By Doug Leier
Modern-day North Dakota hunting is partly the product of licenses and excise taxes providing the money needed to secure habitat, develop land improvement projects, gather research and population data, and enforce fish and wildlife laws.
Other major factors include annual and long-term weather patterns, and national agricultural policy, both of which are basically beyond our control.
Knock on wood, harsh winters which can limit resident wildlife, have been relatively nonexistent in the past decade. Over the same time, the federal Conservation Reserve Program has provided 3 million acres of grassland habitat. While changes that reduce this program have already started, we don’t know exactly how much our landscape will change over the next several years. That’s why the habitat provided by our state wildlife management areas is so important. It will always be there, providing a home for wildlife and a place for people to hunt.
If you've bought ammunition, firearms or other hunting gear in North Dakota, part of the purchase price contributes to management of these areas, and the State Game and Fish Department takes this responsibility seriously. Habitat and hunting are the priority on most state management areas, and any activity that detracts from either is either not allowed or appropriately limited.
Consider that North Dakota has a steady to growing number of hunters, and a relatively stable amount of public hunting land. The stress and strains on public land access continue to create new challenges for Game and Fish Department land managers who try to balance the land’s intended purpose with other people who want to use public land for other types of recreation, such as horseback riding, ATV riding and paintball competitions.
"We understand and respect the wants and desires of the public, but people need to understand these lands are not paid for or managed with general tax fund dollars in North Dakota,” says Jeb Williams, who manages the Game and Fish Department’s WMAs in the south central part of the state. “These lands and their management are first and foremost for the sportsmen and women. There are other uses of these properties that coexist with our mission, such as camping, birdwatching and hiking, but these all need to be done with the understanding that we cannot jeopardize the trust of the hunters we're serving."
Another concern is the use of Game and Fish lands for private haying and grazing for livestock. Periodic haying and grazing on some WMAs, after the primary nesting season is over, is part of the management rotation. However, with North Dakota CRP acres released for haying and grazing, the remaining grassland habitat will have to absorb even more pressure from hunters in the fall.
A worst case scenario is a mass reduction not only in CRP acres, but extensive haying of what remains, combined with a severe winter such as 1996-97. Those variables coming together would create quite a change in North Dakota's hunting landscape, not only in physical habitat, but wildlife populations and pressure from hunters.
That's doesn’t mean Game and Fish management areas are not available for other recreation. But it’s important to understand where these lands came from, and that’s why Game and Fish Department managers are very careful about including uses that could potentially detract from wildlife and hunting opportunity.
Leier is a biologist with the Game and Fish Department. He can be reached by email: dleier@nd.gov
Comments