Tennessee Out-of-Doors Spring 2012

Spring 2012

Divine Digs for Eastern Bluebirds Hunters for the Hungry Comes Full Circle

$5.00

Bringing Back Our State Game Bird Working with Industry to Boost Habitat

TNSCTP Carries on Jeanette Rudy’s Legacy

Tennessee Wildlife Federation 2012-2013 Board of Directors

Dan Hammond Chairman

Dr. John O. Gayden Vice President Memphis

Tom Rice Immediate Past Chairman Nashville

Rob Lineburger Treasurer Brentwood

Franklin

Loring Helfrich Secretary Nashville

Dr. Jim Byford Martin

Bob Freeman Nashville

R.J. “Buddy” Baird III Rogersville

John Jackson Dickson

Bill Cox Collierville

Chris Nischan Nashville

Mike Chase Knoxville

Sam Mars III Harrogate

Nick Crafton Memphis

Allen Corey Chattanooga

Terry Lewis Knoxville

Tami Miller Franklin

L. Peter Schutt Memphis

Frank Duff Chattanooga

Monty Halcomb Wartrace

Publication Design by:

Lori Neely

klstudios@comcast.net

Kendall McCarter, Executive Editor Jay Sheridan, Editor

Advisory Board Al Buckley Jr. Franklin

Paul Grider Bolivar

Mark Ingram Maryville

Phillip Fulmer Sr. Maryville

Alex Grisanti Memphis

Jim Maddox Nashville

Richard Spear Nashville

Contents

Out-Of-Doors tennessee

Spring 2012

Features

6 TWF’s Wildlife Ecological Services Division Working With Industry to Boost Habitat

10 The Bobwhite Quail

Did you know?

The Tennessee Wildlife Federation played an important role in the restoration of native species like the bald eagle.

We’ll be telling these stories and more in our new From the Archives feature (p. 8), which starts this issue with our founding in 1946.

Efforts Underway to Bring Back Our State Game Bird

12 Divine Digs for Eastern Bluebirds Carol Reese Tells Us How Programs & Events 14 Great Outdoors University Finding a Place in Nature 16 Hunters for the Hungry Donated Venison Brings Program Full Circle 18 Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program

TNSCTP’s Expanded Horizons: New Schools, New Opportunities Departments

TWF Staff Michael Butler, Chief Executive Officer Kendall McCarter, Chief Development Officer Karen Vaughn, Director of Grants

& Special Projects Chad Whittenburg, Director of Mitigation & Ecological Services Sonya Wood Mahler, GOU Manager Andrew Peercy, TNSCTP Manager Denise Cimeley, Finance Manager

Martha Lyle Ford, Developer, TWF National GOU Model Kate Friedman, GOU Coordinator Matt Simcox, HFTH Coordinator Erin Tyrell, Gift Coordinator Lauren Bell, Executive Assistant Mac Jones, Office Assistant Jay Sheridan, Communications,

Sheridan Public Relations Greg Young, Legal Advisor,

Stites & Harbison, PLC

The Tennessee Out-of Doors Magazine is the official publication of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation. Printed materials include natural resource and conservation news, outdoor recreation news and articles on pertinent legislation. All submissions are subject to editing or rewriting. All editorial, advertising and subscription correspondence should be mailed to: Tennessee Out-Of-Doors 300 Orlando Avenue, Suite 200 Nashville, TN 37209

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Chairman’s Corner From the Chief Executive Officer Partners in Conservation From the Archives Board Member Spotlight Advocacy

Obituaries & Memorials 20 Remembering Robert E. Tipton

Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 1

C h a i r m a n ’s C or n e r

Counting our Blessings Spring may well be our favorite season at the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.

We’ve spent the winter reviewing the results of our summer and fall programs and planning for the coming year, and now we’re kicking off Great Outdoors University trips and the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program season.

It’s also a busy time at the General Assembly, and this year has been particularly intense – a number of bills were filed that could have had dire consequences for our wildlife and habitat, and for the people who enjoy them. As you’ll read in our new From the Archives section, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation (then the Tennessee Conservation League) was founded in large part to help remove politics from the management of our wildlife and fisheries.

I’m not sure the founders realized what a challenge that would be!

But each year, we work tirelessly to serve as the “voice of reason” for sportsmen and wildlife lovers, to advocate for good policy and to rally against bad legislation. Many of you have gotten involved by contacting your legislators and making your voices heard, and it has made a tremendous difference. While it appears that the most dangerous bills have been defeated, the session is not over yet. We will remain diligent and keep you posted on important updates.

TWF enjoyed another record year in 2011, across several fronts.

Our Hunters for the Hungry program exceeded last season’s record venison donation by 13 percent, providing well over half a million meals to hungry Tennesseans. This meat is, in many cases, the only reliable source of protein that food banks and soup kitchens have.

It’s a healthy, renewable resource, and a highly efficient program that’s helping meet a need that is greater than ever before.

On the heels of seven national championships, the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program learned that FOUR of our athletes have been named to the U.S. Junior Olympic Shotgun Team.

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While TNSCTP is widely regarded as the most successful program of its kind in the nation, we’d only had two Junior Olympians in the program’s history. This is a sign of even bigger things to come, and we’re excited to kick off the season in May with events across the state.

As you read in the last issue, we’ve placed a special emphasis on recruiting women shooters to the sport, and several new teams have come on board for the 2012 season – including a number of all-girls schools.

Just before press time, we were notified of the approval of TWF’s in-lieu fee program for wetlands mitigation, and our wildlife ecological services division is up and running. It’s gratifying to see industry making an extra effort to enhance their land holdings, and both of these programs help TWF better achieve the stewardship component of our mission.

Finally, the Board Member Spotlight on Monty Halcomb underscores the importance of people in the process of protecting our resources for future generations. Monty has made a career of it, as an educator, a wildlife agent and a volunteer, and he stands as an example of so many who have gotten involved for all the right reasons.

Our thousands of supporters are the reason why we are able to be successful, despite challenging economic conditions and the rest of life’s hurdles. It’s because of you that we are able to accomplish our mission, and we can’t say “thank you” enough.

Enjoy this beautiful spring while it lasts. We’ll look forward to seeing you outdoors!

Dan Hammond

F rom the C hief E xecutive O fficer

Tennessee’s Wildlife Habitat

A Paradox of Cooperation and Partnership It is a fact in Tennessee that approximately 90 percent of our state’s wildlife habitat is located on private property. It goes without saying, then, that private landowners are vital to ensuring that our public wildlife populations remain healthy and plentiful.

In a world that appears more and more combative and less cooperative, it is cooperation and partnerships that are critically important to the future of wildlife and their habitats. Whenever there are privately held resources (e.g., land and forests), which house and support a publicly owned resource (e.g., wildlife), conflicts are going to arise. The question then becomes: How do we minimize negative human-wildlife interactions, and capitalize on positive ones? How do we respect private property ownership, but ensure and support the public ownership of wildlife?

When humans need food we grow it, whether it be crops or livestock. And as we grow these necessities, there are no general laws to require we provide wildlife any habitat in the process. As a result, species that are better at adapting to agricultural landscapes tend to flourish (e.g., deer, turkey & doves) and those that are poor at adapting disappear (e.g., quail, rabbits & songbirds).

Out of this competition for resources, conflicts have arisen. In the past, when society noticed that large-scale changes in land use were removing wildlife habitat to the point that a species was about to become extinct, we (the public) set a priority on preventing the extinctions. The Endangered Species Act and other pieces of legislation were specifically aimed at protecting habitat types. And because the Endangered Species Act applies its power by working to protect endangered wildlife habitat, it doesn’t often offer a workable solution between the private property rights of landowners and the publicly owned endangered wildlife. More often, it exacerbates these problems by forcing the public’s values in regard to wildlife habitat squarely onto the private landowners who own this important habitat. The result is often conflict on multiple levels, and these conflicts are typically bad for wildlife.

So what solutions exist that can bridge the chasm between private property rights of land and public property rights of wildlife?

One popular solution is that of providing access for a fee. If 90 percent of Tennessee’s land base is privately owned, then obviously you need to access private lands to get to the majority of Tennessee’s wildlife. That need for access drives mutually beneficial partnerships that help wildlife.

The clearest example is the hunting lease. Say farmer John owns a 2,000 acre farm in rural Tennessee that he utilizes to grown corn and soybeans.

Farmer John also leases the hunting rights on this farm for $10 per acre for the length of the annual deer and turkey seasons. This $20,000 in additional revenue motivates farmer John to manage his agricultural lands in a way that is still productive for his main farming operations, but doesn’t damage habitat necessary to support healthy deer and turkey populations.

