to Mead Paper. They own significant tracts of land in two major historical wintering
complexes, the Menge Creek and Huron Mountain deer yards. The purpose of this pilot project was to study the
structure of these deer yards and develop selective timbering practices that would improve the sustainability of
conifer cover in these deer yards, while still allowing profitable timber extraction to occur. 95% of Plum Creeks
land is enrolled in the commercial forest program, so almost all of the 580,000 acres is open to hunters and
sportsmen.
Approx. 55% of historical wintering complexes in the UP are on private land, so it’s vital that the DNR develops
cooperative management programs to help develop long term sustainability for these deer yards. Plum Creek
allocated 16,000 acres located in these two wintering complexes to be used as test plots where the DNR could
apply selective cutting parameters, which preserved most hemlock, while allowing sugar maples that are
integrated with the hemlock to be harvested. The program also applies staged harvesting techniques to about
30% of the existing hemlock, to create a double canopy, which creates increased thermal cover for deer. The
DNR has also experimented with a ground cover removal technique which removes leaves and built up detritus
to expose bare soil, which is required for natural hemlock regeneration to occur. This significantly increases regeneration and should also increase future timber yields on those parcels. The goal is to develop voluntary
harvest frameworks which can then be applied by other private land owners in wintering complex areas, which
will significantly increase the wintering capacity and preserve the integrity of those areas. So far the project has
been very successful. The DNR is provided specialized training to timber contractors who harvest in those areas,
to implement the practices that have been developed as a result of this pilot program. Hopefully the widespread
implementation of these practices will have a major impact on improving and preserving the wintering deer yard
complexes that are vital to the sustainability of the deer herd in many parts of the Upper Peninsula.
Meeting of the Whole –
Director Creagh was absent today, his assistant Dennis Knapp gave the Directors report.
There were two action items for the NRC today, one was the modifications to the salvage regulations related to
car killed deer and the other was a minor boundary adjustment to an Elk Management area.
On fiscal matters, as of November 30th, deer license sales were down 6.6% from the same date last year.
Concerns were voiced that falling oil & gas prices may have a negative impact on the states oil & gas revenues
and may impact some mineral leasing this year, income estimates may have to be adjusted.
There was an update on the Island Lake mineral reclamation and restoration project. Bids are still being
reviewed from three vendors who have bid on removing the remaining sand from an abandoned gavel & sand
pit that is located on that property. Part of the bid includes the requirement that after the surface minerals are
extracted, the vendor must return the property to the natural prairie environment that historically existed there
prior to the mining that occurred. This will be a long term project expected to take up to 10 years but ultimately
it will substantially expand the portion of this property that is accessible and usable by the public.
The ORV workgroup is finalizing plans for two free ORV weekends for the coming year, one of which is scheduled
to coincide with the free fishing weekend.
It was also announced that a supplemental funding appropriation has been approved that will allow the DNR to
replace some of the older grooming equipment that is used to groom DNR maintained snowmobile trails.
There has been some public pushback resulting from the changes which were made to the Silver Lake ORV
reservation process which was discussed last month. The DNR is going to take those concerns into consideration
and tweak the changes being made to address some of the concerns.
There was an update concerning the Michigan Wildlife Council. This is a citizen staffed group created by the DNR
to oversee the spending of the pool of money created by the addition of a $1 surcharge to all hunting licenses.
The purpose of the council is to educate the public about hunting and fishing opportunities that are available in
Michigan. The primary means of accomplishing this goal is through the creation of an interactive web site
separate from the DNR’s website and also by the implementation of a media campaign, which is being
outsourced to a private media consultant. Bids are currently being solicited for that campaign. Law Enforcement Update –
Chief Haggler of the law enforcement division gave a report discussing some of the current law enforcement
incidents that have occurred recently.
There were two incidents of elk being poached this year. The first was reported when hunters found the remains
of an illegally killed elk and reported it. The DNR staked out the area and were able to follow boot prints to a
nearby hunting camp where parts of the elk were found, a full confession was obtained and the violator is being
prosecuted facing both restitution and loss of future hunting privledges. The animal poached was a 4 x 4 bull.
