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NORTHEAST REGIONAL ADVISORY PANEL - September 2009 Summary

Northeast Regional Advisory Panel Meeting Notes

Attendees:
Panel Members:
Ray Van Liere
Neil Bein
John Johnson
Rick Smith
Rieck Eske
Dick Pearson
Jeff Snell

GF&P Staff:
Doug Alvine
Scott Lindgren
Tom Kirschenmann
Lorene Wasland

Region IV Advisory Panel met at 5pm at the Country Inn and Suites on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. Doug Alvine welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming and briefly went over The Division of Wildlife Law Enforcement Program and the new 2009 Hunting Regulations that had been given to each person.  He also reviewed our last meeting and some of the highlights of Larry Gigliotti’s presentation.

He then introduced Tom Kirschenmann – Section Leader of Terrestrial Resources who began an informational section on CRP, CHAPS, WIAs, SAFE acres and the CREP program.  Tom had several handouts and there was lots of discussion on the amount of acres that are or have come out of CRP and how the loss of habitat correlates with the loss of numbers of upland game birds and waterfowl along with environmental factors.

There was a lot of interest in the CREP program and it was agreed that unlimited access to sportsmen as a requirement to sign-up was a definite positive. Everyone is excited to hear what the outcome of the James River Watershed project will be.

Doug then explained to all present about the re-organization of the Wildlife Damage Management program and the efficiency that the new structure will provide.  He gave some background on the way the program has been working and how it will change.  He also gave a brief biography on the two new employees hired and the existing three that have been covering the ADC/WDM programs.

Scott began his part of the program re-iterating some of the Wildlife Damage Specialist activities. The goose depredation questions and comments began almost immediately.  Scott had a power point presentation explaining the time commitments each WDS would be able to use for management and complaints and he had several graphs on hunter numbers, birds harvested, number of days hunted, sites where buffer strips, fencing, hazing, and food plots were used and when the season dates started.  There was also a chart of the Canada Goose Take Permit showing the geese that were killed by means of destroying nests or killing the adult goose.  There was lots of discussion, opinions and questions!  Canada goose depredation definitely affects a lot of people.

Doug also explained to the panel that a task force was being set up for further specific meetings to address the Canada goose situation.  Each region will select two members to represent their panel and the two from Region IV will be Neil Bien as a landowner and Rieck Eske as a sportsman.  Both have agreed to sit on the task force and Doug expressed appreciation to both.  This task force will meet several times before the end of the year with Pierre staff, regional staff and the public to listen and try to find solutions.

It was determined that the next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at the Country Inn and Suites in Watertown starting at 5PM. A few of the possible topics for the next meeting include an update on the Walk-in-Area Survey, an update on the duck opener survey, an update and discussion of the goose depredation and Task Force meetings this fall, and a presentation on waterfowl wounding loss.