Arkansas Out-of-Doors September/October 2010

Arkansas Out-of-Doors • September/October 2010 - 1

cyan blackyellowmagenta

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Nonprofit OrganizationU.S. Postage Paid

Permit 128Russellville, Ark.

72801

T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E A R K A N S A S W I L D L I F E F E D E R AT I O N • V O L 3 8 N O 4A F F I L I AT E D W I T H T H E N AT I O N A L W I L D L I F E F E D E R AT I O N

2 - Arkansas Out-of-Doors • September/October 2010

Another year has come and gone. I have been nominated and elected to serve another term as President of AWF and proud to do so. Last year was a very difficult year for AWF and myself with the recession and all of the politics. As I read the statistics for donations and contributions to Non-Profit Organizations it tells me those donations are down over 25% for this past year nationwide. It also tells me that the number of people getting involved and helping out is way down. I know for AWF we had a slow year with our donations. AWF donations were down about 40% this past year. I know it is very hard for working people and businesses to contribute when the economy is so bad. But AWF keeps on working toward our main goal - conservation and protecting our environment. As you have seen in the last issue of AOOD we had a very successful banquet. Even though donations were down AWF was able to get enough donations to still recognize those that contributed so much of their time and efforts to conservation issues they believe in. I know this will continue because we all care about fish, wildlife, and Arkansas Natural Resources.

We are also working on a special project with the Ozark National Forest in restoring land for wildlife in the Bearcat Hollow area (see July/August 2010 issue). So far AWF has put in over 350 man hours plus $11,400 toward this project. AWF does not receive any tax money; our organization is strictly funded by donation and memberships. What would you like to give to help support AWF programs and issues in Arkansas. Maybe you need to donate to a good cause before the end of the year for tax purposes. Membership dues are $25 and up and AWF appreciates all donation and support. Just because we’re a non-profit organization doesn’t mean things come free. We have to also pay bills: rent, utilities, employees, and work that we do to benefit and protect our Natural Resources. For instance, we send out over 6,000 copies of AOOD to readers and it costs AWF about $2 for each paper we produce. Of those who receive AOOD only a small fraction pay their dues to AWF in order to receive AOOD bi-monthly. Because we care, and hope you care, we have not removed those names that have not paid their

President - Wayne Shewmake1st VP - David Carruth

2nd VP - VacantTreasurer - Garry Bush

Secretary - Lucien Gillham

Arkansas Wildlife Federation9108 Rodney Parham Rd. Suite 101

Little Rock, AR 72205

Are you a writer or an aspiring writer? Arkansas Out-of-Doors is seeking columnists to write on a regular basis for our bi-monthly magazine. High school and college students are encouraged to submit samples, a perfect way to start building your portfolio and to help preserve Arkansas’ natural beauty. We are also seeking scholars and/or professional people who are knowledgeable about hunting, fishing, hiking/camping, plants, animals, etc. Do you have a large collection of tips or information on one of these subjects? Do you have a subject in mind that we haven’t mentioned? We’re open to ideas. Remember, we’re looking for something insightful to excite our readers about the particular subject you are writing about. This is not a soapbox but more of an advice column that needs a reliable and dependable person to share their knowledge. For students we are interested in finding representatives for various regions of Arkansas to let us know what is happening in their part of the state, what their school or community may be doing, what their fellow students think of the current state of affairs in regards to Arkansas Wildlife Federation’s goals. We’re seeking articles/columns that range between 500 and 1000 words. We need 3 samples of either your previous work or, if you are new to writing, pick examples of something that interests you and send us your best. Please send samples as an RTF or MS Word file to [email protected]. Be sure to include your contact information and a short bio. We will get back to you within 4-6 weeks.

dues to receive AOOD, and would like for you to continue to receive our newspaper. However, because of the economy and the cost for producing AOOD we soon may be forced to stop mailing out our newspaper to those that don’t help support AWF in the cost to produce AOOD bi-monthly. We want to continue to get our news out there and to let people know what AWF is doing. But again it cost money to operate and we need and ask for your support. AWF is the

voice of the sportspeople and outdoors person. AWF is doing our best with what we have to get out there and get involved in the environment to protect your rights and privileges as an environmentalist, so we ask you for you’re support with your AWF membership and donation. We can and do make a difference. AWF will be celebrating 75 years in operation in Arkansas next year. AWF is the oldest and largest organization in continuous operation in Arkansas. “AWF is the voice for the people.”

AOOD Seeking Columnists


By Ethan Nahté Halloween brings to mind many things such as witches, black cats, trick or treaters, and bats. Although the holiday has recently passed and many bats have either migrated south or gone into hiding and a deep sleep for the winter, a critical time may be in their very near future. A disease known as White Nose Fungus (WNS) is afflicting many bat colonies which could not only affect the survival of many endangered or threatened species but could have a huge affect on the ecology for other animals and mankind. According to an article on Bat Conservation International’s website, “Since White-nose Syndrome was discovered in a single New York cave in February 2006, more than a million hibernating bats of nine species have been killed by the disease in fourteen states.” In a matter of four years it has spread and been verified in caves throughout Tennessee, Missouri and Oklahoma – caves in which the bats south of the Mason-Dixon Line rarely, if ever, have any contact with any bats in the northern part of the country. It is also spreading across the northeastern portion of the United States and up into Canada. “A lot of the spread has been bats contacting bats,” says Blake Sasse, certified wildlife biologist and nongame mammal/furbearer program leader for Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. “In the case of the bats in Oklahoma, they don’t have contact with the bats out of the northeast, so some of the jump may have potentially been brought by people.” Amanda Lollar, author and owner/director of Bat World Sanctuary, headquartered in

Mineral Wells, TX, reports, “Currently, there aren’t any reports of WNS-like symptoms in the immediate [Texas] area and we’re not hearing anything from new regions.” Lollar’s organization has twenty rescue centers nationwide, ranging from the west coast to the east coast, and as far north as Connecticut. The disease appears and thrives during the cold season when bats are trying to sleep. Most of the species in the United States are hibernators. During this period of hibernation the flying mammal, which can live up to thirty-nine years according to Bat Conservation International (BCI) out of Austin, TX, depend on the nutrition and fat they have conserved by eating all spring and summer, similar to other mammals that depend on hibernation to survive the winter such as bears. Sasse says, “The Fungus seems to like living in a cold environment. The caves are pretty cold. What we think is going on is that the fungus bothers the bats and it wakes them up. They lose the energy they’ve stored up and that’s why we think they fly around in the wintertime searching for insects and there aren’t any. Most of the bats in Arkansas don’t live in caves in the summertime so it’s too hot for the fungus to spread and the bats are eating the insects they would normally eat and using up the energy they would normally use during that time.” “Generally, it is believed that the fungus Geomyces destrucans is the causative agent,” Lollar adds. “It makes sense to us because bats with fungus often present with wing damage. They groom infected areas, so they clearly are irritated by the fungal lesions. It seems

likely that there is some form or irritation or inflammation caused by the Gd fungus that prevents affected bats from entering or staying in appropriate levels of winter torpor. However, there are a lot of questions still to be answered.” In keeping with what Lollar mentions about grooming, for those unfamiliar with the habits of bats, they are a very social creature and spend a large amount of time grooming themselves and one another to keep clean of mites, fleas, flies and even flesh-eating Dermestid beetles. Remaining in a state of torpor must be difficult enough without the

additional problem of WNS. “There are some species of bat that will begin flying around when it gets warm enough in the winter heading into spring. If the public see dead bats on the cave floor or a fungus on them we would want to know; or a colony flying around in the daytime during the winter right around the cave,” says Sasse. “They can contact me [for dead bats found in Arkansas]. I’ll be asking questions such as when and where they saw it and what activity/behavior was going on at the time?” Sasse adds that, “In the summertime it won’t Story cont. on page 12

White Nose Syndrome Spreading South

LITTLE ROCK - A small north Arkansas lake will become seven times larger under a federal stimulus project. Brock Creek Lake is in the Ozark National Forest in the southwestern corner of Van Buren County. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will use American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funding, popularly known as stimulus funds, to make improvements in Arkansas’s Ozark-St. Francis National Forest that will improve two waterways. For one stimulus project, the restoration and expansion of Upper Brock Creek Lake, the FWS has entered into an interagency agreement with the USDA Forest Service,

providing $35,000 in stimulus funds for the project. In the other project, to replace a low-water crossing on Fanes Creek, a tributary of the Mulberry River, the Service has entered into an interagency agreement with the Forest Service for $25,000. The goal of the Upper Brock Creek Lake project is to increase the size of the lake from 66 acres to about 476 acres, and to provide greater recreational fishing and wildlife viewing opportunities for everyone who uses the lake. A boat ramp and handicap accessible fishing pier will be constructed to provide greater recreational fishing opportunities.

