|
|
 |
|
The Rum River Longbeards Chapter's 10th Anniversary
In the photo of 5 hunters with turkeys; left to right – relations are based on Mark Baas, former ch prs. My nephew from Sioux Lookout, Ont. - Greg Baas My brother from Sioux Lookout, Ont - Dan Baas My Brother who lives next door to me - Julian Baas My cousin from Kalamazoo, MI - Justin Kromminga My brother in-law from Twin Lake MI - Mike Breuker
|
|
Rum River Longbeards Chapter has had a huge impact and has had great donations
The Rum River Longbeards Chapter recently celebrated it’s 10th Anniversary at the Northern Lights Banquet Center. In that short amount of time the local chapter has had a huge impact in the area. First and foremost is the fact that their very existence drew attention to the area that wild turkeys were missing from the landscape. Releases were soon planned for the area and even a research project to determine the habitat needs for wild turkeys in a northern environment. While the mortality was high on the early releases did not show that the area was not suitable for the bird. Other factors were involved, like predation from coyotes and owls.
Besides getting the birds started in the area, the local chapter has been active in improving habitat by planting trees and securing grant dollars to do much needed projects on Wildlife Management Areas.
They believe in the mission of the NWTF – hosting annual JAKES EVENTS and providing mentors for the annual Youth Mentor Turkey Hunt for first time turkey hunters!
Part of the reason the local chapter has been successful in fundraising has been the donations they have gotten for their Annual Banquet! Either by family connections or support of local businesses, they have done well with obtaining some unique opportunities for the people that attend their banquets.
One of their major donors is highlighted below! This donation has raised significant dollars for the Rum River Longbeards.
Dan Baas –Northumbrian Resort & Fly-in Camps – 5 day fishing vacation in Sioux Lookout, Ontario Canada for up to 10 people. Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, and Northern Pike abound! Here is his story on why he has made this donation over the past couple of years.
Dan lives in Sioux Lookout, Ontario – he has hunted all over the world – New Zealand, Africa, Alaska. This spring he travelled back home to the family farm in Pease MN. His brother, Mark Baas – first Chapter President of the Rum River Longbeards currently resides on the property where they both were born and raised. At that time there were no wild turkeys anywhere near Mille Lacs County. Mark was his guide for his first ever turkey hunt in the spring of 2010! The morning of the hunt they had gobbling from three different directions and the least likely gobblers was the one that came in. After bagging his first wild turkey – here is what he had to say “That was more fun than deer hunting!” It was also very cool to get a bird on the farm where they grew up as kids! Several other members of the family were in the area for the weekend to hunt, also, and bagged gobblers that morning! The restoration of wild turkeys to the local hardwoods forests has been very successful.
The chapter is very active within the community and in turn the community supports them!
If anyone would like to contact this great donor to the NWTF for a great trip – contact Dan Baas at 807-737-3580 or email his son, Greg at gregbaas@hotmail.com
|
|
State Board Minutes - June 27, 2010
MINNESOTA CHAPTER NWTF BOARD MEETING REPORT
LOCATION: Thumper Pond - Ottertail, MN
TIME/DATE: June 27, 10:00 am
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: President – Marlo Sloan, Vice-President – Jerry Jenkins, Secretary – Steve Hanson, Treasurer – Eugene Crandall, Rod Brasel, Kevin Klar, Kevin Kuehl, Lonnie Lewin, Kelly Niemeyer, Thomas Poirot, Larry Stcynske, Jason Stucky, Wayne Wiener.
BOARD MEMBERS MISSING: Sandy Loken, Warren Robertson, Damon Schleif, Dick Snyder.
NWTF STAFF PRESENT: RDs Tom Glines, Todd Fairbanks.
MN DNR REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Eric Dunton.
REPORT WRITTEN BY: Steven M. Hanson, P.O. Box 53, Detroit Lakes, MN 218-841-4938 smhanson@lakesnet.net
President Sloan called the meeting to order and lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Board welcomed Brett Schmit and Eric Belter from www.talkintrophys.com.
Approval of the Agenda was passed with several additions.
The Board approved the Minutes from the March 21 Meeting with several corrections. These minutes will be made available on the website with those corrections.