The second violation occurred on Nov. 15th and involved a hunter who self reported that he had accidently shot
a bull elk thinking it was a large whitetail deer. It was a 5 x 6 bull (a lot of laughter and head shaking that
someone could mistake it for a deer). He fully cooperated with the CO, showing him where the elk was and even
helping the CO gut it and drag it out to his truck. While observing the location, the CO noted that the elk had
been feeding at an illegal bait pile that the hunter was hunting over. He is being ticketed for the illegal bait pile
and will make restitution for the elk but since it was self reported is not being prosecuted for the illegal
shooting. In both cases the elk were donated to the local hunters for hunger pantries, so the meat was fully
utilized.
Chief Haggler also announced that there have been no weapons related fatalities this year and only 2 hunting
related injuries occurred during firearms season and both were non-fatal. One self inflicted and one where a
hunter shot another hunter. For the year there have been 9 hunting accidents involving firearms so far, 7
involving shotguns, 1 a rifle and 1 a .22 pistol. 3 were self inflicted, no fatalities. Most were during waterfowl or
small game hunts.
Warren Meyer was presented with the hunter education instructor of the year award, Mr. Meyer has been
involved in hunter education since 1987 and has been involved in education thousands of youth in Michigan.
Legislative report –
Due to the lame duck session that is currently in place, there has not been much significant legislative action
occurring this month that impacts sportsmen. Senate Bill 926-927, which bans the use of aerial drones both for
hunting and used for hunter harassment has moved out of committee and is before the house. It is supported by
the Governor and is likely to pass.
Other than that not much will occur legislatively until January.
Thomas L. Washington lifetime achievement award.
This is a newly created award from the DNR for individuals who have made major contributions to conservation
and the outdoors in Michigan. William Rustem is the first individual to be given this award, Mr. Rustem was part
of both the Milliken and Snyder administrations and played important roles in a variety of issues related to the
environment and outdoors over the course of his long career. The award was presented by Tom Washingtons
daughter, Heidi.
That wraps up the summary of the December 2014 NRC meeting of the whole. I’d also like to comment on a couple of other items that were not discussed at todays meeting.
First, the Governor has named a new NRC commissioner to replace the vacancy created by John Madigans
resignation. He has chosen Christine Brumbaugh (R) from St.Louis, Michigan. Christine comes from a farming
background, she and her husband operate a large sugar beet farm. She also is a member of Michigan Farm
Bureau, a member of their Grain & Seed Oil Committee and is a Member of the board of directors for
Greenstone Farm Credit. She will be introduced at the January NRC meeting.
Secondly, I talked to Brent Rudolph and got a current update on the status of the third party APR analysis that
had been requested last spring by Commissioners Madigan & Schlaybaugh, in the wake of the LPDMI initiative.
Initially, the idea had been to out source this analysis to a third party with the intention of having results made
available during the winter of 2014. There was some hope among some supporters of mandatory APR’s that the
results of this analysis would serve as a catalyst for the NRC to impose some kind of statewide APR restrictions,
outside of the established stakeholder process. According to my conversation with Brent, that timeline is not
going to occur. The analysis has been broken down into three separate components, one of which is being
incorporated into an existing research project being conducted at MSU, another being incorporated into an
existing sociological study being conducted by Michigan Tech and the third being a biological impact analysis,
which will be conducted in-house by the DNR, headed up by Dr. Dan O’Brien. It was his opinion that the
absolute earliest that any results could be available for the NRC would be late fall of 2015, which would put off
implementation of any contemplated changes until the 2016 hunting season. Because of the adaptation of the 3
year license cycle and 2016 being the last year of the current three year regulation cycle, I think it’s extremely
doubtful that the NRC would consider changing the regulations during the last year of the cycle. If any changes
were made, it would be much more likely that they would be implemented in 2017, especially as the NW12 APR
revote will have occurred by then, which will provide the NRC with some additional input regarding hunter
acceptance and levels of support for mandatory APR’s.
