Sportsmen Lead the Way for Wildlife on Nevada Public Lands
Revision of BLM land-use plan offers an opportunity for policymakers to support sportsmen’s efforts and follow through on the administration’s commitment to access and habitat
On a Saturday morning last month, more than fifty volunteers and several Nevada Department of Wildlife employees assembled at a desert camp in Mineral County for a safety meeting. Several Nevada Bighorns Unlimited board members and NDOW staff went over the plan for the day and cautioned everyone to stay hydrated and work safely.
The job at hand was to repair a wildlife water source called the Lower Paymaster Guzzler in the Gillis Mountain Range east of Hawthorne, Nevada, and to install a second guzzler adjacent to the original. Constructed more than a decade ago to retain water for the local desert bighorn population, Lower Paymaster could no longer support the number of sheep that had come to depend on it, and the structure had been damaged by excessive runoff in recent years. Even though this part of Nevada receives less than six inches of precipitation annually, it often comes as torrential thunder showers.
The Gillis Mountains are one of many important ranges in the 5.3 million acres of public land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management’s Carson City Field Office, where new land-use plans are being finalized right now. Decisions about public land access, habitat management, and development will be made through this process, and the resulting Resource Management Plan will have an impact on Nevada sportsmen and bighorn sheep, deer, and pronghorn populations for the next twenty years or more.
And we’ve sent a clear message: Since 2012, numerous conservation groups have called for the BLM to safeguard important hunting destinations in the Carson City BLM Field Office, including the Excelsior Range, Gillis Mountains, and Gabbs Valley Range. For these areas, Silver State sportsmen have requested that officials maintain public access, prioritize habitat restoration, secure traditional uses, and conserve the best wildlife habitats from future development.
Sportsmen’s groups have also backed conserving key habitat as Backcountry Conservation Areas to achieve these goals and Zinke’s mission. This balanced management tool was included in the draft version of the resource management plan for Carson City, but it is not yet clear if the Backcountry Conservation Area approach will be adopted in the final plan.
We feel the Carson City BLM field office has not publicly demonstrated a strong desire to prioritize sportsmen’s interests in the final land-use plan. If Zinke’s order will not persuade the local BLM to make changes to the plan, we need your help to persuade these local land managers to do right by hunters and anglers in the final RMP.
The volunteers who worked alongside me to build a critical new water source for bighorns and other Nevada wildlife have left their mark, quite literally, on this landscape and the health of these fabled herds. But a chorus of emails from concerned sportsmen is no less tangible when it comes to crafting strong policy measures for the next two decades of responsible public land management.
So please consider taking the time to speak up for Nevada’s public lands. We’ve made it easy to make your voice heard.
Top photo courtesy: BLM Nevada
5 Responses to “Sportsmen Lead the Way for Wildlife on Nevada Public Lands”
Gaya Covington
it is obscene and irresponsible for the Department of the Interior, Secretary Zinke, the BLM and the current administration to be so abusive and neglectful of preserving and improving our Public Lands, National Monuments and National Parks. Instead, they are willfully neglecting, or intentionally raping and pillaging them all!!!
Bravo on a great new addition to an ecosystem that will now better support all kinds of wildlife…….hope it will be checked and serviced over the years.
As an avid outdoorsman and hunter, I feel that helping wildlife through habitat restoration and water development projects is imperative to help protect and enhance our natural resources for future generations. Hunting, fishing, camping, and backpacking on public lands is a huge part of my life and lifestyle. Access to public lands, improvement of the habitat, and water development for wildlife and livestock are integral pieces of the management puzzle so we can preserve this magnificent resource for our children and future generations. Please help protect our public lands and enhance our natural resources for wildlife and future generations.
Three fishing buddies land fish after fish on a stretch of shoreline that is significant to Louisiana sportsmen and conservationists—it was rebuilt with fines from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill after years of incremental habitat loss
I have been spoiled by the fishing in Louisiana for more than 40 years. Many days, my wrists have ached and my fingers have been scarred from landing countless speckled trout and redfish. There are times when, no matter how many fish I’ve caught, I can’t stand to walk out of the surf or point the boat back to the marina, because I know the next cast will mean another thump or topwater explosion.
But there are great days on the water and near-perfect ones, when the wind gods are merciful, the tide is just right, the company and camaraderie is unmatched, and the fish strike ferociously at just about anything cast their way.
