Forest Service Supervisor- Craig Bobzien

• An acquisition on the southeast corner of Wind Cave facilitated by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Now 980 acres of 2400 acres have been purchased. Premier property for wildlife.
• Norbeck Area, which includes Black Elk Wilderness, has legislation passed for game animals and birds. This is unique legislation and unlike any in the rest of the country. Must look at resource condition. A habitat assessment shows a very dense conifer cover with a decline in hardwood shrubs. Identify wildlife that would be most desirable to plan habitat around. There are a couple of big public concerns: fire and beetles. Proposed action in development will have secondary benefits of increasing the forest health. Looking at using prescribed fire. Trying to limit unnatural impact on primitive area.
• Working on a draft Environmental Impact Statement. Developing alternatives on an off-road travel plan based on public comments. Will address alternatives and draft EIS in June. Biggest change will mean going from open cross-country travel to designated trail system. Looking at several different possible arrangements, including gateway communities, difference between motorized and non-motorized activities, places where there can be more use and places where there will be less. Game retrieval was an issue with the GFP Commission and the original proposal allowed for only limited retrieval, but some alternatives would allow for greater latitude in retrieval.

Division of Parks and Recreation

Action Items

No proposals

Information Items

CSP Bond Issue Update

Game Lodge Renovation

• Plans for continued renovation of the Game Lodge were shared with the Commission, including working on ADA access issues to the building; issues for drive-up traffic; new kitchen; parking; roof work; and adding 10,000 square foot to the Game Lodge.
• The Game Lodge project will be between $2-3 million. It is the signature project for the entire bond issue.

CSP Pine Bark Beetle project

• Bill Hill, CSP senior staff forester, brought Commission up to date on battle against mountain pine beetles. The beetle is native to the Black Hills and mass attacks Ponderosa pines that are under stress. The northwest corner of CSP has been under attack since 2004 from beetles coming out of the Black Elk Wilderness area. A number of infested trees were removed in spring ’05, then in the fall infested trees were identified and mapped. In ’06 again removed or destroyed trees to slow down the movement. The epidemic has really grown in the past year despite destroying or removing nearly 20,000 trees.
• The epidemic has been slowed to the point where the forest has been preserved in its current status. The Forest Service predicts the population will grow in extreme numbers this summer and in the near future. 80-90 percent of the trees in the Black Elk Wilderness will be dead within a few years.
• CSP will continue program to identify and thin susceptible stands of trees.

April Reservations

• Despite gas prices, reservations are looking very good. Reservations are up about 18 percent statewide over last year for nights of camping. Visitations are up in many park and recreation areas around the state.

Division of Wildlife

Action Items

Proposals (proposal action sheets with additional information can be found linked to the Commission page on the Web site):

Leftover Licenses

• For deer, antelope, and turkey seasons where a limited number of licenses are allocated, remove the 5 license limit after the third drawing, and make leftover licenses available on a first-come first-serve basis without limit as long as license remain unsold.
• Correct the reference of accruing preference points for big game hunting units for which no licenses have been allocated from 41:06:02:03(48) to 41:06:02:03(49).
• passed

West River Deer Hunting Season

• Combine Units 53A and 53B to form Unit 53A.
• Combine Units 20A and 20B to form Unit 20A.
• Adjust license numbers in 24 units by lowering one-tag licenses by 1,110 and increasing two-tag licenses by 2,315 (4,630 tags) compared to 2007 for resident hunters.
• Adjust license numbers in 24 units by lowering one-tag licenses by 90 and increasing two-tag licenses by 184 (368 tags) compared to 2007 for nonresident hunters.
• Update Unit 58D description to use suggested phrases provided in "People First Language".
• passed

Black Hills Deer Hunting Season

• Offer residents 100 and nonresidents 8 fewer Any Antlerless Deer licenses than 2007.
• Offer residents 450 and nonresidents 36 fewer Antlerless Whitetail licenses than 2007.
• passed

Fall Turkey Hunting Season

• Offer residents 500 and nonresidents 40 more one-tag "any turkey" licenses (14% increase of 540 tags) in the Black Hills than 2007.
• Offer residents 244 more one-tag and 400 more two-tag "any turkey" licenses (8% increase of 644 tags) in Prairie units than 2007.
• Offer nonresidents 8 more one-tag and 16 fewer two-tag "any turkey" licenses in Prairie units than 2007.
• Combine Units 53A & 53B into Unit 53A.
• Combine Dewey (24A) and Ziebach (64A) into one unit (Dewey/Ziebach 24A).
• Eliminate the split season for Lincoln County (44A & 44B) and change to 44A.
• Adjust unit boundary for 49A and BH1.
• passed

Furbearers/Trapping Seasons

• Modify trapping rule 41:08:02:03 to read: Trap checking required. A trapper shall check all traps and snares in the field belonging to the trapper and remove any caught animals prior to 12 o'clock midnight of the second full calendar day east of the Missouri River, and prior to 12 o'clock midnight of the third full calendar day west of the Missouri River, following a previous check or when the trap was initially set. However, any trap or snare set entirely beneath ice that remains entirely beneath ice shall be checked and any caught animals removed prior to 12 o’clock midnight of the fifth full calendar day statewide, following a previous check or when the trap was initially set.
• Mink/Weasel/Muskrat: Make adjustments to nonresident trapping season date rules for mink and weasel that allows trapping from December 6 through January 31.
• Beaver: Remove the closed to beaver trapping status on the Spring Creek drainage in Pennington County and open that area to trapping.
• Bobcat: No changes from last year so this season is finalized.
• Skunk/Opossum/Jackrabbit/Fox/Raccoon/Badger: No changes so this season finalized.
• All passed

Mountain Lion Hunting Season

• Move the season dates to January 1 through March 31.
• Adjust season extension option by Commission resolution to authorize the mountain lion season to extend beyond March 31.
• A mountain lion license allows landowners to hunt year round on their own land outside the Black Hills Fire Protection District.
• Mountain lion management in South Dakota is focused on the Black Hills where the habitat conditions and prey base are most adequate to support a sustained population. Population management outside the Black Hills (prairie) is not a department objective, and no information/data available at this time suggests a mountain lion population can be supported outside the Black Hills. However, sightings outside the Black Hills, both west river and east river, are reported and occur throughout the year. Due to landowners concerned about potential livestock depredation, GFP recommends that landowners who purchase a mountain lion license be allowed to remove a mountain lion found on their own land year round and statewide, excluding the Black Hills Fire Protection District. A mountain lion license purchased by a landowner would also be valid during the January 1 – March 31 season, unless the license was used prior to the season beginning. A resident or landowner is limited to purchasing one mountain lion license.
• passed

Aquatic Nuisance Permits

• Permit for McCook Lake in Union County to treat aquatic vegetation.
• passed

Information Items

Land acquisitions

1. Public notice announcements

1. Lake Thompson-Hauck property located 3 miles southwest of Lake Preston in Kingsbury County. 75-acre addition to the Lake Thompson GPA in wetland and grassland. Property valued at $110,000.

2. McCook County-Beuhner property located 6 miles south of Salem in McCook County. 240-acre tract of wetland and grassland, including ¾ miles of the west fork of the Vermillion River. Cost appraised at $625,000 with $73,000 of value donated by current owners.

Sportsmen Against Hunger

Mountain Lion population update

CWD testing

Hatchery Open House Events

WAFWA meeting in July

Miscellaneous program updates

Next Meeting

June 5th and 6th at the Pierre Ramkota RiverCentre