And while this is admittedly a simplistic model, it is played out over and over across rural Tennessee on an annual basis.

In the best examples, the landowner and hunters both come to appreciate each other and work closely together to purposefully improve habitat (for

the wildlife) and control illegal access (stop trespassers), because it is in everyone’s best interest. Over time, these relationships can create great opportunities for enhanced wildlife habitat projects that benefit much more than just the deer and turkey the relationship was originally founded upon.

The weakness, if this model has one, is that it has yet to be successfully applied for species that are not hunted or fished. Wildlife watchers who do not hunt or fish typically do not seek out private lands for these “nonconsumptive” activities. As a result, they rely more and more upon public lands (i.e., parks and wildlife areas), and the increasing pressure often creates user conflicts and less-than-ideal wildlife habitat and viewing opportunities. As an unintended side effect, it also lessens the potential for the positive rural economic impacts that recreational activities can have, and removes the incentive for private landowners to lead the wildlife habitat conservation movement.

This example is in no way meant to diminish the critically important role that public lands play – and should continue to play – in wildlife management and conservation. But we cannot ignore the fact that our public lands, and their management, are chronically underfunded and leave much to be desired; at the same time, they utilize precious public financial resources which are under constant threat annually and are, in fact, dwindling.

If we are to sustain and expand the continued recovery, conservation and success of Tennessee’s wildlife, then innovative, market-based approaches to partnerships and conservation must evolve. The expectation that the majority of landowners must be forced to do what is right for wildlife is neither politically feasible nor sustainable. The hammer of regulation – while admittedly a useful tool at times – has and will only continue to create resentment, and eventually a backlash, against wildlife habitats and those of us interested in seeing them perpetuated. we must be creative and bold in finding new opportunities.

If society continues to hold that native, endangered species and their habitats are valuable, then why not make available a market-based solution that provides access to see and/or use the wildlife, and incentivize the creation and enhancement of their habitats? Why can’t we reward those landowners who maintain critical habitat for endangered or rare species for their contribution to the public good, rather than trying to force them to do something that is not in their best interests financially?

And while access to wildlife for myriad recreational uses is a great tool, it is not the only approach that can be used to enhance relationships between those who own Tennessee’s wildlife habitat and those who use it. If we can establish creative approaches to the determination of wildlife’s value that users will support, then we will present an exciting opportunity for both.

While our user-pays system of wildlife management has proven wildly successful, it needs to be applied in a broader sense – bringing into the fold the private landowner in a more meaningful and vital role, and expanding opportunities for wildlife conservation in Tennessee.

Mike Butler

Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 3

P a r t n e r s i n C o n s e r vat i o n

Catch The Fever!

O

ften times, we talk about wildlife and habitat without giving our fisheries resources much consideration. But the state of Tennessee boasts world-renowned opportunities for largemouth and smallmouth bass, muskies, trout and other species. One of the most unique – and early on, most controversial – is the striped bass.

those years, when the issue rose to the level of the Tennessee General Assembly, and outspoken critics were working to get the stocking program shut down. The group changed its name and its focus to include a statewide reach, and built a coalition in support of the striper fishery, based on biological research.

The striper is a temperate bass, a saltwater species that doesn’t reproduce in our waters. They are spawned in hatcheries and stocked in numerous reservoirs across the state, and they grow to be large, hard-fighting fish.

“Mississippi State University fisheries biologists did a study in 1989 through the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and there was no stocking during that period,” Cox says. “They determined that the impact was negligible, and we compromised at three fish stocked per acre versus five. It’s been the same way ever since.”

The Tennessee Striped Bass Association (TSBA) was formed as the Norris Lake Striper Club when the first striper stocking project was underway. It was simply a local club enjoying the resource when turmoil began surrounding the stocking project. Some thought the striped bass were having an impact on native species’ reproduction rates.

Norris Lake fisherman Ezell Cox was the TSBA’s president during

More than a dozen Tennessee reservoirs now play host to trophy striper fishermen, including Boone Lake, Cordell Hull, Percy Priest and Watt’s Bar reservoirs. But Cox says it could have been a different outcome if it weren’t for a number of conservation partners that came to the TSBA’s aid.

Chief among them was the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, who rallied their Camo & Casting Coalition to support striper fishing for the state’s residents – as well as the visitors who generate considerable economic impact. TWF helped bring to the support base other conservation organizations, from Trout Unlimited to the Fur Trappers Association. Each realized the power of numbers, and in the end, the compromise was a reasonable solution.

“You look now and we have trophy smallmouth, largemouth, trout and stripers,” Cox says. “And our Agency does a great job of managing them and adjusting the regulations based on biology, and they are willing to listen to the sportsmen.”

Cox says the controversies that sometimes surround fish populations are typically the result of natural cycles that occur in all waterways, along with other introduced factors including contaminants and invasive pests.

TSBA Advisor Ezell Cox with an early April striper out of Norris Lake.

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The important thing, he says, is that everyone is willing to work together to help balance the tide, when the fish are at their peak and when the numbers dip a little.

“TWF (then the Tennessee Conservation League) went to bat for us and brought a lot of other organizations into the fold, but they didn’t take any credit,” Cox says. “Everybody working together got the job done.”

More recently, TWF led the charge in this legislative session against a dangerous bill that could have opened up all waters to commercial fishing, without any consideration of the impact to non-targeted species. The TSBA worked in lock-step to rally fishermen around the cause, and the bill was removed from consideration.

“TWF comes through in the right places, when it’s needed the most,” Cox says. “I’m very pleased that we have the Tennessee Wildlife Federation watching out for the best interests of the state’s wildlife and fisheries… grabbing hold of the right issues and working to fix them.”

It’s that spirit of collaboration that will ensure that our wildlife (including the fish!) and habitat will be protected and enhanced for generations to come.

Captain John Smith, who founded Jamestown, Va., in 1607, wrote in his journal “that Striped Bass was a most sweet and wholesome fish as ever I did eat.”

Today, striped bass is enjoyed in many of the same ways as other popular fish. Its firm, white meat allows it to be baked, blackened or grilled, but many prefer it breaded and fried in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet.

Some even eat it thinly sliced on the boat deck as sashimi, although we wouldn’t advise it in freshwater.

The TSBA club culture suggests the release of the larger stripers and the harvest of those under 15 pounds for eating.

The Association’s yearly fish fry in October is the highlight among annual club functions. Check their website for more details.

From the Kitchen Baked Striper With Bleu Cheese Dip

Get Involved with TSBA The Tennessee Striped Bass Association has been a tremendous partner to the Federation, and we want to encourage interested fishermen to get involved with their efforts to preserve and enhance striped bass fishing opportunities in Tennessee. Benefits include:

• A monthly newsletter with timely information on striper fishing • A network of “striper friends” • Regular fishing reports • New tips and tricks for catching striped bass • Monthly meetings and informative programs • Access to all areas of the TSBA website

www.tennstripedbass.com

• 1 medium shallot (diced) • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder • 1 teaspoon dried parsley • 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning • 4 tablespoons pickled jalapenos (chopped) • 1 medium tomato (chopped)-summer tomatoes are the best • 16 oz bleu cheese salad dressing (Naturally Fresh found in the Produce Dept. is our favorite) • 1/4 cup whipped cream cheese • 3/4 cup cooked striped bass (finely shredded) Striper Preparation (Foil Steamed): • Remove skin and all dark meat, then place filets in foil packet • Drizzle with fresh lemon juice • Lightly salt and pepper • Sprinkle one tablespoon of dried parsley over filets • Seal packet tightly, and cook at 425° for about 20 minutes • Cooking time will vary with thickness of filets. Fish should flake easily.

In medium bowl, combine bleu cheese dressing and cream cheese. Fold in cream cheese, being careful not to break up bleu cheese chunks. Add seasonings, then shallots, tomatoes and jalapenos. Finally, fold in shredded striper.

Don’t be afraid to add or delete ingredients according to your taste preference.

Suggested dippers: fresh vegetables, crackers, corn chips and bread sticks

Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 5

TWF Launches Wildlife Ecological Services Division Working With Industry to Improve Habitat

W

ildlife conservationists are always looking for opportunities to combat the loss of quality habitat – to add to what’s being lost at an alarming rate across Tennessee and other states. Sometimes, those opportunities are right under our noses.

Chad Whittenburg is a certified wildlife biologist, and the director of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Ecological Services division (WES). It’s a new role for him, and for the organization.

