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SOUTHEAST REGIONAL ADVISORY PANEL - January 2009 Summary

Southeastern Regional Advisory Panel
Meeting Notes for
January 7, 2009

Attendees:
           
GFP Staff:
Arden Petersen
Emmett Keyser
Curt Robertson
Steve VanderBeek
Kathy Nedved

Panel Members:
Dick Behl 
Jon Brown
Tim Gutormson
Jim Headley
John Hemmingstad
Mike Hiltunen
Craig Roth
Bob Vosburg

Absent Panel Members:
Randy Bauder                                                                       

Welcome – Arden Petersen, Regional Supervisor:
Hand out minutes of last meeting and agenda for this meeting. Distributed 2009 Digest Calendar, GFP magnets, Budget Summary, and introduced attending department personnel.  Discussed how GFP monies are spent and briefly went over Budget Summary handout.  Talked about the breakdown in percentages and then spoke of estimated revenue.  Explained Federal Aid and how important it is to the department.  Passed out Landowner Guides to panel members and touched on how a Conservation Officer uses these.  The panel members commented on how handy these were; nice tool to have.  Asked panel members for additions or comments to the agenda, and asked if there were other items/topics to discuss.

Youth Opportunities – Curt Robertson, HuntSAFE Coordinator
Distributed handouts – folder titled Youth Opportunities in Hunting & Angling South Dakota, and the North American Wildlife Model for Wildlife Conservation DVD.  Started with question to panel members – Why do we want more kids hunting?

Curt proceeded with PowerPoint presentation and folder pointing out some of the most significant highlights.  Curt answered questions as brought up.

Where does SD sit nationwide percentage wise for licenses? (John H)
Idaho is first, Wyoming second, and South Dakota is third.  This question started quite a discussion with a variety of questions asked:

Youth hunting quick facts (page in handout) the National numbers:  Do kids feel hunting is unsafe because of Columbine? (Tim G)  Yes, Columbine changed the mind set and kids are asking themselves “am I safe?” First question the children ask now days when they see a gun is “Ever kill anybody with that?” (Curt)

Constraints to youth hunting (page in handout):  These numbers get lower as the people surveyed get older.

Kids are participating in after school sports so therefore hunting less.  How can we recruit them?  Five steps to successful recruitment (page in handout)

Discussed Mentored Youth Hunting:  First year for this season and approximately 950 kids participated.  Thankfully, there were no accidents reported from this group of hunters.  A lot of parents were very emotional over this season.

Lengthy discussion on opportunities in outdoor education that SD provides (page in handout)  Curt briefly described the two biggest programs - NASP and Step Outside.

Ended discussion with panel members planning to speak to their sportsmen’s groups in regards to sponsoring some of these programs, and writing up proposals to Curt.  Proposals will be routed through Arden.

GPA (Game Production Area) Management - Steve VanderBeek, Regional Program Manager of Habitat
Steve pointed out GPA poster on back wall that broke down habitat types on GPA’s in the 20 counties in Region 3.  He also passed out handout on Region 3 GPA’s and Acreage by County.  Steve explained that the GPA’s are owned by GFP.  Arden briefly explained the acquisition program to panel members. Steve explained that most of the GPA’s we’ve acquired are because a family member chooses to sell land to Game, Fish & Parks.  They often have a conservation mindset and want to see their land protected in that manner.  We often involve family members in selecting the name of the GPA.  Steve showed a PowerPoint presentation and specifically spoke of Rolling Hills GPA, Walz GPA and Ponderosa GPA.  He also briefly talked about our native grass planting procedures – farm for at least two years prior to planting grass so there’s a good, clean seedbed to plant the native seeds. 

Hunting Access – two types:

Brief discussion on Title 6 Lands in Bon Homme County – Corp of Engineer land transferred to GFP and also touched on Parks & Wildlife Foundation land.  Steve ended his presentation with the fact we have 183,000 acres of GPA’s statewide and we spray weeds and pay taxes on these properties.

Question asked if we have easements to manage any properties? (Dick) There are a few long-term easements for hunting access located in western part of state (Steve).  The question prompted brief discussion on Parks & Wildlife Foundation since Dick sits on the Parks & Wildlife Foundation board.

Yes, sometimes they purchase, sometimes they just help purchase. (Dick)

Legislative Session – Emmett Keyser, Wildlife Division Assistant Director
Panel members would like to receive legislative updates to stay knowledgeable about GFP issues. Arden will send updates to panel members.

Passed out Legislative Summer Study handouts.  Emmett talked about each bill and explained its importance. This created questions and discussion from panel members.  Panel members were grateful to have received the information and appreciated the time spent being informed and educated on these issues.

What kinds of issues do the other Regional Advisory Panels talk about? (Tim G)  Arden will share the minutes from the other meetings with all panel members.

Discussion topics for future meetings:

Next meeting in Brookings –
Date:  Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Time:  1pm to 5pm
Location:  SDSU Biostress Lab?

Petersen thanked panel members for their time, dedication and ideas.