STATE PRESIDENT’S REPORT: Marlo had his Chapter’s WITO event yesterday and it was a huge success, the 28 women caught 1 Muskie, had several up to the boat and caught several big Northerns. He voiced his opinion against spending money on the research request for Nuisance Urban Birds. Mentioned the problem with the Turkey Stamp Fund Grants (discussed later in the minutes) and again apologized for missing the last Board Meeting. He voiced is disappointment in an article in the American Legion Newsletter about the Disabled Vets Hunt at Camp Ripley (which we have donated to since day one), the article did not once mention the NWTF or the work of our volunteers.
SERGEANT AT ARMS REPORT: Larry S. told the Board that all the blinds went out for the Spring Disabled Hunts and none have been returned at this time. It was speculated that Eric Linder had picked them up at the Camp Ripley Hunt and used them for his Disabled Hunts and he still had them. Todd Fairbanks was going to check and let Larry know. Some of our blinds need repairs and it was requested that the parts be ordered and the blinds fixed. Todd volunteered himself and Eric to set the blinds up and get them fixed.
Steve Merten had applied for a $3,000 Grant from National for blinds for a Youth Disabled Hunt around St. Cloud through one of his Chapters. 6 kids participated in the hunt. It was not known where those blinds are, but the staff will try to find them and see if they can be combined to our blind inventory.
Larry has the titles to the trailers and Cara’s trailer is now ready to sell after Jerry J. striped the decals off. The trailer will be offered on K-Bid. Tom G. will pick up the titles and give them to Jerry and he will run the trailer to the K-Bid location. Jerry was authorized to sign the title on behalf of the State Chapter. Once Cara’s trailer has been sold, Eric’s trailer will be prepped for sale and brought to K-Bid.
Larry was asked if we had a list of our inventory, he said he did and would email the list to Steve H. and he would pass it along to the Board.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Eugene C. passed out a written report with all the checks and deposits on it for the year. He has corrected the banking issues and we will be staying with our current bank, which is convenient for both him and Dick S. Motion was made and passed to accept the Treasurer’s Report.
SPONSOR REPORT: Dick S. asked Tom G. to report to the Board in his absence. For those who had not heard, Steve Merten has resigned from the NWTF, Tom reported that Steve had not completed the several Sponsor reports to Dick over the last couple of years and Dick is requesting we write off the Sponsor Accounts for several of Steve’s Chapters for 2008 and 2009. Motion was made and passed to complete the Sponsor Report for 2008 and 2009 as has been duly reported and to accept the dollar figure as they now appear.
Tom mentioned the Ron Schara Call Fund Raiser and how disappointed he was with the money raised by several Chapters, but mentioned as a whole the call has raised approximately $5,000 for the State Chapter.
Brett Schmit and Eric Belter from Talk in Trophys gave a presentation for a new concept in websites. The website offers easier links to National, State and even Local Chapter websites and allows an update from one to be placed in all three. Tom G. wanted to make sure this would be acceptable to National before we went ahead. The cost would be a $1,000 one time start up fee and $30/month for the State Chapter and $10/month for Local Chapters.
STAFF REPORTS:
Biologist Dave Neu: Dave sent a written report to Steve H. who passed out the report to the Board, the following is that report:
Existing Grants (Outside money spent on habitat projects that did not have to use Super Fund)
LCCMR Phase V – $70,000 for bluff land restoration, $15,000 for tree & shrub planting. Project is completed and we are now receiving the final reimbursements for all expenses.
LCCMR Phase VI (2010) - $70,000 for bluff land restoration, $15,000 for tree & shrub planting. Bluff work is done, some money remains for more tree & shrub planting in SW MN. Ideas for more locations are welcomed!
LCCMR Phase VI+ (2011) - $50,000 for bluff land restoration. Project funding begins in July, 2010. I’ll be surveying project sites with DNR in July and August. Contractors will begin work in winter.
Potential New Grants
LCCMR 2012 - Applied for $200,000 for bluff land restoration. The Habitat Conservation Partnership removed this area from their project sites, so I applied outside of the partnership.
Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Fund – Working on two applications for 2012.
1. Riparian plantings and conservation easements in the upper Minnesota River. Asking for nearly $2 million, because of the high cost of easements. Two project positions would be hired to do the field work.