Two stimulus projects to improve Ozark NF waterways

Workers will drain the lake and renovate the tower structure used to manipulate water levels. While the lake is drawn down, additional structure such as spawning habitat (gravel beds) and brush piles will be created to provide fish habitat. Upon completion, the lake will be re-filled and stocked with various fish species. Dike clearing has started on the project, and workers are awaiting favorable conditions to burn vegetation. To complete the project, partner matching funds will be used to replace a tower and increase the overall acreage of the lake. Partners in the Brock Creek Lake project include the USFWS, Forest Service, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, National Forest Foundation, Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership, and Southwestern Energy. On the Fanes Creek stimulus project, workers will remove a concrete ford crossing

and replace it with a bottomless box culvert or counter-sunk structure. The pipes in the present ford have become partially clogged and an impediment to proper passage for fish and other species. A new, appropriately designed structure will provide unimpeded migration for aquatic species and provide less restriction of woody material and silt within the channel, while allowing vehicle passage over the stream. The project is being designed. Partners on the Fanes Creek project include the USFWS, Forest Service and Johnson County. The Recovery Act provides $280 million for the USFWS, which includes $115 million for construction, repair and energy-efficient retrofit projects at Forest Service facilities, and $165 million for habitat restoration, deferred maintenance and capital-improvement projects.


Dena WoernerFormerly published in Arkansas Wild

This summer, I traveled to coastal Louisiana to see firsthand the effects of the tragic Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. The trip was sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation in an effort to bring awareness to not only the oil spill but also to the rapidly eroding Louisiana marshlands. When first asked to take part in this trip, I pictured myself cleaning petroleum drenched wildlife and wading through brown tarry residue. I had no idea I would be touring the open ocean, wading through marshes and holding virgin earth in my hands.

As I walked the pier in Buras, LA, the only visible signs of the oil spill were research boats, governmental workers and barges carrying yellow oil-containment booms out into the gulf. There was something eerie about the whole scene but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Finally I realized that like ghost ships, all of the fishing and shrimp boats were docked in the marina—locals were nowhere to be found. Fishing had come to a halt even though there were no signs of oil. Perception is reality. The Deep Horizon debacle is devastating coastal Louisiana even in areas not ridden with sludge. People cancelled fishing excursions and vacations after learning that the spill had reached the Louisiana coast. Ryan Lambert, owner of the Buras-based Cajun Fishing Adventures explained that bookings were up 66% for the year when the Deepwater Horizon started gushing petroleum into the ocean. With a tongue-in-cheek tone, he apologized for the lack of oil for us to see, or animals to save and explained that there is an even bigger tragedy taking place literally in his front yard. Turning lemons into lemonade, he is using the crisis in the gulf as an opportunity to bring awareness to the vanishing Louisiana wetlands. He is passionate about this cause and I soon learned that the oil spill wasn’t the only story I would bring home to Arkansas. Barrier islands and Louisiana’s wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate of the equivalent of one football field every 30 minutes. Coastal wetland loss threatens fisheries and waterfowl populations which contribute to a billion dollar industry vital to the economy of the region. In addition, millions of waterfowl depend on Louisiana’s marshes for food and habitat. Communities and industries were developed along the lower Mississippi River delta. Levees were raised to protect these dwellings from catastrophic flooding that naturally occurs along a river. These levees do a wonderful job of keeping rising water out, but they also shut off the delta from life-sustaining sediment

and freshwater. These are two components that are basic building blocks for swamps and marshes. It is flooding that rebuilds land and replenishes fertile soil to a region. Without new sediment, Mother Nature can no longer repair the damage caused by the erosion of the sea. With no new land being added to the barrier islands, the gulf started claiming the coastal protection of Louisiana at an alarming rate. Louisiana’s barrier islands provide some of the world’s finest redfish habitat as well as protection from the intrusive tides. According to local fishing captain Terry Lambert, it used to take the tides three hours to “come in.” Now, the sea charges through the defenseless marshes in just one hour. The speed at which the tides move increases the rate of erosion. In addition, the islands act as a barrier to storm surges and now, oil. The remaining barrier islands were the first land masses to be breached by the spill; however, those areas that have succumbed to the erosion found oil washing up on shore. As I sat overwhelmed by this story, I realized that the effects of the oil spill and ultimately this vanishing paradise is not only Louisiana’s problem. This devastating loss of habitat reaches from the northern United States prairies clear down to the Louisiana coast. Arkansas lies in this path.

The Arkansas connection: In search of food and milder climates, waterfowl and shorebirds make their way to the southern United States, Mexico, and Central and South America each year. Traveling along an atmospheric super highway, otherwise known as the Mississippi Flyway, they leave their choice breeding grounds of northern North America in search of the prime wintering sites of the south, returning again with the warmth of spring. The Louisiana marshland winters 70% of the Mississippi Flyway’s waterfowl populations. The flyway resembles a funnel—wide at its beginning in Alaska and Canada and narrowing as it passes through the United States and empties out in coastal Louisiana. The flyway passes over Arkansas, which provides prime resting and feeding areas in the wetlands surrounding the Cache River, Arkansas lower White River areas, numerous bayous, oxbow lakes and farmland. Arkansas has been noted as the single most important wintering area for mallards in North America. Wintering waterfowl bring thousands of hunters into the eastern part of Arkansas each year creating the basis for a recreational industry that encompasses duck clubs, hunting guides, outdoor-equipment retailers, and associated lodging and restaurant services. This industry has been valued at more than $100 million annually. Some might think that a loss of habitat south of Arkansas would be beneficial to the state whereas the birds would simply stay in Arkansas. However, this is not the case. There is the continuum of habitat across seasons—each stop has its own part in the lifecycle of the bird. Arkansas’s waterfowl population will not be successful without the habitat in Louisiana. According to Dale Humburg, Chief Biologist for Ducks Unlimited, the initial concern was the uncertainty of the various affects of the spill on waterfowl populations. If oil had been in the marshes and a tidal surge would have taken place, the impact would have been considerable. The immediate devastation was largely alleviated with the capping of the well, the high rate of bacterial deterioration of the dispersed oil and because of this summer’s high water levels of the Mississippi River. Story continued on next page >>

Oil Spill Affects the Natural State of Things

We all dream of replicating the day the sky turned black with ducks. But to do this, we must preserve their habitat. Coastal Louisiana’s wetlands are in serious trouble. Together, concerned citizens along with hunters and anglers from across the country, we can save this Sportsman’s Paradise. This is about rebuilding the delta and waterfowl habitat. It takes one voice – everyone working together to send one message. With that voice, we can restore this National treasure. It is our time; this is our great occasion. Land Tawny, Senior Manager for Sportsmen Leadership for the National Wildlife Federation is leading this cause. He listed the following ways Arkansans can help.

Join hundreds of businesses and

organizations from across the country

by signing your business or organization

on to restore coastal Louisiana at www.

vanishingparadise.org.

Sign up individually to receive

updates and get involved at www.

vanishingparadise.org.

Call your Senators and ask them to

make sure that a portion of the penalties

assessed from the BP Deep Horizon

spill are used for coastal Louisiana

restoration.

How to help

1.

2.

3.