That speculation is also based on the premise that the NRC would actually decide to implement such changes
outside of the established stakeholder initiative process. Given the recent changes that have been made in the
composition of the NRC and the history of how some of the commissioners have voted on this issue in the past, I
think it’s more likely than not, that the NRC will simply allow the current regulations and process to continue
and not choose to act outside of the established stakeholder process. If that proves to be the case, the earliest
that any additional stakeholder initiatives could occur in the LP would be 2018.
Regards,
Jim Sweeney
The Concerned Sportsmen of Michigan
meeting this month, a number of topics related to deer hunting were touched on.
December 2014 NRC meeting summary
Wildlife Committee meeting–
Fisheries Division report -
Chief Jim Dexter gave a brief report. For a number of years the Fisheries Division had operated a web cam at the
Berrien Springs fish ladder observation site, which is the first fish ladder upstream from Lake Michigan on the St.
Joe River. That web cam had been very popular among anglers but had to be discontinued several years ago due
to budgetary pressure. Chief Dexter announced that recently a private entity offered to fund the web cam’s
operation, so it has been re-established at no cost to the DNR through this donation.
He also detailed the department’s 2014 Muskellunge stocking program. The department was successful in
harvesting 400,000 Muskellunge eggs this spring for their stocking efforts. They were able to raise 36,000
fingerlings which were stocked in 23 waters, located in 18 counties and were also able to sell some surplus
fingerlings to Wisconsin & Indiana. The goal of the department is to expand the Musky stocking program, they
would like to raise it to approx. 100,000 fingerlings a year. Currently it’s difficult for them to stock Musky in the
Western UP, due to the distance involved in transporting fingerlings from the hatchery where they are raised
near Kalamazoo. The department is investigating converting a hatchery in Northern Michigan to raising Musky,
as it would greatly reduce travel distance for UP stocking and increase survival rates. It currently costs about
$2.50 per fingerling to raise them to the point of release. The department has also started to raise their own
minnows, which is what they use to feed the fingerlings, which should cut down on some of the expense
involved in expanding the stocking program. One of the UP waters which was stocked this year was Little Bay De
Noc, with about 5,000 fingerlings planted.
Chief Dexter also announced ongoing beta testing of a centralized bass fishing tournament scheduling
application that the DNR has developed. The purpose is to allow tournament hosts to better coordinate where
and when tournaments are held, so that smaller lakes do not get slammed with simultaneous tournaments that
can deplete the fish and also cause logistical issues for other fishermen at ramps, etc. The scheduling system
also provides the ability for tournament sponsors to be able to provide data to the DNR after the tourney is
over, which will provide some valuable data for the Fisheries division. Beta testing will continue for some time
before the application is fully functional.
Wildlife Division report –
Division Chief Russ Mason informed the NRC that DNR Director Creagh was going to be signing an interim
supplemental feeding order for the Upper Peninsula, in response to the early onset of winter. Normally the DNR
allows supplemental feeding in areas of the UP, within defined parameters, starting in January. This order moves up the start date to December 15th, the day after muzzleloading season closes in the UP. Chief Mason cautioned
that there may be complications resulting from allowing supplemental feeding to take place while hunting
season is still open. Per the order, it is illegal to hunt on any property where supplemental feeding is taking
place, so there may be violations occurring with archery hunters who are unaware of this rule. He also cautioned
about the potential risk involved with feeding deer supplementally with high carbohydrate feeds such as shelled
corn and hay, due to lack of required bacteria in deer rumens this time of year, such feeding can cause digestion
problems, sometimes resulting in death. This feeding order is for private land only, the DNR is also going to be
working with timber operators to leave additional tops and engage in some browse cuttings in areas where deer
concentrate, if the weather warrants it this year.
Chief Mason also presented a brief over-view of the current Michigan CWD response plan;
Feeding & baiting will be banned in any future CWD management zone (MZ) established.
The current trigger response occurs if CWD is identified in either captive cervids or in wild cervids within Michigan
or within 10 miles of the Michigan border.
The plan calls for the establishment of management zones 10 miles in radius if wild deer test positive, 5 miles if
it’s a captive cervid.