2. Bluffland restoration on public lands. Asking for $1,200,000.
Conservation Partner Legacy Grant – Lessard-Sams money funneled through DNR for smaller-scale projects. Requires a 20% cost-share from grantee. Application is due in September, and I’m still thinking of project ideas for this one.
USDA-NRCS - Working on getting a contribution agreement from NRCS to match some non-federal funding on the other projects. It could be as much as $20,000, but may not be anything, either.
Multi-state project for Driftless Area – Collaboration with RBs from Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin to come up with large-scale projects which would attract grant money. Still in the conceptual stage.
State chapter contribution – The majority of state chapters support their Regional Biologist’s state activities via Super Fund contribution. Many important activities incur expenses of travel and time that are not covered by existing grants and projects. These include board meetings, grant procurement, Super Fund project assistance, administration of SOS, chapter assistance with Turkey Stamp and Heritage Fund grants, representation on important committees (NRCS Technical Committee, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Upper Mississippi River Partnership, Minnesota Bird Conservation Initiative, etc.). The chapter support money is also used in many cases as a source of non-federal match dollars when applying for outside grant funding, which can multiply the initial contribution many fold. This is important in bringing extra habitat projects to the state that Super Fund does not have to pay for. Without this contribution, I am limited as to how much time I can spend looking for outside money for the state. There is a value to the state chapter for the time spent procuring and administering grants for habitat projects.
Energy for Wildlife/Wild Turkey Woodlands Corporate Site Certification
Xcel Energy – after working with them for 10 years, they have signed up with the program. Their annual membership fee will be around $15,000. They cover 9 states and will be doing multiple habitat projects with us across their area. I am working with them on a 4,400 acre property in Wisconsin right now, but will be discussing potential projects in MN as well.
Great River Energy - I’ve met with them multiple times over the last few years, and they have agreed to become a member of EFW. They still need sign-off from upper management, but it should be happening soon.
Waste Management – I met with them last year, walked their Elk River site with the manager, and discussed corporate site certification. They seemed very interested, but have not responded to my follow-up contacts. Other RBs are also trying to work with them on other sites across the country, so we may approach them on a national level rather than site by site.
National Habitat Programs
Set Out Seedlings (SOS) – The program will most likely be changing next year to bring it in line with all the other NWTF national tree programs. Each chapter will receive 50 seedlings. Supplemental orders may be made with other funds (Super Fund, local or state chapter) if desired.
Conservation Seed –Round Up-ready seed may not be sold for a profit. This violates the agreement with Monsanto. You can only charge the actual cost of seed and shipping. Some southern chapters did this and ended up having their seed taken back by NWTF. Also, NWTF must have first right of refusal for supplying any seed purchased with Super Fund dollars.
RDs Tom Glines: In light of Steve M’s resignation, Tom, Todd and Eric have had to pick up the slack. National will not be hiring any new RD’s for several reasons. The main reason is we can not afford to hire a new RD because of the number of poor Banquets in our region. 30% of the Banquets do not contribute to the Super Fund. He discussed the money that has been spent on Banquets that is not profitable, because of that, the Staff has shut down several Chapters due to their poor performances.
Tom mentioned all the publicity we got on the 2010 Youth Mentor Turkey Hunts. A total of 275 youth participated this spring hunting with the same amount of NWTF volunteers. We had hunts all across the wild turkey range in Minnesota! Another very successful hunt and definitely part of our Mission! Kevin Klar noted at the end of the Board Meeting that he really like the addition of the Mentor Caps and the Youth Box Calls this year. And asked where the funding came from. Tom noted that the funding had come from a private foundation – the John Larsen Foundation. He encouraged us to do that again –whether by private donation or State Funding.
Tom mentioned the Super Fund Budget has $40,000 left to spend and $27,000 is committed to Land Acquisition and Habitat Enhancement. We do have a couple of additional direct deposits that still need to be made to the Super Fund that local chapters have collected for projects.
Tom also noted one of those was a Direct Donation that was collected by the Twin Toms Chapter for the Camp Ripley Veterans Turkey Hunt. They collected monies from several American Legions / VFW’s to the tune of $1400. This money is being credited to their spring banquet and 100% deposited into the Super Fund to go to the 2011 Camp Ripley Veteran’s Turkey Hunt.