I recently had one of these days in a place with particular significance to conservationists who have been following the Gulf Coast’s recovery from one of the worst ecological disasters in American history.
The Disappearing Shoreline
Perfection greeted me and two of my best fishing buddies, outdoor writer Todd Masson and Grand-Isle-area fishing guide Capt. Frank Dreher, on an early May trip to the Fourchon Beach, one of Louisiana’s most popular and renowned spring and summer fishing destinations. Two- to four-pound trout demolished a litany of lures—from topwater plugs and soft plastics to jerkbaits and minnow and shrimp lures—all morning long.
The backdrop for all this incredible fishing action just happened to be the largest coastal restoration project and the largest single investment in the recovery of the Gulf Coast after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, something that meant a lot to three lifelong Louisianans who have seen a lot of beaches, barrier islands, and marshes vanish over the last four decades.
The Fourchon Beach is the westernmost section of a stretch of shoreline known as the Caminada Headland, which, including Elmer’s Island, stretches 14 miles between Caminada Pass and the mouth of Bayou Lafourche, once a main artery from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico about 1,000 years ago. The headland was formed by sediment deposits delivered via the Mississippi and replenished by water-borne river silt until the bayou was dammed at the river around 1900.
For the last century, hurricanes, strong winter storms, subsidence, and tidal currents have eaten away at the headland, causing the beach to retreat about 35 feet per year and threatening the more fragile marshes to its north—not to mention the energy infrastructure of Port Fourchon and camps and homes on Grand Isle, Louisiana’s only inhabited barrier island.
This land loss has also threatened the tremendous fishery along the beach, which is popular with boaters as well as wade fishermen. As most seasoned surf fishermen know, the best action of the morning is often right off the sand, giving waders an opportunity to target fish that boat-bound anglers can’t reach. I grew up fishing the Elmer’s beach with my dad, catching stringers of beautiful speckled trout and redfish and dozens of fat blue crabs in the summer.
From Off-Limits to Off the Hook
In 2010, oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill coated this beach. Many of the iconic pictures circulated in the media coverage of the spill, showing sheets of sticky, rust-colored tar mats and brown pelicans coated with oil, were taken at Elmer’s Island and the Fourchon Beach. In August of that year, not long after the Deepwater Horizon well was finally capped, I fished along Elmer’s by boat, catching trout and Spanish mackerel on topwater lures and gold spoons, just like I always have. Wading wasn’t allowed for more than two years after the spill.
Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority were back with more heavy equipment and personnel in August 2013, this time to restore the beaches and dunes, rather than drag and sift them for oil. Using fines paid by the oil company and directed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, more than $200 million was invested to bring in sand from an ancient, sunken headland of the Mississippi River about 35 miles west of the Fourchon.
The entire beach was extended back into the Gulf by about 500 feet, fencing was installed to capture sand and rebuild the dunes, and sea oats were planted to hold the beach together. We at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership joined a host of other conservation and sportsmen’s groups in championing the restoration effort because of the enormous benefit to wildlife and fish and boost to fishing access.
It is a quintessential example of the kind of project that deserves to move forward using oil spill penalties, especially considering that this funding has the potential to leave the Gulf of Mexico a better place than it was before that awful event.
So, it was a proud day to be able to cast just short of the sand on that newly restored beach and set the hook into fat, feisty speckled trout. We watched specks jump clear out of the water, while brown-and-white shrimp skipped across the surface and gulls and pelicans dove all around the boat—it’s a memory that will stay with me for a long time. And, thanks to a wise investment by the state of Louisiana with support from a broad coalition of sportsmen and environmental groups, memories will be made along that beach for decades to come.
Congress Advances Legislation to Make Infrastructure Work for Fish and Wildlife
In the past two days, committees in both chambers have passed bills to expedite Everglades restoration and advance natural solutions to America’s infrastructure challenges
Congress took major steps this week to advance legislation that includes some benefits for water quality and fish and wildlife habitat across the country.
This afternoon, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed its “Water Resources Development Act” (H.R. 8) with provisions on boosting natural infrastructure and addressing harmful algal blooms, which can shut down fishing access. On Tuesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously passed the “America’s Water Infrastructure Act” (S. 2800), which would help prioritize natural and nature-based solutions to infrastructure challenges, like frequent flooding, and expedite habitat restoration in the Everglades and Lower Mississippi River Basin.