Mason announced that the USF&W is going to increase the cost of Federal Duck Stamps for the first time in 20+
years. The cost is going to increase from $15 to $25 dollars; an accompanying analysis predicts that this cost
increase will cause a 25% to 40% loss in license buyers. Several states located in the Mississippi flyway have
voiced concerns and are working with USF&W to see if both a youth license and a short term (3 day or 1 week)
license can be developed which would cost less. There is some concern over how this increase may impact
license sales in Michigan.
Chad Stewart was introduced as the new DNR deer management specialist for Michigan, replacing Brent
Rudolph in that position. Chad comes from the Indiana DNR, where he was their deer specialist. Brent is going to
be filling a newly created job position of Wildlife research specialist, where he will be dealing more with
research efforts and less with management & policy issues.
Chad & Brent presented a deer season update.
Preliminary results show a significant drop both in deer harvest and in hunter participation. Comparing data
from check stations that were open last year and this year, indicates a 31% decrease in deer checked in the UP,
an 11% decrease in the NLP and a 6% decrease in the SLP, resulting in a 17% decline statewide. Brent attributed
these decreases to inclement weather and noted that both Minnesota and Wisconsin have seen similar
decreases in harvests.
Check station data gathered during the firearm season indicated continuing decreases in the percentage of
yearling bucks included in the total antlered buck harvest. In the UP, only about 17% of the bucks harvested
were yearlings, in the NLP it was around 31% and in the SLP it was approx. 52%. Again, this was attributed to
back to back severe winters which resulted in lower yearling buck survival rates. Interestingly, yearling buck
beam diameters in the UP showed an increase last year, which was unexplained. Brent surmised that the yearling bucks that survived would have been the healthiest ones, which might be an explanation for the
increase in average bean diameter seen but said that was pure speculation.
The preliminary harvest estimates show a 30% - 40% decrease in the UP, 10% decrease in the NLP and a 5%
decrease in the SLP. Those are rough estimates, the annual harvest survey results will provide a more accurate
estimate next spring. Brent indicated that Minnesota experienced a 19% drop in their firearms deer harvest and
Wisconsin saw a 15% drop, so these trends are regional. The DNR will be making recommendations for any
adjustments in antlerless quotas they feel are needed in March/April.
Snowshoe Hare Presentation –
Dr. Gary Roloff of MSU gave a presentation on research looking at declining snowshoe hare populations in
Michigan. Snowshoe hare populations have been steadily declining, as has interest in hunting them in Michigan
due to their decreased abundance. It was a very interesting presentation. The upshot is that there are two
different factors driving decreases in hares, one is climate change which is delaying the start of snow cover in
the southern edge of snowshoe hare range. Due to changes in color phase that occurs, this leaves white hares
in brown environments for extended periods, increasing levels of predation, resulting in declines in populations.
The other factor is decreasing amounts of habitat. Dr. Roloff has been able to identify the type of habitat needed
to allow hares to thrive and has created recommendations for DNR timber practices which would facilitate the
creation of such habitat (which incidentally would also benefit deer and other species) and hopes that the DNR
will integrate those practices into their Timber Management plans on projects occurring in areas where hares
are found. One factoid that I found interesting is that in addition to the normal predators that one would think
of, apparently red squirrels are major predators of young hares.
UP deer wintering complex cooperative habitat management pilot project.
Bill Scullon, a DNR wildlife biologist from the UP, gave an interesting presentation on a joint cooperative project
that is being done between the DNR and Plum Creek corporation to adapt timber cutting practices to enhance
and improve regeneration in winter deer yards in the UP.
Plum Creek is the largest private land owner in Michigan, they own 580,000 acres in the UP, most of it which
formerly belonged to Mead Paper. They own significant tracts of land in two major historical wintering
complexes, the Menge Creek and Huron Mountain deer yards. The purpose of this pilot project was to study the
structure of these deer yards and develop selective timbering practices that would improve the sustainability of
conifer cover in these deer yards, while still allowing profitable timber extraction to occur. 95% of Plum Creeks
land is enrolled in the commercial forest program, so almost all of the 580,000 acres is open to hunters and
sportsmen.