RD Todd Fairbanks: Todd has been extremely busy cleaning up Steve M’s paperwork and meeting with his new Chapters. He now has all of western MN, the easterly half of ND and several Chapters in Canada for a total of 35 Chapters.
DNR UPDATES: Eric D. apologized for not having the 2010 Spring Turkey Hunt totals, because of the new registration program. (You can now shoot your bird and call a number on your cell phone and register your bird while you are still in the field or wait until you get home and register your bird over the internet, instead of taking the bird into a registration station.) He told us that approximately 13,500 birds were taken, down around 1,200 from last year. As soon as the final figures are out, he will let us know. There was an increase in licenses this year, but the harvest numbers were down.
He stated that the big change in the Fall Turkey Hunt will be a 30 day season, instead of the 2 – 5 day seasons. The Season opens October 2 and ends Oct 31, 2010. Applications must be in by July 30th. It doesn’t appear that using dogs to hunt fall turkeys will pass anytime soon.
They are evaluating the cost effectiveness and the participation difference between the uses of an internet survey and mailing the questionnaires for the Spring Turkey Hunter Survey.
The term Transplant has been removed from the DNR Nuisance Birds Policy, the Policy is to now trap and dispose of the birds. The DNR feels the nuisance birds have no fear of people and would create the same problem wherever the birds were relocated.
The 2010 Fall Turkey Population Survey (taken from Deer Hunters during the Deer Season) will determine the final say on the Trap and Transplant Program. The results from the 2008 Survey determined that the turkeys were doing ok and that the Trap and Transplant Program would be suspended until after the 2010 results were in. The survey will be different this year, instead of asking where the hunter was located from a local Community, the survey will ask what zone the hunter was hunting in when he saw the turkeys. Eric assured the Board that they would be comparing apples to apples. Most areas of the state continue to see an increase in the turkey population; however the SE corner of the State is flat-lining.
He reported on a Research Study we funded, the purpose of this study was to evaluate winter diet selection and body condition of eastern wild turkeys in agricultural and forested areas on the northern fringe of their range in Minnesota. We collected 15 turkeys in forested habitat (7 in 2009 and 8 in 2010) and 55 turkeys in agricultural habitat (24 in 2009 and 31 in 2010). Crop contents of forested turkeys consisted of a mixture of high energy (e.g., acorns) and low energy (e.g., grass, leaf litter, and sensitive fern) food items, while crop contents of turkeys located in agricultural habitats consisted primarily of high energy (corn) food items. In 2009, adult females in forested habitat had 32% less body weight, 72% less body fat, and were assigned to lower body condition classes than adult females in agricultural habitat. In 2010, adult females in forested habitat had 24% less body weight, 49% less body fat, and most birds were assigned to a lower body condition class than adult females in agricultural habitat. Based on weight loss, we estimated that adult hens foraging in agricultural habitats satisfied 95% and 98% of their energy needs during the winter from food intake during 2009 and 2010, respectively. In contrast, food intake satisfied only an estimated 58% and 73% of the energy needs of adult hens foraging in forested habitats during 2009 and 2010, respectively. If consumption of fat reserves continued at the same rate in forested habitats, we projected that fat reserves would be depleted after 62 days during 2009 (i.e., by February 1) and after 97 days during 2010 (i.e., by March 7). Further range expansion of wild turkeys in Minnesota’s northern forests may be limited by availability of high energy food sources during winter, which are generally associated with agricultural practices.
The abstract from that Study will be submitted at the 10th National Wild Turkey Symposium. The symposium is being held at the National Conservation Training Center January 2011 in West Virginia. MN DNR will be presenting 2 papers at this Conference, the above mentioned paper and the other one is on the effects of supplemental food and experience on winter survival of transplanted wild turkeys. We funded that research as well.
MOHA REPORT: Kelly N. reported that the pressure Sportsmen put on the Legislation this year helped with several bills. He thanked the group for their efforts.
OLD BUSINESS:
FALL RAFFLE REPORT: Rod B. reported that all items have been picked up and all checks and gift certificates have been sent, the 2010 Fall Raffle is closed. After some discussion the Board made a motion and it passed to offer the 6 guns, 3 G.C.s and $5,000 cash for the grand prize for the 2011 Fall Raffle. The top 4 winning sellers would get $1,000 cash, and 3 - $1,000 G.C.