The City of Fayetteville Environmental Action Committee has initiated a program to pursue designation of Fayetteville as the first National Wildlife Federation Certified Community Wildlife Habitat™ in the state or Arkansas. A Community Wildlife Habitat™ is a community that supports wildlife throughout; in individual yards, school grounds, public areas such as parks, community gardens, places of worship, and businesses. Each certified habitat provides essential food and water sources, places for cover, nesting sites, and employs sustainable gardening practices. On September 7th, 2010, Fayetteville City Council, along with Mayor Jordan, expressed their support in passing the Community Wildlife Habitat Resolution Number 155-10, authorizing the Environmental Action Committee to act as the project lead in certification, education, community projects, and the other required steps for achieving community certification with the National Wildlife Federation®. The Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association is partnering with the

Environmental Action Committee in this effort, providing additional expertise and resources necessary toward creating an ecologically literate citizenry and securing a place for wildlife while developing green infrastructure throughout our community. A Habitat Team has also been established, comprised of representatives from 17 other local groups and agencies including non-profit conservation groups, industry leaders, city administrators and educators. This highly collaborative project seeks to build upon existing efforts in our area and provide a concrete framework by which those efforts can best be promoted toward a common goal. A large portion of this effort will include public education and community outreach, and our “Ready, Set, Certify!” campaign, as we work toward certifying hundreds of habitat properties throughout Fayetteville. To certify their properties, residents are directed to the National Wildlife Federation website at www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife. The application may be downloaded from this site and mailed to NWF with the required $20 processing fee. The NWF will track certified properties by

Fayetteville Community Wildlife Habitat Project

the zip code listed on each application and apply those credits toward our community certification. Once each individual property is certified, owners may choose to order and display the “certified habitat” sign from the NWF website for an additional $30. Signs are optional, although highly encouraged as a visual tool for habitat awareness throughout the community. In addition to creating and certifying suitable habitat on residential properties, the EAC has worked with the City of Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Department to identify 25 public parks and trails for certification as well, with a goal of creating educational wildlife habitat kiosk centers and interpretive habitat trails at two of those locations. Several Fayetteville Public Schools are also working toward creating Certified Schoolyard Habitats that will be used as outdoor science classrooms for their students. The NWF provides curriculum guides and lesson plans for teachers interested in providing hands-on learning opportunities to their students. Brochures, a website and facebook page, along with other promotional and educational materials are being created and will soon be available. In addition, interested residents will have the opportunity to be trained as Habitat Steward Volunteers in the spring of 2011, and How-To Workshops are already available to interested groups and neighborhood associations.

For more information about this effort, contact Project Leader, Terri Lane with the Environmental Action Committee at [email protected] or 479-966-4780. For more information about how to certify your community, visit www.nwf.org, and contact Roxanne Nersesian Paul, National Wildlife Federation, [email protected] or 703-438-6586.

"Oil Spill Affects..." Cont. Initially the concern was that the birds would travel to the marshes and succumb to the blanket of oil and never make it back to Arkansas and the breeding grounds of the north. “We may have dodged a bullet but we don’t know the potential long term impact of the oil that we cannot see including the effects on food webs including clams and vegetation—we don’t know for sure.” The Deepwater Horizon incident brought national focus to the issue of coastal degradation. The saltwater intrusion and the loss of a substantial amount of habitat is very much a concern to waterfowl populations but few knew the issue existed. With the ocean claiming so much land so fast, one would think that we have lost the battle. However, there is hope. On the last day of my trip, I took a detour to the Atchafalaya Basin where a wetland gain, rather than loss is taking place. In the late 1800s a navigational channel was carved between the Atchafalaya and Mississippi Rivers. A 1943 flood created a base of sediment in the area. With this base, subsequent floods helped form the lobes of the Delta. “This is one of the finest examples of how a man-made channel combined with natural processes is working to build natural habitat,” said Ben Webber, program assistant

with the National Wildlife Federation’s Coastal Louisiana Restoration Program. For me, it was overwhelming to realize that thirty years ago, this plush marshland was open water. I reached down and plucked a clump of sediment from the bay. I expected it to smell like swamp but to my surprise, it was clean, silty, and unlike anything I have ever felt. I was holding more than the newest land on earth, I was holding hope. Although I did not clean oiled birds or beaches, the trip was not a disappointment. I did travel to the deep water of the gulf and tour the vanishing marshes in search of oil—I saw the breach of boons that were supposed to protect the islands and I saw waves break where a beach once sat—but that is another story. I traveled home to Arkansas with a new understanding of how a loss of habitat in one area of the continent can affect all of us and how a devastating man-made disaster can actually help to bring awareness to a different crisis. Ryan Lambert compared the oil to a former girlfriend. “It came into our lives and someday it will leave. We will always remember it and think about what we could have done differently and what worked, but in the end the oil spill is simply an event. The real story here is the vanishing wetlands and marshes.”

Gulf Mountain WMA renamed to honor Henderson SCOTLAND - Scott Henderson’s tenure as the director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has come to an end, but his work fulfilling the agency’s mission - to wisely manage Arkansas’s fish and wildlife resources while providing maximum enjoyment for the people - continues. One of the state’s wildlife management areas was renamed last week to honor Henderson’s efforts. Gulf Mountain WMA became Scott Henderson Gulf Mountain WMA. Henderson was AGFC director since early 2003 before stepping down in September. During the last few years, he supervised AGFC’s leases with Chesapeake Energy for gas drilling rights on Gulf Mountain and Petit Jean River WMAs. The leases have produced $32 million to fund numerous conservation programs, facility renovations and new projects. With gas lease funds, the AGFC purchased the $2.12 million Wallace Land Trust near Arkansas City in Desha County. The purchase included 1,800 acres of wildlife habitat on the Freddie Black Choctaw Island WMA Deer Research Area. The original purchase of the WMA is known as the East Unit and the Wallace Land Trust is the West Unit of the WMA. Henderson also was instrumental in providing grants to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for additional inspectors in the Fayetteville Shale play to protect wildlife in the lease areas. He spearheaded the drive to provide outdoor recreation grants to the Department of Rural Services and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.


Water -- Short Thoughts on Water on the Occassion of the 38th Birthday of the Clean Water ActDear Global Systems and Water Thinkers, I just wrote a short piece for my boss to use on the occasion of the 38th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act, October 18, 1972 (passed over Richard Nixon's veto with GOP support in the House and Senate). I thought it may be a useful if shorter piece than Maud Barlow's trenchant work that David sent around earlier. Hope it helps. Water is the heart of all life. It is embedded in all life forms, in all economic, social and spiritual practices across the globe. Disaggregating and disconnecting water from this essential nature is what has led us to chop it up into pieces, think of it as something that can be owned and led to laws and practices that encourage its waste, overuse, pollution and that reinforces class, race and gender inequity because of lack of access. We live on a water planet that has one global water cycle. That water cycle is broken and is contributing to and being affected by chemical pollution, unheard of and accelerated biodiversity loss, nutrient issues (nitrogen and phosphate cycle is broken), the hardening of the landscape

LITTLE ROCK - The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission last week approved an 18-day spring turkey season. The season framework was approved after a review of recent harvests, brood surveys and gobbling chronology data, along with input from turkey hunters. Commissioners also removed two zones on Arkansas land east of the Mississippi River. Zone 17A, which included adjacent Tennessee land, and Zone 17B, which included adjacent Mississippi land, are in Zone 17. The spring 2011 turkey season youth hunt will be April 9-10 for the entire state. The statewide spring turkey season will be April 16-May 3 in zones 1, 2, 3, 4B, 5, 5B, 6, 7, 7A, 8, 9, 10 and 17, and April 16-26 in zones 4, 4A, 5A and 9A. Zone 1A will be closed. The bag limit for the spring season is no more than one legal turkey per day and no more than two legal turkeys during the season. Youth may harvest one jake as part of their two-bird limit, either during the youth hunt or statewide hunt, but adult hunters will be limited to mature gobblers.