Approx. 55% of historical wintering complexes in the UP are on private land, so it’s vital that the DNR develops
cooperative management programs to help develop long term sustainability for these deer yards. Plum Creek
allocated 16,000 acres located in these two wintering complexes to be used as test plots where the DNR could
apply selective cutting parameters, which preserved most hemlock, while allowing sugar maples that are
integrated with the hemlock to be harvested. The program also applies staged harvesting techniques to about
30% of the existing hemlock, to create a double canopy, which creates increased thermal cover for deer. The
DNR has also experimented with a ground cover removal technique which removes leaves and built up detritus
to expose bare soil, which is required for natural hemlock regeneration to occur. This significantly increases regeneration and should also increase future timber yields on those parcels. The goal is to develop voluntary
harvest frameworks which can then be applied by other private land owners in wintering complex areas, which
will significantly increase the wintering capacity and preserve the integrity of those areas. So far the project has
been very successful. The DNR is provided specialized training to timber contractors who harvest in those areas,
to implement the practices that have been developed as a result of this pilot program. Hopefully the widespread
implementation of these practices will have a major impact on improving and preserving the wintering deer yard
complexes that are vital to the sustainability of the deer herd in many parts of the Upper Peninsula.
Meeting of the Whole –
Director Creagh was absent today, his assistant Dennis Knapp gave the Directors report.
There were two action items for the NRC today, one was the modifications to the salvage regulations related to
car killed deer and the other was a minor boundary adjustment to an Elk Management area.
On fiscal matters, as of November 30th, deer license sales were down 6.6% from the same date last year.
Concerns were voiced that falling oil & gas prices may have a negative impact on the states oil & gas revenues
and may impact some mineral leasing this year, income estimates may have to be adjusted.
There was an update on the Island Lake mineral reclamation and restoration project. Bids are still being
reviewed from three vendors who have bid on removing the remaining sand from an abandoned gavel & sand
pit that is located on that property. Part of the bid includes the requirement that after the surface minerals are
extracted, the vendor must return the property to the natural prairie environment that historically existed there
prior to the mining that occurred. This will be a long term project expected to take up to 10 years but ultimately
it will substantially expand the portion of this property that is accessible and usable by the public.
The ORV workgroup is finalizing plans for two free ORV weekends for the coming year, one of which is scheduled
to coincide with the free fishing weekend.
It was also announced that a supplemental funding appropriation has been approved that will allow the DNR to
replace some of the older grooming equipment that is used to groom DNR maintained snowmobile trails.
There has been some public pushback resulting from the changes which were made to the Silver Lake ORV
reservation process which was discussed last month. The DNR is going to take those concerns into consideration
and tweak the changes being made to address some of the concerns.
There was an update concerning the Michigan Wildlife Council. This is a citizen staffed group created by the DNR
to oversee the spending of the pool of money created by the addition of a $1 surcharge to all hunting licenses.
The purpose of the council is to educate the public about hunting and fishing opportunities that are available in
Michigan. The primary means of accomplishing this goal is through the creation of an interactive web site
separate from the DNR’s website and also by the implementation of a media campaign, which is being
outsourced to a private media consultant. Bids are currently being solicited for that campaign. Law Enforcement Update –
Chief Haggler of the law enforcement division gave a report discussing some of the current law enforcement
incidents that have occurred recently.
There were two incidents of elk being poached this year. The first was reported when hunters found the remains
of an illegally killed elk and reported it. The DNR staked out the area and were able to follow boot prints to a
nearby hunting camp where parts of the elk were found, a full confession was obtained and the violator is being
prosecuted facing both restitution and loss of future hunting privledges. The animal poached was a 4 x 4 bull.
The second violation occurred on Nov. 15th and involved a hunter who self reported that he had accidently shot
a bull elk thinking it was a large whitetail deer. It was a 5 x 6 bull (a lot of laughter and head shaking that
someone could mistake it for a deer). He fully cooperated with the CO, showing him where the elk was and even
helping the CO gut it and drag it out to his truck. While observing the location, the CO noted that the elk had
been feeding at an illegal bait pile that the hunter was hunting over. He is being ticketed for the illegal bait pile
and will make restitution for the elk but since it was self reported is not being prosecuted for the illegal
shooting. In both cases the elk were donated to the local hunters for hunger pantries, so the meat was fully
utilized.