WEBSITE REPORT: Steve H. reported that he hasn’t had much luck getting the new website going due to lack of help from National. He will get the current website updated and get the new site up and rolling soon.
SEED CORN REPORT: Once again Monsanto screwed up and sent 781 bags of corn instead of the 861 bags we had ordered. The problem is they send bags by weight and sometimes the kernels are larger and the bags bigger, but due to the late arrival, we were able to refund the southern portion of the State because most of the area had finished planting and that gave us enough to supply the northern Chapters with seed. Wayne asks for a $10 donation per bag, if there are any funds remaining after expenses, that money goes towards JAKES events and disabled hunts in his area.
NEW BUSINESS:
SUPER FUND REPORT: The Super Fund Budget has approximately $40,000 remaining. The Super Fund Committee had requested to move funds at the March Meeting pending approve of the Board at this meeting. A motion was made and passed with 2 opposed to not move funds at this time to fund the research of radio collaring nuisance birds in urban areas.
Due to a glitch in the State Turkey Stamp Fund, the Der Detsche Longbeards will not be reimbursed the $5,855 for their tree planting project. The Chapter had already received the trees; they were ready to start the project, so they proceeded as planned. A motion to reimburse the Chapter $4,200 for this project was passed.
Tom G. reported that there had been discussions with the MN Bow Hunters on over the counter opportunities for archery hunter. There will be more to come on these discussions.
Tom asked if the Board would support combining Spring Hunting Seasons G & H into one season for a 14 day hunt. Eric D. said there was a pretty good difference in the number of hunters in the last 2 seasons, but did not have the figures. No action was taken.
Steve H. showed a MN map with all the Board Members home towns circled. The map showed the majority of the Board lives in the southern half of the State and future meetings should be held in a more generalized location. The next Board meeting will be November 21st, maybe at Cabela’s in Rogers.
Reminder: The State Convention will be held January 21 and 22 at Thumper Pond in Ottertail, MN (the reason we had the meeting here today).
Motion to adjourn the meeting at 3:45 was passed.
|
|
MINNESOTA CHAPTER NWTF BOARD MEETING REPORT
LOCATION: Holiday Inn - St. Cloud
TIME/DATE: March 21, 2010 – 10:00
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Vice-President – Jerry Jenkins, Secretary – Steve Hanson, Treasurer – Eugene Crandall, Rod Brasel, Kevin Klar, Bill Kresl, Kevin Kuehl, Lonnie Lewin, Sandy Loken, Kelly Niemeyer, Thomas Poirot, Warren Robertson, Damon Schleif, Larry Stcynske, Jason Stucky, Wayne Wiener.
BOARD MEMBERS MISSING: President – Marlo Sloan, Dick Snyder.
NWTF STAFF PRESENT: RDs Tom Glines, Todd Fairbanks, Eric Linder, Steve Merten, Biologist Dave Neu.
MN DNR REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Eric Dunton
REPORT WRITTEN BY: Steven M. Hanson, P.O. Box 53, Detroit Lakes, MN 218-841-4938 smhanson@lakesnet.net
President Sloan called the meeting to order and lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Approval of the Agenda, motion to approve was passed.
Approval of the Minutes from the January 15, 2010 meeting were approved and passed.
Damon Schleif apologized to the Board for his actions at the State Convention and said it would not happen again.
Acting President Jerry Jenkins informed the Board that President – Marlo Sloan hoped the Board accepted his absent from the meeting, but he is busy supplying the fuel for the pumps and equipment for those battling the flood in Fargo/Moorhead. He wanted the Board to know that 2 trailers have been sold and the other 2 are being held until further notice. Todd has already worn out a set of tires on his new smaller trailer and has told all the RDs to replace their tires with radials. He wanted clarification on the Archery in the Schools Program. Steve H. read the minutes from the last meeting clarifying the funding. Marlo also wanted to make sure the Board Members did not make any official statements about the wolves in MN.
SERGEANT OF ARMS REPORT: Larry S. reported that the new RD trailers are in and all have spares now and there is Graphics on 2 of the trailers. An equalizer hitch is needed for Tom’s trailer, the other trailer are pulling ok. The plan is to keep Eric’s Trailer and sell Cara’s. Jerry J. Volunteered to remove the stickers before the trailer was sold. We will be selling the trailer on K-Bid as per previous motion.