“Both bills would help create opportunities to reduce flood and storm damages in American communities using natural infrastructure, which improves water quality and fish and wildlife habitat at the same time,” says Whit Fosburgh, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “Nature-based infrastructure projects, like restoring wetlands and dunes, can be more cost effective than traditional infrastructure in the long-term, so what’s good for habitat is also good for taxpayers.”
If finalized, this legislation would expedite efforts to restore natural water flows through the Everglades and into Florida Bay, which is critical to the health of the fishery and outdoor recreation economy in this bucket-list fishing destination. “Recreational fishing supports more than 26,000 jobs throughout South Florida,” says Eric Eikenberg, CEO of The Everglades Foundation. “We are pleased that Congress has shown more urgency in making major advances on the largest ecosystem restoration project in our nation’s history.”
Both bills would also authorize a feasibility study of several key habitat restoration projects in the Lower Mississippi River Basin, which supports as many as 91 species of freshwater fish. “Although this region has some of the richest soil and greatest water resources in North America, it is home to some of the most impoverished communities in the nation with poverty rates over 35 percent,” says James L. Cummins, executive director of Wildlife Mississippi and vice president of the Boone and Crockett Club. “This feasibility study will greatly aid us in developing sound conservation solutions and outdoor recreation opportunities that make economic sense for the people who live and work in this very special place.”
Congress aims to pass water resources development legislation every two years to authorize the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out proposed water-related projects. The full House and Senate still need to vote on these two bills and conference them together before sending final legislation to the president’s desk.
Zinke Could Lead on Conserving Vital Big Game Habitat by Deferring Energy Leases
Neither sportsmen nor scientists want to see more energy development within a renowned mule deer migration corridor, and Secretary Zinke has shown a commitment to conserving this kind of overlooked habitat—what now?
Earlier this year, scientists and the general public marveled at the record-breaking journey of an individual mule deer, Doe #255, which returned to its winter range in southwest Wyoming after summering to the west of Yellowstone National Park and some 240 miles away near Island Park, Idaho. The story made headlines across the country, drawing attention to the seasonal migration of thousands of mule deer between the low-elevation Red Desert and the high alpine country of the Hoback Basin, south of Jackson, Wyoming.
Each spring and fall, these animals travel more than 150 miles through the Red Desert-to-Hoback corridor. Along the way, they pass through public and private lands, crossing fences, roads, deep snowdrifts, housing developments, and rivers as they complete the second-longest land migration in North America.
For many, Zinke’s initiative is a clear model of federal policy being shaped by the best-available science.
This map shows parcels proposed for leasing (in blue and purple) overlaid atop the migration corridor (in yellow),
The Secretary’s commitment to conserving big-game habitat faces its first big test in Wyoming. Unfortunately, the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed 2018 third and fourth quarter lease sale includes a number of parcels located within the Red-Desert-to-Hoback corridor. The leasing of these lands for energy development would risk the degradation of this vital habitat and reduce the amount of usable winter range for mule deer. This could potentially result in further population decline in a herd that has already suffered from habitat loss due to energy development.
Despite popular myth, mule deer do not habituate to energy development, which disrupts their use of seasonal ranges, and long-term studies show that it can be harmful to herds. In all likelihood, sportsmen and women would see an associated reduction of hunting opportunities in numerous areas.
Hunters Take Action
Sportsmen’s groups have been leading the charge on this critical issue. In early May, we joined the Muley Fanatic Foundation, Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation, Wyoming Wildlife Federation, and others by sending a joint letter to Secretary Zinke as well as other state and federal decision makers. Our coalition asked that the BLM defer the leasing of those parcels within the migration corridor until the impending completion of the BLM Rock Springs Resource Management Plan and the implementation of Secretarial Order 3362.
The Red Desert to Hoback corridor, the letter concludes, “represent[s] ‘ground zero’ for conserving these vital habitats for big game.” And, given the importance of Wyoming’s wildlife and its hunting traditions, deferring the lease of these parcels until the new guidelines are implemented is the right thing to do.
Opening this migration corridor to new energy exploration would likely result in more conflict over the issue and also pose a threat to the migration itself. What’s more, the parcels under consideration amount to a small fraction of the nearly one million acres proposed for leasing.
Sportsmen and women need to make our voices heard and ask that the BLM’s decision reflects our concerns for the future of fish and wildlife habitat. Secretary Zinke has shown his desire to safeguard hunting’s future, and deferring the lease of this vital mule deer habitat would be a powerful way of doing just that.