In other business, the Commission:• Approved a grant to the Arkansas Department of Education

of $671,290. The money comes from criminal fines collected from AGFC enforcement efforts throughout the state. It will be distributed to the counties where the offenses occurred to be used for conservation education programs. Since 2004, more than $4.2 million has been collected from fines and

distributed for the educational programs throughout 75 counties. This was a cooperative action sanctioned by the 84th General Assembly and Gov. Mike Huckabee, passed as Act 799 in 2003.

• Approved a document addressing ethical responsibilities, including topics such as conflicts of interest, prohibited gifts and income reporting. The document is written to clarify responsibilities of Commissioners and agency employees.

• Approved two agreements authorizing funding for pilot grant programs for wildlife observation trails and wildlife recreation facilities. The trails program will involve the AGFC and Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism; the facilities program will involve the AGFC and Arkansas Department of Rural Services. The two agencies will solicit, review and prioritize applications for the grants and forward recommendations to the AGFC for approval. The wildlife observation trail program authorizes $1 million in grants and $500,000 for the wildlife recreation facilities program. The grants are a result of mineral bonus revenue from oil and gas leases on AGFC property and the AGFC working closely with the 87th General Assembly and Gov. Mike Beebe. The beneficial grant programs were part of Act 686 and Act 687.

• Approved a budget increase of $262,318 from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant to deal with oversight,

surveillance, communications and research of white-nose syndrome in the state's bat population. The disease has been destroying bat populations in other parts of the country, but no bats in Arkansas have been found to have the disease.

• Approved a budget increase of $70,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to monitor avian influenza. The money will be used to purchase equipment and supplies related to waterfowl trapping, safety supplies and to reimburse the agency for personnel hours spent collecting samples from waterfowl.

• Approved a name change involving 2,800 acres of land purchased by the AGFC in northwestern Searcy County. The Commission had originally approved renaming the area the Sonny Varnell Richland Valley Elk Conservation Area. The name was changed to Richland Valley Sonny Varnell Elk Conservation Area to recognize the historical, cultural and genealogical values unique to the area.

• Approved a change in the Resident Roe Buyer/Exporter Agent Permit to allow designated agents of the Roe Buyer/Exporter Permit to purchase roe.

• Approved a budget increase of $28,000 of Marine Fuel Tax funds for the installation of a public boat ramp and access area at Rocky Hole Lake in Desha County.

• Approved a budget increase of $10,000 to develop a comprehensive communications plan for the agency.

Spring turkey season dates set by AGFC

and desertification, stratospheric ozone depletion, ocean acidification, estuary and freshwater ecosystem collapse and climate change. Because we have sought to solve water, disease, waste and transportation problems as they have come upon us, we have siloed and stove piped our solutions. We have created drinking water, waste water, storm water, huge storage, conveyance, irrigation and flood control measures that are predicated on large subsidies and that are making economic distortions that are contributing to the degradation of the places we live, our food supply and are putting basic survival at risk. Nothing less than a new water paradigm is necessary to turn this picture into a rosy one. It is clear that we have to re-think our footprint on the global systems including how we build and re-build our cities and towns, how

we produce food, how we get around, where jobs come from and how we deal with waste. Pollution prevention, efficiency, conservation, reuse, doing things locally and in a distributed and decentralized manner are all core principles for moving forward with water and other natural resources. Integrated and holistic thinking will reveal an abundance of resources and capacity that we are currently treating as waste. Working with and mimicking nature will support new solutions that will be characterized by their “simplexity”. Cheers, Paul SchwartzNational Policy CoordinatorClean Water Action(202) 279-0438



Trumpeter Swans in Winterby Ethan Nahté If you’re a reader of AOOD you may remember the March/April 2010 issue featuring trumpeter swans, complete with beautiful images by photographer Wayne Shewmake. The time has come once again when the swans flock to Magness Lake, just east of Heber Springs and Greer’s Ferry Lake. The majestic white swans are the largest waterfowl in North America, weighing in between 25-30 pounds and have a wingspan of approximately 8 feet. Make a trip to Heber Springs for an opportunity to photograph or videotape these beautiful creatures. The swans were reintroduced to Arkansas in 2007 in an effort to encourage the swans to establish a migration pattern south in the winter from their nesting area in Iowa. Until 1998 the last wild nesting trumpeter swans in Iowa occurred in 1883. In 1998, one hundred fifteen years later, three cygnets were hatched from a wild nesting pair in Dubuque County. Within two years this pair hatched ten more cygnets. All countries in North America signed the International Migratory Bird Treaty in 1918 giving the birds nationwide protection in 1918. Although the trumpeter swan is not a nationally recognized endangered species it is listed as either state-endangered or state-threatened by various states throughout the U.S. Magness Lake directions: East on hwy. 110 from intersection Highways 5 & 25 just east of Heber Springs. Drive 3.9 miles from intersection to Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, marked with a white sign. Turn left (north) on Hays Road (paved county road). Magness Lake is approximately 1/2 mile. There is a gravel parking lot located at the S-curve in the road.


AWF MEMBERS AT WORK - BEARCAT HOLLOW AND MORE!



AWF MEMBERS AT WORK - BEARCAT HOLLOW AND MORE!


Batesville archery teams place at world tournament ORLANDO, Fla. - Arkansas’s 2010 state champion archery teams placed high at the recent NASP World Archery Tournament held Oct. 8-9. Teams from Eagle Mountain Magnet and Batesville Junior High finished in the top five teams. Eagle Mountain Magnet finished third in the elementary division while Batesville Junior High took fourth in the middle school division. A team trophy and individual medals were presented to Eagle Mountain archers for their third place finish. The top five grade level winners received plaques and medals denoting their performance in the tournament. Batesville students recognized for this accomplishment were: Eagle Mountain shooters Celsey Wood (5th place), Ronnie Jeffrey (4th place), Batesville Junior High archers Anna Beth Conditt (5th place) and Tristen Driver (4th place). Over 1,000 students from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada joined students from 21 states to compete in the tournament. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission sponsors the National Archery in the Schools Program in Arkansas. Over 750 schools in the state offer archery as part of their physical education curriculum because of this organization.

Letter to the Editor

by Yvonne Duvall & Ethan Nahté

The Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge was the place to be on September 11 if you were 5-15 years-of-age. The refuge was home to Bow Jam, an event geared towards kids. Time was set aside for 30 kids, supervised by approximately 40 adults and guardians, for the children to get actual shooting experience with a bow. They were also taught general information about bow hunting from long time hunters of the refuge as well as learning about long bows and archery. In addition there were close to 90 giveaways throughout the day. Some of those items included kids compound bows, various animal calls, cap lights, a pocket knife, and a spot in the youth hunt this fall. Every child also received a Holla Bend NWR bag and a Rattan Bow that was constructed by Mr. David Chronister. The children and the adults seemed to have a blast at this event as they mingled around from the compound bow shooting area to a station where they were taught how to shoot a long bow. Fruit, snack cakes and water were provided as light refreshment to those that came out. Holla Bend NWR and those involved considered this a very successful event. Bow Jam was put on by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and was made possible through the efforts and participation of many organizations which included Simmons First Bank, Price Milling Co., Russellville Downtown Rotary, Russellville Noon Rotary, Holla Bend Bow Hunters Association, Arkansas Bow Hunters Association, Big Star Grocery Store, Wilkins Brothers, and Yell County Wildlife Federation, Struttin’ Bucks, A1 Pawn Shop, Gene Lockwood’s Sportsmart, Allen Tillery Chevrolet, Arkansas Trading and Loan, PDQ, and Sonic .