Over its 65-year history, TWF has been involved in countless habitat improvement projects, but 2012 marks the first year for a dedicated division that focuses on helping individuals and organizations create diverse habitat where it doesn’t exist.

In November, U.S. Nitrogen engaged TWF to develop a multi-phase habitat improvement plan for its 480-acre property in Greeneville, Tenn. The company’s Austin Powder facility located there will

manufacture inert components of explosives for use in mining and agriculture, and air permits require a large natural buffer surrounding the operation. As a result, more than 400 of those acres will be unused.

“We’ve got this beautiful property, and we’re only using a small part of it,” says Shawn Rana, vice president and general manager of U.S. Nitrogen in Greeneville. “Our two most important core values as a company are safety and our environment. We’ve been around for more than 100 years, and in this industry, you don’t last long unless your operations are safe and you take care of the environment you’re in.”

Whittenburg saw an opportunity to develop the acreage into multisuccessional growth areas that would benefit all wildlife, simulating on a smaller scale what Mother Nature does for a landscape over time through fire, wind, flood and natural turnover that creates expanses of fields, forests and everything in between.

He sees five “prescriptions” for the property that would maximize its value to the company’s employees and the public, while enhancing the diversity of the habitat: walking trails for employees with interpretive signage and viewing platforms; wetland and stream restoration; conversion of pasture land to native warm-season grasses; selective thinning of the forest stands; and the creation of edge habitat that eases the transition between forest and field.

“A lot of people don’t understand that the edge habitat is where a majority of animals – particularly birds – like to hang out,” Whittenburg says. “If you take a 100-acre field and let it go fallow, the first stage of succession would be weeds, and certain animals prefer that. The next year, it’s more woody plants and a different TWF’s Wildlife Ecological Services Division is working with U.S Nitrogen to enhance a nearly 500-acre property in east Tennessee.

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set of animals. Things turn over each year, with small-diameter trees, then on to a mature forest. All of these types of habitat are favored by different species for nesting, brooding, feeding and resting, and that’s what biodiversity is all about.”

The proposal presented in April to U.S. Nitrogen officials for the Austin Powder property calls for sections of micro-habitat that would greatly reduce maintenance and set a new standard for the industry.

Whittenburg had to factor in a number of considerations to fit within the company’s operational plans, while still achieving the objectives set forth.

For instance, security protocols dictate that the entire property must be fenced, and the question became what type of fence would be installed for the exterior perimeter. Can a barrier allow wildlife to move freely, while still maintaining the desired level of security? Whittenburg found a solution, which he says could save the company several hundred thousand dollars on the 4.5 mile fence alone.

And where prescribed fire would normally be utilized to manage native warm-season grasses on a two to three-year rotation, that prescription is not practical in this scenario. TWF plans to partner with the University of Tennessee Wildlife Extension Service to conduct research there on other means of grassland management that don’t include controlled burning.

Much of the land held cattle previously, and stream banks are being restored to control erosion. Whittenburg says the stands of woods are crowded, with white oaks competing for water with inferior species.

Hard-mast production should greatly increase with selective thinning, and successional browse will emerge as sunlight is allowed to penetrate the canopy.

“The company is not required to do any of this,” he says. “But it’s clear that they want to be good neighbors and stewards of the land. Many times, you can see success within months, with different species moving in. In the short term, there are obvious benefits for employee health and wellness, and long-range, it could be opened for public access.”

As for Rana, the company’s vice president, he’s looking forward to diving in to the proposal and working with TWF to implement components over time. Currently, grading work is underway, and he expects the facility to be operating in less than two years.

Meanwhile, he says he’s fascinated by the ideas that Whittenburg has put forth, and that he thinks the project will add to the value of the unused land.

“We’ve identified the species that need help and areas that could benefit from restoration, and we’ll implement components that not only will help the wildlife, but can be something that our company and the public can take pride in,” Rana says.

For TWF, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate how industry and conservationists can work together.

“When complete, we hope U.S. Nitrogen will be able to showcase this effort as an important wildlife habitat and that our partnership is a true example of natural resource stewardship of the land and wildlife.”

Whittenburg says.

Renderings by Mike Jones, Photography by Chad Whittenburg

photo courtesy of The Chattanooga Times

Charter members of the Tennessee Conservation League gather at the Read House in Chattanooga on February 12, 1946.

Front row, left to right: Lou Williams, Walter Amann Jr., Paul K. Bryant and Z. Cartter Patten III. Back row, left to right: Nash Buckingham, Nat Winston Sr., E.H. Peckinpaugh, Charles J. Murphy, Major B. Harris, Joseph Halburnt, Clifford Curry and Kyle Walker. Not present: John Flippen, Enoch Brown and Frank Vestal.

A Common Purpose:

The Birth of the Tennessee Conservation League

T

he Tennessee Conservation League (now the Tennessee Wildlife Federation) was formed on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 1946, at the Read House Hotel in Chattanooga. The crowd included 53 Tennesseans, plus two guest speakers from the game and fish programs of neighboring states.

Among the members were notables like Nash Buckingham, Lou Williams, Paul Bryant and Z. Cartter Patten III. They were sports writers, hunters, fishermen and conservationists, and they had a common goal – to put in place a system for wildlife management in Tennessee that would rely less on politics and more on sound biology.

Williams, a noted outdoors columnist, wrote in his 1971 history that Ernest Peckinpaugh emphasized the need for an organization that stood for more than wildlife conservation.

“He envisioned one which would concern itself with the overall aspects of natural resource conservation,” Williams wrote of Peckinpaugh.

“He wanted the new group to advocate programs which would encompass soil, water, forests as well as wildlife. A number of others in the small, determined group felt the same way.”

The League was incorporated, with fifteen members putting up $10 each in seed money for the charter fee, postage, telephone calls and other incidental expenses. Every sportsmen’s club in the state was notified of the organizational meeting.

At that first meeting, the two guest speakers were Charlie Elliott, director of Georgia’s game and fish program, and Tom Ford, an official from Alabama. Both represented states where the commission form of game and fish administration was already in effect – Alabama’s since 1939 and Georgia’s since 1943.

It was clear that Lou Williams would be the group’s leader, and much of the first meeting was spent voting on the nine pages of proposed bylaws. Most were adopted as written, but one drew “much

Editor’s Note: The following text is adapted from Dr. Marge Davis’s Sportsmen United: The History of the Tennessee Conservation League. Moving forward, each issue of Tennessee Out-of-Doors will include the stories of the League’s work throughout history to champion the conservation, sound management and enjoyment of Tennessee’s wildlife and natural resources for current and future generations through stewardship, advocacy and education.

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From the Archives discussion” – the section on goals and objectives. For the most part, this section was fairly predictable: to conserve the natural resources of Tennessee, to sponsor educational programs, to cooperate with affiliated clubs and so forth. A number of items had to do with legislation, including a pledge to pass favorable game laws and another to oppose “any amendment or act… that may deprive a lawabiding citizen the right to possess, own or bear firearms.” (Removed in 1951 when the League applied for tax exemption).

Nowhere, however, did the section say anything about removing the fish and game department from political interference and patronage.

This was added as an explicit purpose, only after much wrangling among members.

Lou Williams told the group it was his “burning desire” to get the Conservation Department itself out of politics. He respected Commissioner Paul Mathes and the rest of his department, but he said they were all “hogtied” by political pressures.

In 1946, Game and Fish was still a division of the state Conservation Department, as it had been since 1937. When the issue finally came to a vote, the motion called for the political independence of the entire department, not just its Game and Fish Division. The motion passed unanimously, and “the removal of the Conservation Department of the State of Tennessee from political influence” was inserted near the top of the list of objectives.

If the motion helped solidify the League’s agenda, it also gave the next morning’s newspapers something far more meaty to report than merely the founding of a new hunting and fishing club. On Wednesday, most of the state’s major dailies announced the League’s “Campaign to Remove State Conservation Department from Political Control.”

An editorial in The Chattanooga Times read: “The Tennessee Conservation League will do this state a great service if it succeeds in having the state as a whole considered from a nonpolitical standpoint in conservation. States which seek to become nationally known recreation centers and which seek to attract true sportsmen must have a nonpolitical policy which conservationists and sportsmen throughout the state would be glad to advance.”

Through 1946, the League built a base of clubs and individuals that boosted the membership into the thousands. When the first Annual Meeting was held in February of 1947, more than a hundred delegates attended. The campaign to reform Game and Fish would dominate discussion at the meeting, and the League’s activities for the next two years.

The group was “ready to blow off the lid” during the current legislative session, and unwilling to wait until the next one in 1949.