Constitution and By-Laws – The National Board will soon complete their review and our Steering Committee will come back by the September Board Meeting with our changes.
TREASURERS REPORT: Eugene C. submitted a written review. Our Bank is charging us to put money into out account, he was going to talk to the Bank about this and if this was going to be the case, he and Dick S. would check around for other banking options. Motion to accept the report was made and passed.
SPONSORS REPORT: Dick Snyder was not present, but reported that Sponsors were even or slightly down from last year as a whole. He was still waiting for one report from 2008 and several from 2009 to close out the year.
STAFF REPORTS:
Biologist Dave Neu: Phase 5 of the LCCMR has spent all the money and will end in June. Phase 6 is underway and has 3 contractors working and a supplemental $50,000 dollars has been provided. Phase 7 is in the proposal stage and being applied as a Block, It’s a 2 yr proposal with 100 more acres of cedar removal. SOS trees should be shipped in Mid-April and there should be more trees available this year.
RD Todd Fairbanks: It’s been a tougher year, attendance is down, but spending is up. He is telling each of his Chapters to watch their spending, His sponsors are down.
RD Eric Linder: Same with him, some good, some bad, a little up from last year. He has 5 Banquets left to go. Eris will be involved in two disabled hunts, April 23-25 is a disabled hunt at Ironwood Springs and May 14-16 is the Wounded Warriors Hunt. Eric is looking for Mentors to help with these hunts. (note: Eric wanted to request $1,000 for each of these hunts, but this request was never made until after the Board Meeting had ended. Emails were sent out and the Board approved the expense through emails, it will be officially requested and approved at the next Board Meeting).
RD Steve Merten: He is up in net dollars this year, has had a couple of bad banquets. He also has a disabled youth hunt April 22-23 and is looking for mentors for the hunt and helpers at Powder Ridge near St. Cloud for the benefit that evening.
RDs Tom Glines: 80% of the Banquets are above or even with Budget amounts. The dollar amounts look ok, but memberships are down. He said more changes will be coming from National.
He has applied and received a $10,000 Grant for our Youth, $5,000 will go for the Spring Youth Hunt, and the other $5,000 will go into our JAKES Fund. He took the liberty to buy box calls for every youth hunter and caps for all the Mentors, along with 1st turkey Pins for all the successful hunters. There will be 330 kids and 300 mentors. He said there are 40 JAKES events at $250 planned around the State and stressed using the $5,000 towards those events to get more kids and more events to affect more kids.
A motion was made and passed to give each JAKES event the standard $250, but if a Chapter wanted to conduct a second event, they would be eligible to receive an additional $250. It was also suggested that a Chapter could request additional funds if it had an unusually large Event or that 2 Chapters can work together and each get $250. Chapters however should NOT be making money on these events, if your cost is $50 to hold a JAKES Event, you should just ask for that amount.
Tom joined a group for simplifying youth hunting. Currently everyone had to apply for a turkey license thru the lottery, where as youth for ducks, pheasants, etc did not have to buy a license. Tom said he testified before the Legislation, and currently the under age 10 for deer hunting within an arms length is out, and there will be no minimum age to hunt. Youth 17 and under are now able to purchase a turkey license over the counter for any season or zone. Once everything as been finalized, Tom will be sending out more info.
We have been given a great opportunity for a fund raiser for our banquets by Ron Schara. He has donated a 3-day turkey hunt, lodging, meals and a Browning shotgun for the 2011 spring hunt at his ranch in SD. 100 box calls will be made with the number of each chapter printed on the call. Primos made the calls for $5.00 each, each Chapter will be able to raffle off that call at their Banquets, the winner of each Banquet will be placed in a State drawing to be drawn at the 2011 State Banquet, Ron will be the key note speaker. The money made from selling each call at the Banquets will be used for Land Acquisition in Ron’s name.
MOHA REPORT: Kelly N. read a letter from MOHA thanking the NWTF for their efforts. There are some Legislators who are not in favor of the State guying anymore land with Lessard Funds. They are try8ing to keep the dialog open despite the differences in opinion. Warren R. talked about gun control bills and other bills before Congress, there weren’t any concerns at this time, but to keep on top of any bills that might slip thru Congress; he suggested the website www.sportsmensforchange.org . Send any photos you have to share for the MOHA newsletter.