I have resided in Russellville and served as the manager of Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge since May of 2008. I can honestly say that both things have been more than enjoyable. However this past weekend I was truly overwhelmed with the community support for the refuge. There have been instances during my tenure that individuals, private and public groups have shown an interest in the refuge but nothing like last Saturday. Holla Bend NWR hosted an event called Bow Jam with the purpose of introducing children ages 5-15 to archery. There were experts who have hunted the refuge many years, safety topics, bow construction demonstrations, and refuge staff on hand to meet and greet the public. The thing that made me the proudest of the community was the outpouring of support that many individuals and organizations provided to the kids that attended this first time event. Simmons Bank provided a tent that came in very handy during the first hour when an unexpected shower materialized. They also provided water, several handouts, and a gift bag that was given out during a drawing. Refreshments were provided by Blue Star Grocery, Wonder Bread, PDQ, and Sonic. Wilkins Brothers, River Valley Realty, Russellville Noon Rotary, Russellville Morning Rotary, Arkansas Trading and Loan, A-1 Pawn Shop, Gene Lockwood’s Sportsmart, Allen Tillery, Arkansas Wildlife Federation, Yell Co. Wildlife Federation provided cups, hats, t-shirts, wildlife prints, duck

calls, and even compound bows! Thanks to the generosity of these organizations every kid in attendance received something! Targets and bow shooting instruction was provided by the Holla Bend Bow Hunters association and the Arkansas Bow Hunters Association. Special logistics coordination was done by Ed Stingley, Phil Iacobacci, David Chronister, Jim Selvey, Scott Hill, and refuge staff among others. Clearly you can see that this was a community effort that went off smoothly despite a few early rain showers. This event may have been small due to the rain but thanks to the support of the community I know that the 30 kids in attendance and their parents/grandparents all had a great time. All of the grown-ups, including myself, enjoyed listening to the squeals of excitement from the kids when their arrows hit their targets, or the beaming smiles when their names were called for the drawings. My job and living in the River Valley have been outstanding, but I can honestly say that both were considerably better Saturday afternoon. Thank you to all involved. You made a great day for the kids in attendance but you also made a great day for me.

Durwin C. CarterRefuge Manager Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge

Bow Jam Hits the Bullseye!


As hunters make plans to enjoy another deer season, Ouachita and Ozark-St. Francis National Forests managers are urging caution to ensure a safe and productive experience. The season draws hunters from all over the state and surrounding areas. “While we don’t typically see as many accidents occurring during bow season, we are just around the corner from black powder and regular gun seasons when the forests are filled with hunters. We just want to remind people to be careful,” said Ozark-St. Francis National Forests Supervisor Judi Henry. “Be sure of your target and be courteous. When it’s all said and done, a good hunting trip is when everyone comes home safe and sound at the end of the day.” All Arkansas and Oklahoma state wildlife agency laws are in effect on the national forests in the two states. State and federal law enforcement officers are working with forest officials to reinforce rules relating to issues that occur year after year. These illegal activities include:• Baiting game species on the national forests• Shooting from or across a county, state

or federally maintained road• Possessing or consuming alcohol during

any hunting activity or while operating a motorized vehicle, including off-highway vehicles (OHVs).

• Additionally, campsites may be in place for up to 30 days as long as they are occupied. At the end of the 30-day period, campsites must be completely dismantled and moved at least 1 mile from the original campsite. The 30-day period begins the first day any item is placed at the campsite. Campers may camp up to 90 days in a calendar year. Campsites may not be reserved.

Hunters should also be aware of additional legal requirements that apply only to the individual national forests.

Ouachita National Forest (Arkansas and Oklahoma)• Hunting stands may be erected for up

to 14 days at a time and must be moved to another location more than 200 yards away if the hunting trip continues. All stands must have the owner’s name and address permanently affixed. Stands must be removed from the forest at the end of the hunting season.

• Prior to publication of Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUMs), hunters may continue to utilize OHVs this season in their hunting pursuits in accordance with current rules and regulations, including open Forest Service roads and cross county. OHV use is not allowed in

areas or on roads that are gated, blocked by berms, or posted as closed, such as recreation areas, single use trails or wilderness areas.

Forest visitors are also reminded of an Oklahoma State Law that requires riders ages 18 and under to wear a safety helmet while operating an OHV and prohibits more than one person at a time from riding an OHV unless the vehicle is specifically designed for two riders. Ozark-St. Francis National Forests (Arkansas)• OHVs are allowed only on designated

routes. Not all Forest Service roads are designated as routes. OHV operators are responsible for picking up a free map at the nearest Ozark-St. Francis National Forests office or printing one from the website (www.aokforests.com) to ensure they are not riding illegally.

• Hunting stands must be removed from the forest at the end of the hunting season.

Of special concern this year are the especially dry conditions that are affecting the entire state. Many counties are currently under burn bans. Wildfire danger risk is currently high, and outdoor burning is strongly discouraged. Outdoor burning includes the burning of yard waste or trash and sometimes includes campfires and outdoor grilling. Burn bans are issued by county judges or commissioners and can vary from county to county. Recreationists are urged to consider the following before leaving home:• Check with the state to see if the county

you are entering is under a burn ban: Arkansas - www.arkfireinfo.org or 501-296-1940; Oklahoma - www.forestry.ok.gov or 800-580-2474.

• Never discard lit cigarettes.• If camping on National Forest Service

property in a location under a burn ban, check with the county to see what the burn ordinance allows. Some ordinances may allow propane cook stoves while others may or may not allow campfires in sheltered campfire rings.

• Never park vehicles where grass or other vegetation can touch the exhaust system.

For more information on hunting the Ouachita or the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests consult the hunting regulations published by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission or the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Call the Ouachita National Forest at (501) 321-5202 or the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests at (479) 964-7200 to learn the location of the office nearest you.

October Signals Fall Hunting Season; Forest Managers Urge CautionReprint from October 1972

I have now decided that I have an uncommon bird as a resident of my neighborhood. At least, I think it is uncommon for it to be here in town. Since last Spring, I have seen and heard it several times each week. And he is really something to see. No wonder one name is "good God". When you look up and see that large bird, I guess you can't help but exclaim, "Good God, what's that?" And what it is, is a Pileated Woodpecker. I think that the artist must have copied the Woody Woodpecker character from the pileated, and I really expect to hear that crazy laugh. The pileated does have a loud call, or almost a cackle, and it is heard more often about this time of the year. Sometimes they are quite silent and wary. But not this particular fellow. He is either in the catalpa tree madly drumming on a dead limb, or he is flying from my tree across the street to my neighbor's pecan and back again to a redbud next door, all the time giving his loud, ringing call. This spectacular bird is as large as a Crow, 17 - 19 inches, and is our only crested woodpecker. The word pileated (pyelee-a-ted) means "crested". The black and white coloring and brilliant red crest are easy to identify. Ordinarily these are birds of the woods and swamps, and my yard doesn't fit either. Perhaps the large, old trees with some dead limbs and the riverbank trees are attractive to the birds. Like others in his family, he braces himself against the tree with his spinytipped tail feathers. Unlike some woodpeckers, the pileated makes a long oval or rectangular hole. Carpenter ants are their favorite food, and wood· beetles are eaten too. The pileated is a most beneficial bird. They remain in Arkansas all year long, with the young leaving the nest in June. From "Woody Woodpecker" to gentle little sparrows is from the ridiculous to the sublime. The White-throated Sparrows are back. You may already have t them in you yard, but mine (if you can use the possessive term for birds, and I guess you really can't except in the sense that they are my guests) were here I this morning. They weren't here last night, because I stepped out on the back patio to listen. The sparrows always make such a noisy to-do over settling down for the night in the hedge, and I would have heard them. It was raining and the wind was blowing, a rather typical fall evening when a front is moving through