But Williams urged caution, and reminded the group that the organization was “not yet strong enough to live through a serious controversy.” Infinite wisdom, of course, but mighty unpopular that Friday night.

On Saturday morning, attorney and legislative committee chair Karl Steinmetz argued that if the League wanted to have a model game and fish law ready by 1949, it had better start drafting it now. The committee promised that the draft would be ready for the 1948 convention, but in fact it was ready much sooner. On Nov. 14, 1947, Lou Williams called a special meeting of the executive committee to review the proposed model law.

The League was calling for an independent Game and Fish Commission… after looking more carefully at the structure and makeup of the Department of Conservation, the board had simply decided it would be impractical to try to change the entire TDOC. The bill called for nine commissioners instead of five, three per grand division of the state. And it granted an unprecedented degree of oversight to the sportsmen.

Steinmetz’ bill was much like the other wildlife commission bills of the period. It gave the commissioners the authority to hire and fire a director, set seasons and bag limits and acquire land. It stipulated that the commission be entirely self-supporting, neither receiving money from nor paying money into the general fund. The commission would operate entirely on its own resources, whether license fees, fines, permits, leases or federal allocations. These monies would go into a Game and Fish fund, where they would be held “separate and apart” from any other use by the state. The bill gave the commission sole power to fix the budget, to enforce game and fish laws and to buy lands for game farms, fish hatcheries and hunting grounds.

At the 1948 annual meeting in Nashville, the members moved to adopt the draft with only two minor changes. The draft was officially in the pipeline, but getting the model law ready for the Legislature was only half the job.

League officers began at once to plan a “concentrated and skilful statewide campaign” in support of the proposed law. They flooded the newspapers with articles and press releases, pushed the law in weekly outdoor columns and wrote letters of support in the editorial pages.

They recorded radio spots, set up a speakers’ bureau, appeared before civic groups and in general tried to make sure that every sportsman in the state understood what the law was all about.

They were not necessarily preaching to the choir, either. While most sportsmen supported the commission idea, some were bitterly opposed. Nevertheless, the list of affiliates and individual members grew to nearly 10,000 – no small potatoes to a legislator or officeseeker. Even if wildlife protection were not a popular issue, it would be hard, if not impossible, to ignore such a delegation.

After a year-long grassroots lobbying effort, the vote came in late February, with the model law passing 79-2 in the House and 26-1 in the Senate. On Feb. 25,1949, it became Chapter 50, Public Acts of 1949, creating what was officially designated the Board of Conservation for Game, Fish and Wildlife.

Folks in the League were well aware that their commission would be challenged. For now, however, they simply savored their victory.

It was a critical test of Williams’ leadership, but he stood firm. By the next morning, the mood had calmed. Most of the dissenters were now willing “to accept the fact that a year or two must pass before there would be any appreciable movement.” Yet the League was already moving forward.

Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 9

Tennessee’s State Game Bird:

The Bobwhite Quail Efforts Underway to Bring Back a Species in Demise

J

im Maddox knows a thing or two about trying to bring back a native bobwhite quail population. He’s been trying on his 1,700acre Yellow Creek Farm in Houston County for years. When he and his father bought the land together in 1986, it was twice as big.

“3,400 acres is not twice as good as 1,700,” Maddox says. “It’s 10 times as good. You have to have enough land mass for any sort of wildlife plan to work well.”

Maddox first went quail hunting when he was 12, more than 50 years ago. He says every five acres in and around Nashville held a covey, and that he could set the dogs out from his backyard in Belle Meade and have a good hunt.

But things have changed. While theories abound, most agree that modern farming practices that utilize every inch of tillable ground have been the demise of the bobwhite. Quail habitat is largely fencerow and early successional growth, from brooding and breeding to nesting and feeding. What used to be a barnyard sure bet has become one you’d be hard pressed to find in Tennessee. Native wild quail – the state’s official game bird – have nearly disappeared.

The Maddoxes noticed the decline for the first decade at Yellow Creek Farm. By the late ‘90s, the huntable populations didn’t exist. They launched an intensive plan to re-establish them, an effort Jim Maddox says was less than successful.

hens, and the next year 50 more. One day, he says he saw 500 in the farmhouse’s front yard. Clearly, the habitat improvement work had done wonders for the turkeys, and for deer and other important species. But a quail’s lifespan is much shorter – about 18 months, experts say. As a result, fragile populations have far less time to take hold.

After a lot of research, the expertise of consultants from Quail Unlimited and trials with various methods of stocking, conditioning and landscape manipulations, the Maddoxes have come to the conclusion that stocking doesn’t work.

“The studies have shown that wild birds won’t mix with the penraised, and stocking is really a function of how much do you hate your money,” Maddox says.

Georgia, Texas and other states have managed to sustain native populations of quail, turkey, deer and predators on the same ground, but the answer may be found in the large expanses of undisturbed acreage. However, some states have had success with pilot projects on smaller sections. The key, experts say, is a wild covey to serve as a seed that can be cultivated. Maddox is hoping to see his population come back over time, as a result of the habitat work he’s conducted.

As neighbors see the results, the word will hopefully spread to a larger area.

“The thought was, build the habitat and they will come,” he says.

“We spent that entire first summer working on it, and many summers after – moving dirt, planting, bushhogging, burning… there was one wild covey before, and five years later there was apparently still one covey that we would find from time to time. The challenge proved to be greater than we expected.”

He says it’s not any one agricultural practice, but the accumulation, and the scale, that’s had such an impact. At Yellow Creek, they’ve planted native warm-season grasses, and some initiatives are working to convince more farmers to rotate out of fescue. Yet those cultivars have to mature for three years before harvest, and it’s hard to take land out of productivity for so long – cows need hay, and a farmer can get two bailings per year on a fescue field.

They had worked with the TWRA to stock 17 Eastern wild turkeys to later be trapped and relocated – a few years in, they trapped 100

“I’ve become an oasis in the desert for all the other species, but it just doesn’t seem to be big enough to sustain quail,” Maddox says. “You

10 | Spring 2012 | www.tnwf.org

can have successful hunting if you keep stocking birds, but you can’t expect to have them survive and reproduce.”

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on Crabtree is a stalwart at Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission meetings. He’s been involved as an advocate for decades on a number of important wildlife issues; most recently, he was a key organizer in the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s successful effort to amend the state constitution to include a personal right to hunt and fish. Now, Crabtree has taken up the reins as a volunteer focused on bringing back the bobwhite quail in Tennessee. He serves on the committee for the Music City Chapter of Quail Forever, but much of his effort goes far beyond what would be expected of a committee member.

He’s been reaching out to a number of key TWRA personnel and working to keep the tradition of quail hunting alive here, despite the low numbers. In February, he helped host a youth quail hunt on a farm in Lynnville, Tenn., where more than 20 kids had a chance to experience the thrill of a covey rise – many of them for the first time ever.

Crabtree says the issue is more about dedication and effort than about the possibility. While he agrees that landscape-scale changes are necessary, limited successes can be found in other Southern states.

TWRA’s 2006-2012 long-range plan includes several goals related to quail and other farm game species, but for budgetary and other reasons, few of them have been accomplished.

“A lot of people talk about the good old days, but in Tennessee these are the good old days for so many species,” Crabtree says. “There’s only one exception – the bobwhite quail. We’ve seen a number of successes, just not in Tennessee. It’s a matter of making the decision that our state game bird matters, and putting the resources toward it.”

Crabtree’s not the only one who’s taken an interest. Don McKenzie is the director of the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative, which is housed at the University of Tennessee and funded by 25 different state fish and wildlife agencies, including Tennessee’s. A panel of wildlife biologists from around the country comprises the National Bobwhite Technical Committee, which oversees the initiative. Their goal is to restore wild populations of bobwhite quail in this country to levels comparable to 1980.

McKenzie spoke to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission recently, outlining the current status, the needs and the prognosis, including examples of what other states are doing.

To sum it up in one word, McKenzie says the outlook for bobwhites in the United States is bleak.

“It’s declining in every single state across its range, both short-term and long-term, without exception,” McKenzie says. “There’s not a single state where they’re holding their own, much less increasing.

Across the Southeast, they’re declining by four percent per year. In Tennessee, the number’s even worse – five percent per year.”

And it’s not just quail… just about every species of grassland bird that shares habitat with the bobwhite is also declining, including at least 15 different high-priority songbird species.

“As much success as we’ve had with deer and turkey over the last 25 or 30 years, we see bobwhites as unfinished business,” he says. “This is a habitat-rooted problem, and a habitat-rooted solution.”