DNR UPDATES: Eric D. reported on the up coming Spring Season; he said depending on the location the birds came thru the winter good to poor. The southern part of the State had lots of snow. He stressed again not to feed the turkeys. The concentration of birds in one area can lead to disease and once you stop feeding them, there might not be any feed for them in the area. Also toxins in bag feed can wipe out a flock as well.
Big changes are coming for the 2010 Turkey Season. Youth will now be able to purchase a license over the counter for any season or zone, no lottery required. There will also be a large surplus of licenses for each zone for the last 2 time periods for anyone who wants a license.
There were 51,561 applications in 2010, and 57,691 applications in 2009, but of those 6,000 were youth applications.
There will be Public Input Meetings this winter and a proposal for a 30 day hunt is drawing support. The use of dogs during the Fall Hunt is not a viable option at this time.
He told us about a new Habitat Enhancement Reimbursement Grant, $15,000 is available to each Chapter; no matching funds from Chapter, preference will go to matching dollars next year. If the work is being done on State Land, it must go thru the Area Wildlife Manager. Work with Dave Neu on grant applications.
Eric talked about the National Convention Technical Committee Meeting. He talked about supplemental feeding and the agricultural damage turkeys are blamed for. He mentioned several southeastern States are shutting down the Fall Turkey Hunts because of the decline in population. Several lawsuits have been started because of this.
He talked about nuisance Urban Birds and how to deal with them. There is a low tolerance for these birds, they have no fear of people and they move around from located places, isolated/concentrated issues prevail. Shoreview has 100+ birds and has issued permits to remove (shoot) 75 birds; it had unfavorable State-wide coverage. A study is being conducted to tag a number of birds to follow them around urban areas, 10-15 birds were trapped and of those 5 died. Lots of discussion followed to move these birds instead of killing them, Marlo is on record to pay for Trap and Transplant instead of shooting these nuisance birds.
OLD BUSINESS:
FALL RAFFLE REPORT: Some gun winners were just notified that they could pick up their gun. The Grand Prize winner took the cash, 94 Chapters received tickets to sell; 57 Chapter sold tickets, 43 chapter never bothered to sell a ticket.
WEBSITE: Kevin Kuehl asked if we were going to move to the new NWTF Website for $400/year. We had been using a website for years without paying anything, but since this was brought up at the Convention Board Meeting while George Thorton was in attendance, we felt little recourse but to go with the new website. Steve H. and Sandy L will become the new State Webmasters.
SEED CORN REPORT: Wayne W. reported that 789 bags have been ordered and paid for and would be delivered on time for spring planting. Forms are individually numbered sheets and no one can get more than 5 bags. Dan Zimmerman in Nisswa will still be the distribution site for the Northern Chapters and Wayne’s Chapter, who is conducting the Seed Corn Program will be the distribution center for the Southern Chapters.
Educational Boxes will no longer be sent to every Chapter, each Chapter must request a box thru an RD.
NEW BUSINESS:
Tom presented the 2010 Super Fund Budget, after some discussion, the Budget was approved as typed.
SUPER FUND COMMITTEE: Marlo has asked the following Board Members to serve on the Super Fund Committee for 2010; Jerry Jenkins will continue to serve as Chairperson, Rod Brasel, Kevin Kuehl, Eugene Crandall, Steve Hanson will serve as Secretary, Marlo Sloan, Larry Stcynske, Dick Snyder, and Wayne Wiener.
The Board was asked if they were interested in ordering Board Shirts on a yearly basis. This would come out of the State Chapter Checkbook. It would become a small token of appreciation for their service. The President would have the authority to chose and order the shirts for the Board Members.
You are encouraged to send your suggestions for Banquet Packages to National.
SPORTS SHOW REPORTS: No volunteers have come forward to work the Booth for the Northwest Sport Show.
Motion to adjourn the meeting was passed at 2:40.
|
|
Minnesota NWTF Hunting Heritage State Super Fund Projects
See what you've made possible!
http://www.nwtf.org/in_your_state/superfund.php
|
|
|