Chief Haggler also announced that there have been no weapons related fatalities this year and only 2 hunting
related injuries occurred during firearms season and both were non-fatal. One self inflicted and one where a
hunter shot another hunter. For the year there have been 9 hunting accidents involving firearms so far, 7
involving shotguns, 1 a rifle and 1 a .22 pistol. 3 were self inflicted, no fatalities. Most were during waterfowl or
small game hunts.
Warren Meyer was presented with the hunter education instructor of the year award, Mr. Meyer has been
involved in hunter education since 1987 and has been involved in education thousands of youth in Michigan.
Legislative report –
Due to the lame duck session that is currently in place, there has not been much significant legislative action
occurring this month that impacts sportsmen. Senate Bill 926-927, which bans the use of aerial drones both for
hunting and used for hunter harassment has moved out of committee and is before the house. It is supported by
the Governor and is likely to pass.
Other than that not much will occur legislatively until January.
Thomas L. Washington lifetime achievement award.
This is a newly created award from the DNR for individuals who have made major contributions to conservation
and the outdoors in Michigan. William Rustem is the first individual to be given this award, Mr. Rustem was part
of both the Milliken and Snyder administrations and played important roles in a variety of issues related to the
environment and outdoors over the course of his long career. The award was presented by Tom Washingtons
daughter, Heidi.
That wraps up the summary of the December 2014 NRC meeting of the whole. I’d also like to comment on a couple of other items that were not discussed at todays meeting.
First, the Governor has named a new NRC commissioner to replace the vacancy created by John Madigans
resignation. He has chosen Christine Brumbaugh (R) from St.Louis, Michigan. Christine comes from a farming
background, she and her husband operate a large sugar beet farm. She also is a member of Michigan Farm
Bureau, a member of their Grain & Seed Oil Committee and is a Member of the board of directors for
Greenstone Farm Credit. She will be introduced at the January NRC meeting.
Secondly, I talked to Brent Rudolph and got a current update on the status of the third party APR analysis that
had been requested last spring by Commissioners Madigan & Schlaybaugh, in the wake of the LPDMI initiative.
Initially, the idea had been to out source this analysis to a third party with the intention of having results made
available during the winter of 2014. There was some hope among some supporters of mandatory APR’s that the
results of this analysis would serve as a catalyst for the NRC to impose some kind of statewide APR restrictions,
outside of the established stakeholder process. According to my conversation with Brent, that timeline is not
going to occur. The analysis has been broken down into three separate components, one of which is being
incorporated into an existing research project being conducted at MSU, another being incorporated into an
existing sociological study being conducted by Michigan Tech and the third being a biological impact analysis,
which will be conducted in-house by the DNR, headed up by Dr. Dan O’Brien. It was his opinion that the
absolute earliest that any results could be available for the NRC would be late fall of 2015, which would put off
implementation of any contemplated changes until the 2016 hunting season. Because of the adaptation of the 3
year license cycle and 2016 being the last year of the current three year regulation cycle, I think it’s extremely
doubtful that the NRC would consider changing the regulations during the last year of the cycle. If any changes
were made, it would be much more likely that they would be implemented in 2017, especially as the NW12 APR
revote will have occurred by then, which will provide the NRC with some additional input regarding hunter
acceptance and levels of support for mandatory APR’s.
That speculation is also based on the premise that the NRC would actually decide to implement such changes
outside of the established stakeholder initiative process. Given the recent changes that have been made in the
composition of the NRC and the history of how some of the commissioners have voted on this issue in the past, I
think it’s more likely than not, that the NRC will simply allow the current regulations and process to continue
and not choose to act outside of the established stakeholder process. If that proves to be the case, the earliest
that any additional stakeholder initiatives could occur in the LP would be 2018.
Regards,
Jim Sweeney
The Concerned Sportsmen of Michigan