He cites urban sprawl, intensive agriculture and unmanaged forests as factors, and references a report by Aldo Leopold in 1929 that said 85 percent of habitat in the state of Mississippi was suitable for bobwhites.

Today, that number is less than five percent, and what good habitat remains is isolated.

Yet other neighboring states are seeing great results from focused efforts. The Missouri Department of Conservation identified a concentration area in Scott County, and exceeded all of the goals for habitat restoration and quail numbers within four years.

“Hunters started coming out of the woodwork, so much so that the Chamber of Commerce in that county called the director of conservation and said, ‘What in the world are you doing in Scott County?,’” McKenzie says. “We’ve never seen so many orange hats.”

The same thing is happening in central Kentucky, in Shaker Village near Lexington on a 3,000-acre former cattle ranch. The “sea of fescue” is being converted to native grasses, and 1,000 acres were converted in the first two years.

“The wildlife department there says they went from 8-10 coveys to more than 30 coveys in two years, and are expecting 50-60 coveys at next count,” he says. “They’re now selling wild quail hunts as a fundraiser to support the effort on that property, as well as neighboring properties.”

The goal, say Crabtree and McKenzie, is to get Tennessee to place some emphasis on bringing back the bobwhite. With the right resources, it’s been proven to work, and they say what’s been learned through the process can allow participating states to realize the ultimate goal of restoring a species throughout its native range.

Understandably, it’s the various species enthusiasts who make their voices heard who end up getting the attention of decision-makers.

Those who would like to see the bobwhite quail become Tennessee’s next wildlife success story should share their thoughts with wildlife commissioners and leaders. Their contact information can be found at www.tnwildlife.org. For more information on the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative, visit www.bringbackbobwhites.org.

Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 11

Bluebirds are easy to attract, and it’s a lot of fun to observe their nesting and feeding habits. The secret is placing birdhouses properly and monitoring them to prevent problems with other species.

Divine Digs for Eastern Bluebirds

By Carol Reese rounded the corner of the house to see a wild fight in the grass.

The combatants fought with such fury that the early morning dew flew high in the air. They were two male eastern bluebirds, accompanied by one female who chattered incessantly as she hopped round and round them, occasionally launching herself into the fray to throw a quick blow or peck. I glanced up to see a second female perched on a wire, keeping tabs on the fight, but too demure to get involved.

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The pair that fought together drove the others away and seized control of the nearby bluebird house, the reason for the battle. I laughed to myself that the noisy female must have been expressing her urgent need to have a place to lay her eggs. It must have been pressing.

There were other bluebird houses on my property, but this one was the most prized. It was no different than the others except for its siting, which was near perfect in the bluebird world, facing east across the lawn.

Bluebirds like open fields, and will not nest in brushy or heavily wooded areas, which would provide cover and access for predators.

However, a couple of small trees or tall shrubs a short distance from the nest are good, since the birds will often stop there to observe conditions before approaching the nest. Plus, when young birds fledge, these plants provide a destination and safe cover. Another consideration is that the nest opening should face away from the prevailing winds and storm fronts. While you would not want a tree or structure too close to the house, if it can catch a little shade in the hottest part of the day, this will help to keep it cool during the later nestings.

Usually it is best to put up a post where all of these conditions are best met, rather than trying to utilize an existing post that is not as well sited. Using a tree trunk is not advised, as it is an easy matter for a snake to drop into the birdhouse from above.

Whatever the support, the box height from the ground should be about five feet. This will allow you to monitor the nest, which should be done weekly or so. Why should you monitor the nest? To make sure wasps, fire ants or bees have not usurped the box, or to remove broken eggs or dead baby birds. Do not continue to monitor the nest as the fledglings are beginning to develop mature feathers, as you may accidentally flush them from the nest before they are ready. Monitoring the nest does not scare off the parents.

I check on the box frequently even during non-nesting times of the year to prevent other critters from building inside the box, though you may as excited as a friend of mine was to find flying squirrels in hers.

Box specifics can vary, but in general, the roof should be slanted for runoff, and have a good overhang over the hole. The hole itself must be one and a half inches in diameter for eastern bluebirds. After having many of my boxes ruined by woodpeckers enlarging the hole for their own needs, I have come to prefer a box with a metal plate surrounding the hole. A deep box is helpful for discouraging predators such as raccoons from reaching in and grabbing the eggs or baby birds.

A metal pipe or conduit tapped into the ground is one of the simplest solutions. A sturdy metal strap attached vertically to the back of the box can be bent into an hook shape and dropped into the hollow top of the pipe.

Holes for drainage and ventilation are desirable, but a balance must be sought, since early nestings may be exposed to cold weather. In fact, adult bluebirds will sometimes roost in the boxes – sometimes communally – during severe winter weather.

Wooden posts aren’t difficult to set, though they are easier for predators to climb. Snake and predator guards are always a good idea, even though my dogs keep the area well patrolled. Many different types of predator guards work well, should you live in an area where chicken snakes or rat snakes are common.

There is also the North American Bluebird Society that provides great information and even regional hotlines to address any urgent questions or bluebird emergencies. How great is that? That web address is www.nabluebirdsociety.org.

While some of these needs are very specific, such as the size of the hole, there are actually many styles that make great nestboxes. An amazingly detailed resource can be found online at www.sialis.org.

Carol Reese is an Ornamental Horticulture Specialist with the UT Extension Service in Jackson, Tenn. She writes a weekly gardening and nature column for The Jackson Sun and contributes to a number of gardening magazines. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in horticulture from Mississippi State University.

Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 13

Finding a Place in Nature Story and photos by Sonya Wood Mahler

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henever I am outdoors with someone and they say they are afraid, my first question is always, “What exactly are you afraid of?”

Sometimes their response seems reasonable to me. Afraid of being bitten by a water moccasin as we are wading through wetlands.

Afraid of being mugged as we’re hiking an urban nature trail. Afraid of being struck by lightning as we’re paddling down a river in an aluminum canoe during a thunderstorm.

Sometimes their answer is more difficult to understand. As we picnicked in an open field, one 12-year-old told me he was afraid of “lions and tigers and bears.” Oh my! A 10-year-old told me she was afraid of flowers. In my work with the Cooperative Extension Service, I received calls from homeowners afraid of tree frogs, crayfish, even butterflies.

A colleague shared with me that one of his new neighbors wanted to have all of her trees cut down. When he asked her why, she said that she was a child in Europe during World War II. Her parents warned her that there was a German soldier hiding behind every tree. She had never recovered from that fear. I understand that kind of fear, born of childhood trauma. Still, I am frustrated when 14 | Spring 2012 | www.tnwf.org

those around me don’t have the same values or love of the outdoors.

Increasingly, their experiences in nature are limited. In the United States, much of our time is spent indoors, in an environment of controlled temperature and light, in front of a television or computer or video game.

At a marine science 4-H camp in Niceville, Fla., we surveyed the participating 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds. We found that only a handful of the 120 campers had ever hiked on a trail, looked at the stars at night, or swam in anything except a swimming pool. They had also never caught fireflies, never sat by a tree while remaining perfectly quiet, and never talked to their grandparents about what life was like in an earlier time.

I led programs for young people in the housing developments of downtown Pensacola who could crawl up on their roofs and see the beach across the bay from them. Yet they had never been to the beach in their lives.

Some of this results from a lack of money or transportation. Some of it portrays our move from rural settings to an urban lifestyle. Some of it comes from wanting to control everything in our environment.

Some of it reflects that trend of parents spending less and less time with their children.

One 16-year-old told me, “A bug is for squashing. A turtle is for running over. A tree is for chopping down.” A participant in his 50s told me there were only three kinds of snakes he doesn’t like: “live snakes, dead snakes, and sticks that look like snakes!” A 25-year-old admitted that her closest contact with nature now was to walk across the grass from her front door to her car, and she didn’t enjoy that!

Participants are often attracted to creeks – so much life to explore!

Aldo Leopold, author of A Sand County Almanac, wrote: “Man always kills the thing he loves, and so we the pioneers have killed our wilderness. Some say we had to. Be that as it may, I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in.” We destroy what we fear. We are afraid of what we do not understand.

Through TWF’s Great Outdoors University, we strive to help children and youth find their places in nature. We take them fishing and caving and camping and stargazing and strolling through streams. On each field trip, the participants go on a nature walk, have some time to romp and climb and just be kids, and have some quiet time to sit and reflect on the habitat, the new home, around them.

As they become more comfortable in the outdoors, and gain more knowledge about the world around them, they become more connected with it. Nature is not a foreign world. It is a place where they can laugh and learn and explore. And when they begin to care about that natural world, they develop a lifelong stewardship towards it.