the state. But this morning, October 19, a cool cloudy 40 degrees, they were really calling to each other from my hedge to the ones across the street in my neighbor's hedge, They sounded so happy to be back on North Front Street and it seemed to take quite a bit of discussion. I get excited over the return of the Baltimore Orioles in the spring and the White-throats in the Fall. Just like friends and acquaintances, there are some that mean more to you, that are special, that you really look forward to seeing. Just so, the Baltimores and the Whitethroats. Later in the morning the sun came out and I sat on the step and watched them. There were six handsome males flying from the cherry laurel to the wisteria vine in the catalpa, where they also roost at night, to the hedge, visiting the old familiar spots, all the time giving that clear, sweet whistle. After checking everything out, they scratched with both feet among the litter under the hedge, sending the leaves flying. That long seeep from a clump of bushes reveals' a sparrow. The 6 ½ inch adult with the crown of black and white stripes, yellow spot before the eye, and, of course, the white throat, should stand out, and yet, at times they are hard to see in a crowd of English sparrows. Especially the immatures whose head stripes are brown and dull white. My bird banding friends tell me that white-throats enter the traps quite readily and that they come back to the same spot year after year. Jerry Clare, Russellville, banded one whitethroat that was wintering with her in January 1971. She retrapped him in October 1971 after he had possibly made a 3000-mile round trip to nest in Canada. And. then he returned and was trapped again last week - October 1972. Same spot, same month. These jaunty birds are helpful in eating weed seeds including ragweed. Take note, my fellow hay fever victims. In late September and October in Arkansas, some people mistakenly think the large, silent flocks of white birds flying over in the early afternoon are geese. More than likely they are Wood Ibis, also called gourd head or flinthead, a member of the Stork family, and our only native stork. This bird carries its neck and legs fully outstretched in flight. The Ibis present a beautiful sight high in the afternoon sky, circling in a rising column of warm air, glinting silver, wheeling, and disappearing out of sight. Then diving down, reappearing, and repeating the procedure. Now you see them, now you don’t. For me, all this is a part of October.

The Pileated Woodpecker


..."White Nose" cont. from page 3 have anything to do with white nose because the fungus only affects them in the winter. If you have an animal bitten by a bat then you would want to take the bat to the local health department to test. Normally only 10% or less taken to the health department are found to be rabid.” The question was posed to Lollar about whether WNS could be transmitted to other mammals, including humans. “First, no one should ever touch a bat bare handed. Bats that appear sick or injured can go to a rehabilitator as long as they haven’t bitten a person or pet. If bats are out when they should be hibernating, people should contact a local rehabilitator and their state wildlife agency. Bats in caves or roosting on trees should be left alone—wildlife does not want or need to be handled by curious people! If cavers suspect they are seeing bats with WNS symptoms, they should leave the cave, decontaminate gear, and contact the state wildlife agency asap. However, inexperienced people should not be underground looking for WNS! It’s very dangerous and the bats need to remain undisturbed during hibernation.

“There appears to be no risk to humans from Gd, and so far, no other animals have been found with Gd. It is important to remember that the fungus is associated with hibernating bats in caves. These are unique microclimates that support this particular fungus. Surviving bats appear to groom the fungus off, and if they have enough fat reserves and healthy wings, they survive and go on about their lives. But when they return to the hibernaculum, and they do return to specific caves, they get reinfected. “It is an incredibly complex issue,” she continues. “These are wild animals that tend to live in large aggregations and that shift seasonally. In many instances we don’t know what they do or where they go in the summer. There are so many avenues for transmission, but we still don’t know when they are infective or capable of moving the fungus. It’s possible that once they come out of hibernation, they are ‘clean.’ But we need to answer those questions before a reasonable treatment plan can be formulated. A very few treatment trials have been undertaken, and some larger trials were just funded. Remember, in terms of wildlife disease, four years is the blink of an eye, and bats have been understudied in

general. The biggest sticking point is a lack of funding to really study all the aspects of this emerging pathogen and its victims.” Although it is not recommended to go searching for WNS (and in most states it is illegal to disturb hibernating bat populations or to enter a cave/section of a cave that has been closed during the hibernation period) how can the general public or spelunker recognize WNS? Lollar describes it as, “The characteristic white muzzle that gives the syndrome its name may or may not be present on an individual bat. The fungus penetrates into lower levels of the skin and causes inflammation. The damage is particularly apparent on wing membranes, sometimes completely drying the wing membranes and rendering the bats flightless. It is starting to look like wing membranes are critical to maintaining hibernating bats’ water balance. Wing damage coupled with the inflammation/irritation from the fungus, which causes bats to use up fat reserves too early, means that bats starve and dehydrate in caves that are affected by Gd.” “The spores from the fungus are microscopic. We can’t see them,” explains Sasse. “There is a process [for those who tour, visit or go caving] to clean their equipment & clothes. The US Fish & Wildlife has a page on White Nose Syndrome. It involves cleaning your gear before you go to the cave and after going to the cave. It only takes one tiny little spore that could be in your hair, your beard, on your equipment...” “While transmission appears to be primarily bat to bat, there is solid evidence that the Gd spores can be transported on gear,” agrees Lollar. “Those studies have been done and published. So yes, people might be contributing to the spread of Gd. There are mycologists, cave microbiologists, and disease transmission specialists working on that issue right now. I encourage anyone who plans to go underground to check out the information there and visit the National Speleological Society’s website.” Fortunately, Arkansas has yet to see any cases of WNS. The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission will conduct a study this season to search for WNS symptoms. “We’ll be surveying the bat population in caves this winter. Who knows if we’ll find any signs of WNS or not. There are thirty-five hundred caves in Arkansas. We actually have sixteen species of bats in Arkansas in total, three of which are endangered species. There are eight Arkansas species that hibernate in caves that might be vulnerable to White Nose Syndrome, seven of which have already been found with WNS in other states. “Most of the endangered bats are in easy-to-access caves. We have generally surveyed winter populations of the three endangered species (gray bat, Indiana bat, and Ozark big-eared bat). There are a few Arkansas caves where you can find hundreds of thousands of gray bats in the winter and spotting the first signs of WNS in that many bats might be difficult. Losing a colony of that size to WNS would be a major blow to bat populations in

the region, though most of the caves are used by a lot less bats than that. But if we see them lying dead all over the cave floor or flying around in the winter outside the cave entrance during the daytime when they shouldn’t be it’s easy to tell. The first year it shows up it’s hard to determine but the second year is when you start to see bats starting to die off and activity that shouldn’t be happening.” It can be just as hard to determine how quickly WNS can spread as it is to determine if a colony is infected. “It depends,” says Lollar. “Some people think there is a lag time between the fungus’ appearance and when it actually reached the cave. Those studies are underway. However, once the initial symptoms are visible (i.e. white muzzles, bats moving toward the entrance, etc.) it may take as little as two weeks for the population of hibernating bats to crash. For those readers who are afraid of bats (chiroptophobia), believe the old myths or are uneducated about the benefits of bats may be surprised to learn how valuable these small creatures are to our environment. “A single colony isn’t going to be a big deal,” say both Sasse & Lollar. “It happens all the time like with floods and cave entrances blocked in,” Sasse continues. “The big problem is when it affects an entire species. The disease is relatively new and the long-term affects aren’t known. That’s what happened in Missouri that they are studying now. It’s definitely bad for the bats. It’ll definitely reduce predation on insects. A bat might eat three thousand insects a night. If you’ve have millions of bats in Arkansas then a large reduction in the bat population will result in a lot more insects. An average colony of Big Brown Bats might have one hundred bats in it. The gray bat has a whole bunch of colonies that number twenty thousand to fifty thousand in summertime.” “Terminology is important here,” Lollar emphasizes. “Hibernating bats are usually aggregates of many colonies. In North America, colony usually refers to a maternity colony, a group of female bats that live together in bonded social groups to rear their young. Obviously, that’s the social group that ensures survival of the year’s young. But not all colonies are large, so the loss of a single colony may

not be a huge blow to the local ecosystem—though in our view that’s no reason to eradicate colonies! However, if large aggregations of bats are dying in hibernacula, numerous colonies are being lost or at least decimated. For many species, we don’t know what the critical colony size is for successfully rearing young or for successful mating aggregations during fall swarm. So losing a whole cave full of hibernating bats is a tragedy to many local ecosystems. As everyone should know by now, bats are the main predator of night flying insects, and many of those insects eat crops and forest tree leaves. All vegetated ecosystems, even our urban ecosystems, need bats.” Imagine if only one hundred bats live in a cave, building or forest near you and each of them eat up to three thousand insects a night. That’s three hundred thousand insects not eating leaves, plants, crops or you as you attempt to enjoy an evening outside. The twenty million bats that live in Bracken Cave in Texas, home of the largest community of mammals in the world, eat approximately two hundred tons of insects on a nightly basis. Sasse oversees a program asking for volunteers in Arkansas who have populated bat houses to participate. He asked for volunteers in 2010. “So far I haven’t had a whole lot of participation. I have no clue how many people have bat houses in Arkansas. Even the ones that said they are interested haven’t reported back with the exception of one. I got it started a little bit later than I wanted but want to start it back up next year (2011). People can sign up whenever they would like. I’ll get them the survey material they need when it’s time. Bats in Arkansas generally start coming out in April or May.” BCI’s list of things you can do include encouraging your state and federal legislators to allocate funding towards the effort to understand and fight White-nose Syndrome. Also, educate your friends, family and schools about bats and WNS. Pass your copy of AOOD around or share the online version of the magazine. Most of the websites listed below have links to fun kid activities and information so even elementary-age children can enjoy and learn about these wonderful creatures alongside you.

