I finally got mad enough to put my money where my mouth is just like Vollmer did with this AWESOME web site. With all the garbage flying around about who takes money from who, who voted for who, and blah blah blah, I took it upon myself to find out where and how an average schmuck like me can do some good to improve the wildlife habitat on PUBLIC land WITHOUT, I repeat, WITHOUT being political. I have my own land, but I can only plant so many trees and allow so many hunters to hunt it. Great News Guys..........IT CAN BE DONE!!! Unfortunately, I can only speak for the SE region of ND as I had to speak to the District Land Manager Brian Kietzman and we had a very positive conversation which gave me some real hope I can do something good for ND. We figured out TWO, I repeat TWO ways we average schmoes can DIRECTLY help improve public land habitat to make it more productive for all of us and here they are:
1. The G&F Regional Manager already has a robust program of tree plantings for every year that they plant with machine and use their people. What they DON'T have is a program to WATER the seedlings once they are in the ground. They don't have the personnel or the equipment. Mr. Kietzman has expressed an intense interest in working with a private group of volunteer sportsmen with vehicle access permits and the like if we would be interested in committing to watering their tree plantings to increase the survival rates of those plantings. Lack of water is responsible for a tremendous die off of young trees and this is a way I can significantly impact habitat in a meaningful way. I'm going to look into getting a water tank for my truck and a tank for my atv so I can go water this years tree planting. I would welcome any help, but I'm doing it with or without anyone's help. The planting is scheduled for the 21st of May on the Seth Gordon WMA. I'll be there to help and work with Mr. Kietzman on a watering regiment that will work best with the soil types, topography, and tree species in that planting.
2. The G&F Regional Manager has no program to PROTECT these seedlings from deer damage or rodent damage during those first 5 years or so when the seedlings are just starting out. I've had great luck using hog fence and "T" posts to protect small trees from deer damage and sections of drain tile work great to keep the rodents from girdling the trees. I propose to start a fund that will buy these materials and I will spend ALL the donations on those materials to put up fences around these trees. If I get 100 bucks, I will buy enough stuff to protect as many trees as I can with 100 bucks. I'm chipping in time and fuel to get it done.
SO, here's the deal. If anyone wants to help, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do and I CHALLENGE all those nay sayers that like to give lip service to conservation and habitat improvement to show up on location and do something instead of just talk about it. I have NO IDEA how this will go, but I'm willing to run with it. I'd like to have a bunch of guys with me this year, but I'll be doing this by myself if I have to. Unfortunately, this is only for the SE region of ND for now, but I see no reason why others can't contact their district managers and run with this idea in their area. Now I need to start pricing truck and atv tanks. HERE I GO!!!!!!!!!!!
1. The G&F Regional Manager already has a robust program of tree plantings for every year that they plant with machine and use their people. What they DON'T have is a program to WATER the seedlings once they are in the ground. They don't have the personnel or the equipment. Mr. Kietzman has expressed an intense interest in working with a private group of volunteer sportsmen with vehicle access permits and the like if we would be interested in committing to watering their tree plantings to increase the survival rates of those plantings. Lack of water is responsible for a tremendous die off of young trees and this is a way I can significantly impact habitat in a meaningful way. I'm going to look into getting a water tank for my truck and a tank for my atv so I can go water this years tree planting. I would welcome any help, but I'm doing it with or without anyone's help. The planting is scheduled for the 21st of May on the Seth Gordon WMA. I'll be there to help and work with Mr. Kietzman on a watering regiment that will work best with the soil types, topography, and tree species in that planting.
2. The G&F Regional Manager has no program to PROTECT these seedlings from deer damage or rodent damage during those first 5 years or so when the seedlings are just starting out. I've had great luck using hog fence and "T" posts to protect small trees from deer damage and sections of drain tile work great to keep the rodents from girdling the trees. I propose to start a fund that will buy these materials and I will spend ALL the donations on those materials to put up fences around these trees. If I get 100 bucks, I will buy enough stuff to protect as many trees as I can with 100 bucks. I'm chipping in time and fuel to get it done.
SO, here's the deal. If anyone wants to help, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do and I CHALLENGE all those nay sayers that like to give lip service to conservation and habitat improvement to show up on location and do something instead of just talk about it. I have NO IDEA how this will go, but I'm willing to run with it. I'd like to have a bunch of guys with me this year, but I'll be doing this by myself if I have to. Unfortunately, this is only for the SE region of ND for now, but I see no reason why others can't contact their district managers and run with this idea in their area. Now I need to start pricing truck and atv tanks. HERE I GO!!!!!!!!!!!