Each of us can think of a place or a time when we felt a part of nature… our first osprey flying overhead, following with our eye as a drop of water fell over a waterfall, a full moon rising over a lake.

Everyone needs that kind of real experience in nature.

That which we are afraid of, we will destroy. But that which we care about and believe to be necessary for our quality of life, we will fight tooth and nail to protect. And every child needs a special place, a second home, in the great outdoors.

Sonya Wood Mahler is the manager of TWF’s Great Outdoors University program, which provides meaningful outdoor opportunities for hundreds of inner-city kids each year.

The GOU program provides life-changing outdoor experiences to children who otherwise may have never had the opportunity.

2012

Tennessee GOU Destinations Memphis: Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park Pinecrest Retreat Center T.O. Fuller State Park Winchester Farms Wolf River Nashville: Beaman Park Burgess Falls State Park Camp Marymount Hickory Creek Farm Land Between The Lakes Spring Hill Farm

Sometimes there’s no better place for a nap than in the woods.

Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 15

TWF Programs

Full Circle: Hunters for the Hungry Touching Lives in Shelby County and Across the State

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olton Gayden is 15 years old, an eighth grader at Memphis University School. Like a lot of West Tennessee kids, he can’t get enough of deer hunting. During the 2011 season, Gayden killed six deer – and he donated five of them to the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s Hunters for the Hungry program.

“My dad (TWF Board Member Jack Gayden) and I have been doing this for several years,” Gayden says. “It makes me feel good to help take care of less fortunate people. A lot of people have lost jobs and may have to go to a food bank. It’s not that they don’t want to work, but times have been hard and a lot of people need help. This is one way I can help.”

Buford Mathias has been working as a deer processor in Fayette County, Tenn., for more than 25 years. Over time, he’s seen a lot of changes – the number of deer, for instance, that hunters are bringing in to be processed into steaks and burger.

He’s also been a party to the phenomenal growth of the Hunters for the Hungry program, which provides lean, healthy meat to food banks and soup kitchens across the state. As white-tail populations have blossomed, the need to manage the herd has encouraged hunters to take more deer. And to those focused on helping the hungry, that need presents an opportunity.

“You’d be surprised at the number of people who want to control the deer populations on their farm but don’t want to pay for it,” Mathias says. “They don’t want them to go to waste either. Once people learn about Hunters for the Hungry, they’re glad to donate extra deer for free.”

That’s where organizations like the Plough Foundation come in. Based in Memphis, the Foundation has provided funding for TWF’s Great Outdoors University program in the past, but something about Hunters for the Hungry caught their attention.

“Our foundation normally doesn’t fund projects continually,” says Scott McCormick, the Plough Foundation’s executive director. “But we liked the organization and the work being done, and at the end of two years when the GOU grant was up, we asked where else TWF needed help.”

The result was a $20,000 grant to help fund deer processing in and around Shelby County, which is providing more than 50,000 meals to West Tennesseans who need assistance.

“We saw Hunters for the Hungry as a great way to help conservation, and to fill a niche by providing protein to food banks. They get a lot of macaroni and cheese, but not a lot of meat.”

Bob Fritchey is the food service coordinator at the Mid-South Food Bank in Memphis, which serves more than 320 agencies and programs that feed 20,000 people a month.

“Thanks to this effort, we were able to provide more than 12,000 pounds of ground meat and roasts to the organizations we support,” Fritchey says. “Protein is such an important part of a balanced diet, and most food banks don’t have a consistent source – the bulk of what’s provided is pasta and rice and other dry staples. When we get the chance to offer meat, it’s a great thing.”

And it’s not just grant funding that helps drive the donations. Mathias says his granddaughter stood on the Square in Brownsville promoting the program, and collected $600 from passers-by. That $600 represents almost 2,500 meals.

“We saw Hunters for the Hungry as a great way to help conservation, and to fill a niche by providing protein to food banks. They get a lot of macaroni and cheese, but not a lot of meat.”

Scott McCormick, The Plough Foundation They’re looking at putting on a golf tournament in Brownsville, and local groups in several counties are holding fun runs, skeet shoots and other events to raise money. All told, Hunters for the Hungry brought in about $50,000 in 2011, with other major supporters including the Wal-Mart Foundation and the Memphis Conference of the United Methodist Church.

The program set another record this year, up 13 percent over last year’s record, by providing more than a half-million meals to hungry Tennesseans. Over the life of the program, Hunters for the Hungry has generated more than 3.3 million meals.

Mathias processed 89 deer this year for Hunters for the Hungry, and says he thinks he can do 100 next year. But one of the perennial challenges is storage. To date, TWF has placed 27 chest freezers at processing locations and key distribution points, and Mathias says the organizations that feed people are always eager to replenish their supplies.

“The Mid-South Food Bank comes as soon as you have it ready, with a great big refrigerated truck,” he says.

And with hunters donating 63 tons of venison in 2011 and doubledigit growth, they may need more in the future.

“People are interested,” Mathias says. “This is the biggest year I’ve seen, and people think it’s a great thing.”

Hunters for the Hungry can’t operate without the support of people like you, and there are many ways to give.

Visit www.tnwf.org to learn more.

Hunters for the Hungry connects generous hunters with hungry Tennesseans.

Professionally processed venison is provided to food banks and soup kitchens across the state.

Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 17

TWF Programs

TNSCTP Shooters Make Junior Olympic Shotgun Team Four of 22 Named to National Team Come From Tennessee Program he Junior Olympic program for USA Shooting can often be the beginning of the Olympic journey. For four participants in the TWF’s Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program, it’s the opportunity they’ve been working toward.

Grant Dorris of the Henry County “No Fly Zone” team, Trey Hill of Middle Tennessee Christian School in Mufreesboro, and Hannah Houston and William Stewart from 3@8 in Maury County have been selected to receive the support, assistance and coaching needed to advance through the ranks of competitive shotgun shooting.

“The talent pool has strengthened over the past year, and the competition was steep,” says Team USA National Shotgun Coach Bret Erickson, a four-time Olympian. “We’re happy to acknowledge this group of young kids in hopes that they’ll gain the confidence and maturity necessary to be elite-level shooters in our program down the road.”

Dorris’s head coach in Henry County, District Attorney General Hansel McCadams, says that the level of dedication and amount of practice – along with family support – has led the young shooter to a tremendous level of success.

“Practice, practice, practice – Grant always has the same disposition, and he’s determined to be a winner,” McCadams says. “When he’s not shooting sporting clays, he practices for the Junior Olympic events on the wobble trap machine. We couldn’t be more proud of him.”

Dorris says it’s the fulfillment of a major shooting goal, and a stepping stone for a career in competitive shooting.

“USA Shooting teaches you responsibility and discipline,” he says. “It also taught me that hard work pays off. This is the first step toward my goal of making the Development Team and then the National Team looking forward to the 2020 Olympic Games.”

The national Junior Olympic team is comprised of nine trap, nine skeet and four double trap shooters.

The Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program includes nearly 100 teams statewide and about 2,000 shooters each year. In 2011, TNSCTP brought home seven of fifteen national championships, and is considered to be one of the top programs of its kind in the nation.

Expanded Horizons: New Schools, New Opportunities for Tennessee’s Scholastic Clay Target Program Year after year, the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program continues to grow – both in numbers and accolades. The program’s success has caught the attention of at least 10 new schools across the state, both public and private. Two of them are all-girls schools.

“TNSCTP has gained national recognition as another great athletic opportunity that schools can offer to their students,” said Andrew Peercy, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s statewide manager for TNSCTP. “More and more private schools are starting new teams, and we’re very 18 | Spring 2012 | www.tnwf.org

pleased to have all-girls schools getting involved.

Females comprise about 20 percent of our program, and this is one of the few sports where they have a chance to compete against the boys. As we’ve seen, they’re not afraid of the competition!”

In Memphis, Lausanne Collegiate School, St. George’s Independent School and the Manassas School are all fielding new coed teams, along with the all-girl Hutchison School and St. Mary’s Episcopal School.

Fayette Academy in Summerville and Christ Legacy Academy in McMinn County have also added teams, along with the Christian Academy of Knoxville.

In Williamson County, Ravenwood High School and Independence High School have both started new TNSCTP programs, and more are expected to join before the season begins.

“What we’re seeing is more diversity, on every level – geographic, gender and race,” Peercy says. “It’s such a great opportunity for the kids, and it’s and exciting time for TNSCTP.”