Blake Sasse, Certified Wildlife Biologist ®Nongame Mammal/Furbearer Program Leader

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission213A Highway 89 SouthMayflower, AR 72106

Phone: 501-470-3650 extension 235http://www.agfc.com

Amanda LollarBat World Sanctuary, Headquarters

217 N. Oak Ave.Mineral Wells, TX 76067

Phone: 940-325-3404http://www.batworld.org

Bat Conservation International P.O. Box 162603 Austin, TX 78716

Phone: (512) 327-9721

http://www.batcon.org

US Fish & WildlifeDecontamination Infohttp://www.fws.gov/

WhiteNoseSyndrome/cavers.html

National Speleological Societyhttp://www.caves.org

Related Links & Information:


Arkansas Wildlife Federation9108 Rodney Parham Rd. Suite 101, Little Rock, Ar. 72205

Telephone: (501) 224-9200 Fax: (501) 224-9214“Your voice for hunting, fishing and conservation since 1936”

Arkansas Out-Of-Doors Advertising AgreementArkansas Out-Of-Doors is the official publication of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation established in 1936, a non-profit, hunting, fishing, and conservation organization dedicated to promoting the wise stewardship of our natural resources. It is a newsprint tabloid publication that is published 6 times per year for the following issues: Jan.-Feb., March-April, May-June, July-Aug., Sept.-Oct., Nov.-Dec. The publication contains information about hunting, fishing and other outdoor-oriented activities. It also contains articles about conservation. It is mailed near the end of the first month of each issue date to approximately 4500 AWF members and it has an estimated readership of 13,500 to 17,500 people each issue. Those who read this publication enjoy the great outdoor, and they are interested in conservation.

Circle the issue in which the ad is to run: JANuARy – FeBRuARy ISSUE, reserve space by Jan. 1. Camera-ready art due Jan. 5. Mailing date near the end of January. MARCH – APRiL ISSUE, reserve space by March 1, Camera-ready due by March 5. Mailing date near the end of March. MAy-JuNe iSSue, reserve space by May 1. Camera-ready art due by May 5. Mailing date near the end of May. JuLy-AuGuST iSSue, reserve space by July 1. Camera-ready art due by July 5. Mailing date near the end of July. SePTeMBeR-OCTOBeR iSSue, reserve space by Sept. 1, Camera-ready are due by Sept. 5. Mailing date near the end of September. NOveMBeR-DeCeMBeR iSSue, reserve space by Nov. 1. Camera-ready art due by November 5. Mailing date near the end of November.

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Elk hunt is a quick one for Bigelow’s Danny Tilley PONCA - After days of careful preparation, Danny Tilley’s elk hunt lasted 30 minutes. Tilley, who lives at Bigelow in Perry County, was one of four hunters with bull elk permits for the September 2010 season, the 13th for Arkansas since hunting started in 1998. Elk were re-introduced to the state in 1981 by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and are found along the Buffalo River in northern Arkansas. Tilley was on his first Arkansas elk hunt, but had experience with the big and challenging animals in Western states. “I came up and did a good bit of scouting, about six days in all, before the season,” Tilley said. His assigned hunting area was Elk Compartment 4, which is public land in western Searcy County. “The fog was heavy this (Monday) morning, and we had to wait. Then we saw three cow elk then a 4x4 bull (four points on each side of its antlers). We waited some more, and I heard a scraping noise. Finally I found this 5x5 bull, a pretty nice one, rubbing its antlers on a tree on the edge of a field. “When he turned broadside, I shot. He was about 100 yards away. He didn’t go down, so I shot a second time. He ran about 50 yards and dropped.“ Tilley was hunting in an area locally known as the Margaret White field. It is in a loop of the Buffalo River several miles west or upstream of the Tyler Bend Recreation Area in the Buffalo National River. He used a .300 Magnum bolt-action rifle with a telescopic sight. Tilley’s helper on the hunt was his father, Buddy Tilley. Danny Tilley said, “We got the elk field dressed then several people from Game and Fish came in to help us load it.”

Invite to be on the AWF Call Listby Ethan Nahté

AWF receives many calls on a weekly basis seeking information about events or matters that don’t particularly pertain to us (i.e. pesky animal removal, donation of venison, etc.). If you provide a service and would like to be on our quick-call list please call or E-mail your information to the AWF Office. When someone calls us with a question regarding a matter that might better be answered or solved by your company/organization we will pass along your information to the caller. If you E-mail us please put “Quick-Call List” in the SUBJECT line. Better yet, if you have a company or organization and would like to get the word out to members, fans and friends of AWF contact us about advertising in Arkansas Out-of-Doors.

Arkansas Wildlife Federation9108 Rodney Parham RoadSuite 101Little Rock, AR [email protected]


September/October 2010 ISSN0884-9145POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 to:9108 Rodney Parham Rd. Suite 101, Little Rock, Ar. 72205

ArkansasOut-of-Doors

OFFiCiAL PuBLiCATiON OF THeARKANSAS WiLDLiFe FeDeRATiON

Arkansas Out-of-Doors is published 6 times per year by Arkansas Wildlife Federation, 9108 Rodney Parham Rd. Suite 101, Little Rock, Ar. 72205. Third Class postage paid at Russellville, AR and additional mailing offices.POSTMASTER: Send address change to Arkansas Out-of-Doors, 9108 Rodney Parham Rd. Suite 101, Little Rock, Ar. 72205, or call 501-224-9200.

This is the official publication of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation. Printed matter includes hunting and fishing news, sporting information, articles on pertinent legislation, with special emphasis on environment and pollution problems. All Arkansas Wildlife Federation members are entitled to receive one copy of each issue of AOOD for one year.Permission is granted to reprint any news article or item printed in Arkansas Out-Of-Doors with credit, please.

Editor �� Wayne Shewmake

Layout/Design ��Chris Zimmerman ZimCreative

Views and opinions, unless specifically stated, do not necessarily represent the positions of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation.

Deadline Information:

Unless other arrangements are made with the editor, copy for club news, features, columns and advertising must be in the Arkansas Wildlife Federation office by the close of business (noon) on the 20th of the month preceding publication. Thank you for your cooperation.

