bwiltse
03-21-2000, 07:39 AM
Exchange of ideas at public meetings on deer issues long overdue
Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Column by Bob Gwizdz
Booth Newspapers Outdoors Correspondent
Sensing an ever-widening rift between game managers and their clients, the state's largest conservation organization has set up a series of public meetings to get the Department of Natural Resources and deer hunters on the same page.
Michigan United Conservation Clubs, in conjunction with Michigan State University's Cooperative Extension Service, has scheduled eight meetings across the state to allow hunters and wildlife managers to exchange ideas.
Give Whitetails Forever some credit for this. The two-month-old hunters group has generated enough buzz about deer management - or a perceived lack thereof - that it can no longer be ignored. But there has been so much misinformation and innuendo about deer management that it wouldn't hurt to begin the program with the facts.
That's how the three-hour meetings are set up. MUCC will make some introductory remarks, the DNR will present a short program and then a facilitator from the extension service will take over. The program is designed to solicit comments and ideas, not foment a debate. The extension service will prepare a summary report for the DNR after the meetings have been completed.
All the meetings will be held before the Natural Resources Commission makes its final decisions on deer hunting regulations for the fall season.
Reaction from wildlife officials, who were approached by MUCC with the plan for the hearings in February, has been positive.
"The more information we can get, the better," said John Urbain, the DNR's deer specialist. "I'm going to try to be at as many (meetings) as I can. I think I have a pretty good ear to the public, but if I get an opportunity to hear more, I'll try to take advantage of it."
Urbain dismisses the idea that the DNR doesn't listen.
"We're not locked into any management system," Urbain said. "We look at new things every year. We try different techniques, both from survey standpoints and management standpoints. If people think they have a better idea, we'll listen."
Indeed, the system of issuing unlimited antlerless permits - the main point of contention right now - is only two seasons old. Before that, the block permit program generated plenty of criticism, but failed to accomplish anything. There has clearly been an evolution here - good, bad or indifferent - in reaction to the public.
Fact is, many of the management changes the DNR enacts have their genesis outside the agency. The two-tag combination deer license, for instance, came from the Legislature in reaction to hunter demands for a better licensing system. Antler restrictions on the second buck? That came from hunters, too.
At the same time, however, the agency is working on its own ideas, some of which will surprise the critics.
For instance: Hunters, who complain that DNR harvest data is inaccurate, demand a mandatory deer check program. It would probably surprise them to know that the DNR commissioned a Michigan State study on that very subject last summer.
Ben Peyton, a fisheries and wildlife professor who surveyed a random sample of Michigan deer hunters, found that 36 percent of those questioned were strongly opposed to mandatory deer checks and another 21 percent were somewhat opposed.
Whitetails Forever should take note: The majority of hunters oppose one of the most commonly proposed solutions.
My guess, however, is that most critics won't buy Peyton's work, either. After all, the DNR commissioned it.
And that's where MUCC is being smart: These are MUCC's meetings, not the DNR's. The DNR is a guest. And MUCC is not taking any DNR money to pay the bills.
Meetings, which will run from 7-10 p.m., are scheduled for: April 10, in Kalamazoo at Valley Community College Auditorium; April 11 in Livonia at Laurel Manor; April 13 at the Okemos Middle School; April 17 in Big Rapids at Morely-Stanwood School Cafetorium; April 18 in Saginaw at the Horizon Center; April 25 in Newberry at Tahquamenon High School Auditorium; April 26 in Crystal Falls at Forest Park School Gymnasium; and April 27 in Gaylord at Treetops Resort Convention Center.
This sort of exchange is long overdue. The obvious question becomes: What took so long? Why didn't the DNR take the initiative to do this itself? Why does it take a conservation group to do what is clearly in the DNR's - and the public's - best interest?
------------------
Boyd
Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Column by Bob Gwizdz
Booth Newspapers Outdoors Correspondent
Sensing an ever-widening rift between game managers and their clients, the state's largest conservation organization has set up a series of public meetings to get the Department of Natural Resources and deer hunters on the same page.
Michigan United Conservation Clubs, in conjunction with Michigan State University's Cooperative Extension Service, has scheduled eight meetings across the state to allow hunters and wildlife managers to exchange ideas.
Give Whitetails Forever some credit for this. The two-month-old hunters group has generated enough buzz about deer management - or a perceived lack thereof - that it can no longer be ignored. But there has been so much misinformation and innuendo about deer management that it wouldn't hurt to begin the program with the facts.
That's how the three-hour meetings are set up. MUCC will make some introductory remarks, the DNR will present a short program and then a facilitator from the extension service will take over. The program is designed to solicit comments and ideas, not foment a debate. The extension service will prepare a summary report for the DNR after the meetings have been completed.
All the meetings will be held before the Natural Resources Commission makes its final decisions on deer hunting regulations for the fall season.
Reaction from wildlife officials, who were approached by MUCC with the plan for the hearings in February, has been positive.
"The more information we can get, the better," said John Urbain, the DNR's deer specialist. "I'm going to try to be at as many (meetings) as I can. I think I have a pretty good ear to the public, but if I get an opportunity to hear more, I'll try to take advantage of it."
Urbain dismisses the idea that the DNR doesn't listen.
"We're not locked into any management system," Urbain said. "We look at new things every year. We try different techniques, both from survey standpoints and management standpoints. If people think they have a better idea, we'll listen."
Indeed, the system of issuing unlimited antlerless permits - the main point of contention right now - is only two seasons old. Before that, the block permit program generated plenty of criticism, but failed to accomplish anything. There has clearly been an evolution here - good, bad or indifferent - in reaction to the public.
Fact is, many of the management changes the DNR enacts have their genesis outside the agency. The two-tag combination deer license, for instance, came from the Legislature in reaction to hunter demands for a better licensing system. Antler restrictions on the second buck? That came from hunters, too.
At the same time, however, the agency is working on its own ideas, some of which will surprise the critics.
For instance: Hunters, who complain that DNR harvest data is inaccurate, demand a mandatory deer check program. It would probably surprise them to know that the DNR commissioned a Michigan State study on that very subject last summer.
Ben Peyton, a fisheries and wildlife professor who surveyed a random sample of Michigan deer hunters, found that 36 percent of those questioned were strongly opposed to mandatory deer checks and another 21 percent were somewhat opposed.
Whitetails Forever should take note: The majority of hunters oppose one of the most commonly proposed solutions.
My guess, however, is that most critics won't buy Peyton's work, either. After all, the DNR commissioned it.
And that's where MUCC is being smart: These are MUCC's meetings, not the DNR's. The DNR is a guest. And MUCC is not taking any DNR money to pay the bills.
Meetings, which will run from 7-10 p.m., are scheduled for: April 10, in Kalamazoo at Valley Community College Auditorium; April 11 in Livonia at Laurel Manor; April 13 at the Okemos Middle School; April 17 in Big Rapids at Morely-Stanwood School Cafetorium; April 18 in Saginaw at the Horizon Center; April 25 in Newberry at Tahquamenon High School Auditorium; April 26 in Crystal Falls at Forest Park School Gymnasium; and April 27 in Gaylord at Treetops Resort Convention Center.
This sort of exchange is long overdue. The obvious question becomes: What took so long? Why didn't the DNR take the initiative to do this itself? Why does it take a conservation group to do what is clearly in the DNR's - and the public's - best interest?
------------------
Boyd