2012

TN Junior Olympics May 2nd — May 6th

Holly Fork Shooting Complex, Paris, Tenn.

Regional Championships June 2nd — June 3rd Various Locations Across TN

TNSCTP State Championships June 19th — June 24th

TNSCTP Schedule

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Tennessee Clay Target Complex, Nashville, Tenn.

Sporting Clays..........................................June 19th Skeet........................................................June 20th Rookie & Intermediate Trap.......... June 21st and 22nd Junior Varsity & Varsity Trap........ June 23rd and 24th

For more information, visit www.tnsctp.org

TWF Programs

Each year, TWF Board Member Tom Rice funds a Lifetime License for a young hunter. This year’s lucky winner was 14-year-old Emily DeCuir of Spring Hill.

TNSCTP Student-Athletes Participate in 4th Annual TWF Davis P. Rice Youth Waterfowl Hunt Young Hunters Treated to Scholarships, Prizes and Duck Hunts in Dyersburg

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ore than 120 student-athletes from Tennessee’s Scholastic Clay Target Program assembled at the Lannom Center in Dyersburg the evening of Feb. 3 with their parents, coaches, sponsors and guides to kick off the 4th Annual Tennessee Wildlife Federation Davis P. Rice Youth Waterfowl Hunt.

At the banquet Friday, a crowd of about 300 enjoyed a barbecue dinner while Director of Mitigation and Ecological Services Chad Whittenburg served as master of ceremonies and hunt director. No one left empty handed – gear from Delta Waterfowl, Final Flight Outfitters and Ducks Unlimited was given away hand over fist, and lifetime licenses and college scholarships were presented to a few lucky winners.

likely won’t forget, and we sparked an interest that will help continue that great tradition.”

In addition to TWF, Delta Waterfowl, Final Flight Outfitters, RIO Ammunition and the Tennessee Army National Guard, other sponsors included Sweeping Corporation of America, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the City of Dyersburg, Dyersburg Chamber of Commerce, Ducks Unlimited and Stites & Harbison PLC. Founded in 1946, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s mission is to champion the conservation, sound management and enjoyment of Tennessee’s wildlife and natural resources for current and future generations through stewardship, advocacy and education. For more information, visit www.tnwf.org and www.tnsctp.org.

Tom Rice, a longtime TWF Board member whose son, Davis, was killed in an automobile accident in 2007, has always been focused on introducing kids to the outdoors. Rice funded a Tennessee Lifetime Hunting License for 14-year-old Emily DeCuir of Spring Hill, and several students won cash scholarships. Murphy Watkins of McKenzie and Alicia Smits of Spring Hill each won $250 scholarships from Delta Waterfowl; Hunter Finan of Jackson and Ryan Scarlett of New Market won a $250 prize from Final Flight; And last but not least, Bryan Tefft of New Johnsonville and Hunter York of Dickson each won $500 scholarships from the TWF’s Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program.

Saturday morning found the young hunters spread across 18 farms in West Tennessee. RIO Ammunition had provided shotgun shells, and the guides were able to work ducks and geese into range.

“These kids are excellent shooters, but the majority of them had never been hunting before,” Whittenburg says. “It was an experience they Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 19

Obi t ua r i e s & M e m or i a l s

Remembering Robert E. Tipton

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e at the Tennessee Wildlife Federation are sad to report that our friend Robert Eugene Tipton Jr., 22, died on March 26 of natural causes while in attendance at High Point University in High Point, North Carolina.

Robert was planning to intern with TWF’s Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program this summer.

He was born on February 10, 1990, attended Presbyterian Day School and Memphis University School in Memphis, and graduated from the Carlbrook School in Halifax, Virginia.

Robert had many talents and interests, but his greatest love was his family – accompanying his mother on a vacation, or escorting his sister in Carnival Memphis. Throughout Robert’s life, his maternal grandparents, Lib and George Dunklin, of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who predeceased him, encouraged and supported him in all of his endeavors and remained steadfast in their love for him, and throughout his life they remained close to his heart.

A natural runner and accomplished track athlete, Robert won the Shelby League’s Dan Griffin Outstanding Award in 2005. In 8th grade, he broke the MUS Middle School two-mile cross-country record, and in 9th grade, as a star runner on the Varsity CrossCountry team, he tied the high school one-mile track record and was the only 9th grader on the MUS Varsity Cross Country team who placed runner-up in the state.

Robert loved the outdoors, and especially enjoyed duck hunting and skeet shooting at his family’s 5 Oaks Lodge in Humphrey, Arkansas.

His varied interests included concerts and music, as well as science and technology. On his many travels, he especially enjoyed the culture of Japan and the excitement of New York.

Robert’s sensitive heart endeared him to all who knew him. The messages his friends have left on his Facebook wall attest to his kindness and caring nature: “You never failed to bring smiles to everyone’s faces;” “You are the most loving and tender person that I have ever had the privilege of calling a friend;” “You taught me how to really care for people;” “You made me love life and want to live every day to the fullest;” “I’ll miss your big smile and big hugs;” and “Shine down upon us.” His sister Mary posted: “I love you more than the world, brother. As my angel, please never leave my side.”

Robert leaves his mother, Deborah Dunklin Tipton, and sister Mary Elisabeth Black Tipton of Memphis, and his father, Dr. Robert E. Tipton Sr., of Terre Haute, Indiana. He is also survived by his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. George Hillary Dunklin Jr. of Humphrey, Arkansas; his cousins, Megan, Hillary, and Lauren Dunklin; and his great aunts and uncles, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Dunklin Sr. of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and Mr. and Mrs. Louis M. Dunklin, of Dallas, Texas.

The family requests that memorials be sent to Memphis University School, 6191 Park Avenue, Memphis, TN, 38119, or to the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, 300 Orlando Avenue, Suite 200, Nashville, TN, 37209.

And finally, from another friend: “I would say Rest in Peace, but no, that’s not you. Rest not, Rob, and be not at peace. Instead, explore and dream and risk and challenge and love like you always have.”

We take comfort in knowing that Robert is in Heaven with God and his beloved grandparents CiCi and Gang-Gang.

The following memorial gifts were made to TWF in honor of Mr. Marion Ray Black.

Thompson Station Baptist Church

Terri Slayton

Grace Community Church

Harold and Gerdi Delellis

Louis and Adeline Black John Rudolph

Edgar and Maria Von Trotha Brad and Faris Wheatley

Means Construction, LLC

20 | Spring 2012 | www.tnwf.org

JW and Betty Cox

Joe and Katherine Roberts

Wesley and Christina Moss Ed Zierlun

Kermit Schnitker

Show the world that you love wildlife through one of Tennessee’s specialty license plates.

Support Tennessee’s wildlife by purchasing one today, as a significant portion of the proceeds supports TWF.

Don’t see it displayed at your clerk’s office? Be sure to ask for it!

For more information visit:

www.state.tn.us/revenue/vehicle/licenseplates/specialty.htm

T W F Bo a r d M e m ber Sp ot l ig h t

Monty Halcomb

Monty Halcomb:

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A Lifetime of Service to Our Nation and Natural Resources

orn and raised in Tullahoma, Tenn., Monty Halcomb earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Middle Tennessee State University, where he was an Army ROTC distinguished graduate.

Over the summers, he attended Airborne and Ranger training and served four years as an Army officer, including a voluntary tour with the Army’s First Cavalry Division in Viet Nam as a medevac helicopter pilot.

Stateside, he commanded the surgical hospital at Fort Lewis, Wa., before leaving the Army in 1972. As the Hospital Commander, he directed a law enforcement operation that captured and prosecuted a major heroin smuggling and distributing ring on base. During his military career, he earned a Silver Star, a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Soldier’s Medals, Air Medals and Bronze Stars, along with the Meritorious Unit Award and many others for his valor in combat and service to the nation.

He went back to MTSU for a master’s in biology and became a doctoral candidate in the University of Tennessee’s wildlife and ecology department, but left in 1975 to build and direct the Tennessee Heritage program for The Nature Conservancy. Meanwhile, he flew Hueys for a Tennessee Air National Guard medical unit.

In 1977, Halcomb left the Tennessee Heritage program to begin a 24-year career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and was a distinguished graduate from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center’s Criminal Investigator School and at the top of his class in Special Agent Basic School. His first assignment was as an agent/ pilot in New Orleans, La., where he flew fixed and rotary wing aircraft and served as the resident agent-in-charge. From there, he went on to Brunswick, Ga., to train state and federal agents in officer stress, safety and survival, import/export regulations, investigative procedures, ethics, and management of undercover operations.

He developed and implemented the Service’s designated firearms instructor program and was a lead instructor in advanced firearms training.