Arkansas Wildlife Federation Officers and

Board of DirectorsAugust 31, 2010 to September 1, 2011

exeCuTive COMMiTTee President: Wayne Shewmake, Dardanelle First vice President: David Carruth, Clarendon Second vice President:--vacant-- Treasurer: Gary W. Bush, Marion Secretary: Lucien Gillham, Sherwood

MeMBeRS-AT-LARGe Jim Wood, Dardanelle Gayne Preller Schmidt, Augusta

BOARD OF DiReCTORS AT LARGe Dr. John T. Ahrens, Mountain Home Fred Berry, Yellville Robert Leasure, Bradford Charles W. Logan, M.D., Little Rock Lola Perritt, Little Rock Odies Wilson III, Little Rock Larry Hillyard, Dardanelle Jimmie Wood, Dardanelle Gayne Schmidt, Augusta A.J. Gilbert, Little Rock Jimmy Witt, Dardanelle

ReGiONAL DiReCTORS District 1: --vacant-- District 2: Patti Dell-Duchene, Augusta District 2 Alternate: Angela Rhodes, Augusta District 3: --vacant-- District 4: Trey Clark, Nashville District 5: --vacant-- District 6: Neal Galloway, Stuttgart District 7: Craig Mobley, Magnolia NWF Region: David Carruth, Clarendon NWF Special Projects: Ellen McNulty, Pine Bluff NWF Regional Representative: Geralyn Hoey, Austin, TX

PReSiDeNT eMeRiTuS AND FiRST LADy eMeRiTuS: Bob and Rae Apple, Dardanelle

NATiONAL WiLDLiFe FeDeRATiON DeLeGATeS: Jim Wood, Dardanelle Alternate: Gayne Preller Schmidt, Augusta

ADviSOR TO PReSiDeNT Ralph Oldegard, Mt. Home Charles McLemore Jr., Bryant

AFFiLiATe CLuBS:Arkansas Trappers Association Cindy Bass, Sec/TreaseCHO Kevin and Cindy Pride

Little River Bottoms Chapter, Arkansas Wildlife Federation Vickers Fuqua, President, Trumann Mike Young, Secretary & Treasurer, Trumann

River valley Wildlife Federation Jim Reynolds, Greenwood

Save Our Streams: Kent Viers, Lonsdale

St. Francis Lake Association Mike Roach, Trumann

Wattensaw Bowhunters Association Jim Holloway, Hazen

Westark Wildlife G. David Matlock, Fort Smith

White River Conservancy Gayne Preller Schmidt, Augusta

yell County Wildlife Federation Wayne Shewmake, Dardanelle

youth Conservation Club of Mansfield High School Sponsors: Tracey Sadoski and Bryan McKay, Mansfield

youth Conservation Club of Lavaca High School Sponsor: Jimmy Reynoods, Lavaca

Arkansas Wildlife Federation Staff --vacant-- AWF Office Manager

Arkansas Wildlife Federation Address: 9108 Rodney Parham Road Suite 101 Little Rock, Arkansas 72205 Office: 501-224-9200 Cell: 501-414-2845



The articles on this page are reprints from the Arkansas Outdoors publication, from June 1946

Stories from yesteryearArkansas Wildlife Federtation

On duty at Okinawa, Dick Kotch, Little Rock, son of Mr. W.S. Kotch, past president of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, has found a way to end the island routine by bagging away at the ducks that chose Okinawa as their base of operations. Pictured above, center, Dick proves the old fact that once you're a hunter, you're always a hunter. Dick also proves that he's a good hunter, for hunting on a Pacific Island without the usual duck-hunter's equipment requires wing shooting almost entirely. Here's hoping that young Kotch can be back in Arkansas when the Mississippi Flyway migrants start dropping in next winter. Pictured with Dick are fellow soldiers stationed with him on the island.

Once a hunter, always a hunter

Fishing In ArkansasBy PAUL ROSENFIEI:DUnited Press Staff Correspondent Little Rock. Ark.-( UP)-Arkansas opened the fishing season in the rain-and liked it. And the old adage that Neptune's nephews don't bite if theweather's unsettled--well, it just blew up in the faces of old-school anglers. Reports from favorite haunts in the northern and central parts of the state-Nimrod, Norfork, Lake Hamilton, Horse Shoe Lake and Storm Creek Lake – show that the 1946 angler is of a hardy nature. Mud, high waters and generally adverse conditions don't faze him-and it pays off. Most enthusiastic news comes from Norfork Lake up in Baxter County. Executive Secretary T. A. McAmis and the rest of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission made a recent trip up to the dam to get first-hand reports on the opening of bass season. And McAmis came back to Little Rock so enthusiastic that his desk now sports two or three kinds of flies and other angler trappings. The Arkansas Commission was joined at the Lake by the Missouri Commission, and McAmis reports hat the meeting worked out nicely. He describes the Missouri delegation as cooperative, and he thinks joint rules governing fishing a Norfork are just a matter of time. Here's a brief outline of the problems they tackled:1. Growth rate of Norfork's finned population.2. Populating the waters.3. Making water anlyses.4. Planting new vegetation, aquatic plants and willows.5. And the most important – open seasons of the two states.

Secretary McAmis says that he wants the Missouri season to coincide with the Arkansas dates. Previously, Missourians could legally catch bass from the lake while Arkanas had to sit by – drooling. And Arkansas has stocked and provided caretakers for all the lake which extends some 12 miles into Missouri.

Skeet and TrapShooting Booms Despite the shortage of ammunition and discouraging prospects of an ample supply in the immediate future, the sports of trap and skeet shooting are on the boom. The Grand American Handicap tournament, the annual classic of the trapshooting sport, will be held at the home grounds, Vandalia, Ohio, in August. Preliminary events will be held August 16 to 18, inclusive, and the tournament proper will start on the 19th and last through the 24th. It is more than likely that every state and territory will be represented. A new event will be added to this year's program. This is the Ex-Servicemen's Veteran Championship Race, with the winner receiving $1,000 cash. The rules of this event are as follows: the veteran of World War II who makes the highest score in the State Championship Race will be known as the State Veterans Champion and will receive a beautiful trophy. At the Grand American the State Veteran Champions will compete in the Grand American Preliminary Handicap race, the high veteran's score deciding the championship.

G. i. Bill Affords vets Full Flight TrainingBy TRIBS CORE. Perhaps the biggest boost to civil aviation in recent years--excepting the CPT Program-is the G. I. Bill of Rights. This congressional act proviges the funds for returned service men and women to use in educating themselves, the theory being that their schooling was sharply curtailed by the war. They may now pick up any study they wish. It is understood by everyone that under the G. I. Bill, veterans may attend an institution of higher learning given to the study of law, philosophy, cheer leading, biology, and so on, but few veterans realize that piloting, too, is a recognized and accredited professional course of study. The Veterans' Administration has announced their approval of flight training, provided the flying school attended can qualify the student-pilot for Civil Aeronautics Administration ratings. Five types of courses, ranging from elementary flight to multiengine pilot ratings

are provided for, but only one course may be taken at a time. The Veterans' Administration will pay $500 for tuition and fees if a course is less than a full school year of 30 weeks; anything over that, the veteran must pay. Where the course runs longer than 30 weeks, the Veterans' Administration may pay over the $500 but deduct the extra amount from the veteran's training eligibility. Mr. Bernar DeWeese, of Pine Bluff's Arkansas Aviation Service, said of the serviceman-pilot: "A veteran usually makes a good student. He is attentive and realizes that when an instruction is given there is a purpose behind it." Mr. DeWeese further looked with optimism on the future of private pilotage-in business, in sport, and as an active hobby.

The largest percentage of veterans now attending flying schools are those who have returned to waiting families and jobs. They have discovered, that, despite their responsibilities, they may take advantage of the educational prize at the end of the G. l.'s rainbow.

Goose Hunters Find Airplane Saves Time Last winter, when the V-formations of Canadian honkers and brant were traveling South, several Little Rock business men utilized the Central Flying Service, Adams Field, as a means of pursuing the geese.

The sportsmen, Messrs K. and S. Bradshaw, North Little Rock; Messers Otis Fowkles, Perry Turner, and Joe Grubble, Little Rock; were perfectly legal in taking to the airplane as a means of transportation to their point of hunt. No shots were fired at geese while airborne, nor was the aircraft used as a means of routing flocks over the guns; wardens could only wonder at their ingenius time saving, and think back to the days when a horse served the purpose. The hunters were landed on a sandbar at the fork of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers where they set their goose profiles and made themselves comfortable for the long hunt. When evening came they were picked up, with their bag, and flown back to Little Rock. These gentlemen are aviation enthusists with good reason.


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Arkansas Out-of-Doors September/October 2010