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Later, he served as assistant special agent-in-charge in Denver, Colo., and as the special agent-in-charge of the Southeast region for USFWS, and held primary responsibility for supervising field operations, including the coordination of several major, multinational undercover operations and covert smuggling takedowns involving Australians, Canadians, Germans, Mexican Nationals, Saudi Arabians and Americans. He eventually was acting deputy regional director of the Southeast region before retiring in 2001.

Now, Halcomb volunteers as a hunter safety instructor and trains Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers, is a commissioned deputy sheriff in Bedford County, and teaches ornithology, environmental problems seminars and basic biology at MTSU. His wife, Joanne, is also an avid conservationist and TWF supporter.

Most importantly, she has been his best friend for more than 40 years.

He’s also the chair of both the governance committee and the governmental affairs committee for the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s board of directors, and has been actively involved in the Federation’s efforts this session to beat back harmful wildlife bills and to serve as the voice of reason for wildlife lovers on other key issues being debated in the General Assembly. In the past, he’s served as chair, vice-chair and secretary of TWF’s Board, and is a five-term representative to the National Wildlife Federation.

Monty Halcomb’s career – from his time in the field to his tireless work as a volunteer, and everything in between – has been focused on preserving wildlife, protecting our natural resources and doing whatever it takes to increase the opportunities for people to enjoy them.

For that reason and so many others, his service to the TWF deserves to be recognized. On behalf of everyone with a stake in wildlife and habitat, we salute Mr. Monty Halcomb, and express our sincere gratitude for his countless contributions.

Advocacy

TWF’s Advocacy Arm Has a Busy Season on the Hill

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t’s been a busy year on the Hill, with several dangerous bills introduced into the General Assembly that could have negative effects on our wildlife and habitat, and several good pieces of legislation that the Federation is supporting.

As you read in our “From the Archives” section, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation was created more than 65 years ago in an effort to eliminate politics from wildlife management. We take that responsibility very seriously; unfortunately, it’s a perennial challenge.

Following are some of the highlights of bills we’ve been working on this session. To learn more, visit our Legislative Action Center at www.tnwf.org.

HB3383 By Lollar As introduced, makes it a Class A

misdemeanor to transport wild-appearing swine into or within the state without appropriate documentation from the Department of Agriculture.

SUPPORT

HB3158 By Niceley As introduced, opens all property managed

by TWRA to recreational hunting and fishing by deleting authority of TWRA to restrict such areas for reasons of public safety, homeland security or as otherwise limited by law. OPPOSE

HB3164 By Niceley As introduced, authorizes breeding facilities to possess certain native species for purposes determined by and in accordance with rules promulgated by the Department of Agriculture. OPPOSE

HB1572 by Swann Provides for the Department of Agriculture, Division of Forestry to promulgate rules to create a Certified Prescribed Burner Program and provides limited liability for those persons who become certified and follow the requirements provided in the bill.

SUPPORT

HB3169 by Niceley As introduced, authorizes a state or local governmental entity to submit a bill to TWRA for removal of the carcass of dead wildlife from the roadway and requires TWRA to reimburse such entity for the cost of removal, burial and destruction.

OPPOSE

HB3215 by Cobb As introduced, revises membership of Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission.

OPPOSE

HB3165 by Niceley As introduced, creates a Tennessee exotic wildlife board within the Department of Agriculture; gives responsibilities to the board for wildlife held in captivity for commercial purposes and gives responsibilities to the Wildlife Resources Commission for wildlife held in captivity for personal, non-commercial purposes.

OPPOSE HB2776 By Harwell As introduced, rewrites provisions governing board for the conservation of game, fish and wildlife; replaces Wildlife Resources Commission with Wildlife Conservation Commission. SUPPORT

Building Your Legacy With TWF Our Mission Statement: To champion the conservation, sound management and enjoyment of Tennessee’s wildlife and nautural resources for current and future generations through stewardship, advocacy and education.

For 65 years, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation has been leading the conservation movement in our state. Hunters, fishermen, hikers, paddlers, birdwatchers – these are the people who love wildlife, and these are our supporters. We couldn’t have accomplished so much without you.

Have you considered TWF and our programs in your estate planning? We can help shape your life’s work into a legacy for generations to come.

For more information, call TWF Chief Development Officer Kendall McCarter at (731) 868-1346, or contact him via email at kmccarter@tnwf.org.

TWF News

Take Me Fishing Award to Help Connect Youth with the Outdoors

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utdoor Nation, a national organization that connects youth to the outdoors, has awarded The Take Me Fishing Award to the Tennessee Wildlife Federation (TWF), which will help support the TWF’s efforts to increase youth participation in recreational fishing and provide outdoor opportunities to inner-city youth. The award is made possible by the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF), a nonprofit whose mission is to increase participation in recreational angling and boating.

“The Take Me Fishing Award is the kind of support that allows us to provide these opportunities to at-risk youth,” says Karen Vaughn, grants and special projects director for the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.

“There’s something special about helping a kid catch his or her first fish, and we’re fortunate to be in a position to fill that role.”

TWF’s Great Outdoors University (GOU) program was founded in 2006 as a way to offer meaningful outdoor experiences to children who otherwise wouldn’t have the means to discover natural beauty and wild places. GOU currently operates in Memphis and Nashville, partnering with non-profit organizations that serve at-risk youth by providing day and weekend trips to natural

places where the kids learn outdoor skills and develop relationships with peers, mentors and the great outdoors.

In addition to unstructured time in the woods, GOU participants learn to fish, identify flora and fauna, hike and camp.

When far too many children only know the outdoors through the screen of a video game or television, the program is instilling in them a love and appreciation for the natural world that will carry them forward and be passed along to future generations.

“Fishing is one of the top gateway activities that lead to participation in other outdoor pursuits,” says RBFF President and CEO Frank Peterson. “We’re pleased to support these awards as a way to connect youth with the outdoors and create future anglers and boaters who will cherish and protect our outdoor spaces.”

Outdoor Nation selects Take Me Fishing Award winners through a competitive application and review process. Ten projects from across the country were chosen for the awards. The projects serve various audiences and activities include therapeutic recreation, ice fishing, university programs and environmental education.

Outdoor Nation is an initiative of The Outdoor Foundation and was founded with initial support from The North Face, RBFF, The REI Foundation, The Conservation Fund and the National Park Service.

“We are proud to continue empowering young people to champion the outdoors and become leaders in their communities,” says Chris Fanning, executive director of the Outdoor Foundation, the organization that oversees Outdoor Nation. “Thanks to RBFF, America’s youth will help inspire young fishing enthusiasts, engage their diverse and underserved peers and provide valuable skills that will last a lifetime.”

Founded in 1946, The Tennessee Wildlife Federation is dedicated to the conservation, sound management and enjoyment of Tennessee’s wildlife and natural resources for current and future generations through stewardship, advocacy and education.

TWF Establishes In-lieu Fee Program for Tennessee’s Wetlands

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he federal Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, which includes wetlands. Yet there are times when the public good and economic growth require that those waters be effected, and the need arises to offset such impacts – a concept designed to ensure no net loss of wetlands or important waters within a certain geographic area.

Among different solutions for mitigating unavoidable impacts to valuable wetlands, many states operate an In-lieu Fee (ILF) program – typically through a non-profit as a sponsor – which collects fees on behalf of the public to pool together and fund the repair and maintenance of restored wetland mitigation sites.

The Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s mission is to champion the conservation, sound management and enjoyment of Tennessee’s

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wildlife and natural resources for current and future generations through advocacy, education and stewardship; however, until now no ILF program existed for wetlands.

Earlier this month, after a lengthy application and review process, TWF was notified of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of our application to establish Tennessee’s first wetlands mitigation ILF program, known as the Tennessee Mitigation Fund.

Chad Whittenburg will serve as director of the Tennessee Mitigation Fund, and his work on both the ILF and the habitat improvement projects he’s leading will contribute to the fulfillment of the stewardship aspect of our mission.

When an applicant seeks permit approval from regulatory authorities overseeing water and wetlands, TMF will identify mitigation

sites and work with landowners to restore those sites to permanently functioning wetlands.

After construction, the site must be monitored for proper hydrology and vegetation annually for five years, and again at seven and 10 years to ensure the successful restoration of lost wetland functions.

By rule, net proceeds from projects will be held in escrow for both maintenance and future wetlands projects, along with any interest gained on the escrow account.

This is a milestone in TWF’s 65-year history, and one we’re excited to implement on behalf of Tennessee’s wildlife and habitat.

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