Experts Respond to the Top Seven Gripes We See from Chronic Wasting Disease Skeptics
There is a lot of misinformation out there, so we had three experts clarify exactly what will and won’t help stop the spread of CWD
Since the TRCP first began advocating for real and meaningful steps from national decision makers to control Chronic Wasting Disease, we’ve noticed that this emerging epidemic seems to be the new climate change. While the topic has become unnecessarily politicized in many online forums, some common misconceptions could be keeping many hunters from taking urgent action.
Many of us get reliable information from our friends and social networks about where to go hunting and fishing, what gear to buy, and what techniques to try. But on an issue that is this important to the future of deer hunting in America, we’d rather have hunters hear directly from the experts. So we brought together three of them to tell us honestly if any of these CWD-deniers have a point.
Here’s how they responded—calling on science, field experience, and just good sense—to the most common gripes we see from skeptics.
Gripe #1: “Chronic Wasting Disease has been naturally occurring as long as there have been deer—it is not new and the threat is no more imminent today than it was decades ago.”
RICHARDS: While it is challenging to prove either way, there is little evidence to support the idea that CWD has existed as long as deer have. The CWD distribution pattern observed in several geographic regions suggests disease was introduced in a modern timeframe, became established, and subsequently spread in a radial and progressive fashion. In several areas where the disease has been documented the longest and where prevalence is highest, population impacts have now been documented. If CWD had “been around forever,” it seems likely that these impacts would have been documented in the historical record.
THOMAS: CWD was first identified in the United States in 1967 in Colorado—so, no, it’s not exactly new. But it’s clear that the threat of CWD is growing at a faster rate each year. It has gradually spread around the Western states and into Canada, and in 2002, it was found east of the Mississippi River for the first time in Wisconsin. Mississippi recently became the 25th state to find the disease. Not only is the disease spreading across the United States—through the legal transport of live deer and elk and the natural movements of wild deer—it is also putting down deeper roots in affected areas. In one county in Wisconsin, more than 50 percent of adult bucks tested came up positive for the disease, and that rate has climbed faster each year that testing has been done.
CORNICELLI: It’s also important to note that state wildlife agencies have a moral and legal obligation to manage wildlife populations for the long-term. So, whether or not you believe that this threat is “imminent today”—which I do—it’s my job to focus on the future of these species. This concept is often difficult for hunters and many others to understand, because in today’s society we live so much in the present.
Gripe #2: “I’m not worried about CWD, because the disease has never been found in humans.”
THOMAS: It’s true that a link between CWD in deer and illness in humans who consume deer has not been proven. However, because similar diseases, such as mad cow disease, have made the jump from cattle to humans, both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control urge caution. A recent review of 23 different studies of CWD potential in humans concluded that “future discovery of CWD transmission to humans cannot be entirely ruled out on the basis of current studies, particularly in light of possible decades-long incubation periods for CWD prions in humans.” That’s why the QDMA urges hunters who kill deer in CWD zones to have each deer tested for the disease and wait for test results before consuming the venison.
CORNICELLI: Why take the risk? I am astonished at the low number of deer tested in Wisconsin counties with the highest concentration of CWD. It indicates that hunters are perfectly comfortable feeding infected venison to their families. Perhaps because at this point in time we aren’t seeing human disease, people don’t think it will ever be an issue. However, I follow the CDC guidelines, and so do most of the people I associate with.
Gripe #3: “I’m not worried about possibly consuming venison from a CWD-positive deer, because I don’t eat my meat rare.”
RICHARDS: Disease-associated prion proteins are very resistant to breakdown by heat. As such, cooking venison from a CWD-positive deer, regardless of how “well done” it is, will not appreciably deactivate prions.
THOMAS: One study found that prions are still viable after being incinerated at 1,562 degrees Fahrenheit. “Well done” won’t even scare ‘em.
CORNICELLI: Perhaps Hank Shaw can write a book on CWD-venison recipes? “Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion: The complete guide to cooking venison ash.”
Gripe #4: “We should just allow the natural predators of deer and elk to take care of the CWD problem.”
THOMAS: CWD incubates in whitetails for an estimated minimum of 16 months and an average of two years before the deer become “clinical.” This is when they begin to show symptoms and would be more susceptible to predators in their weakened state. Higher predator numbers would not control CWD, because adult deer are infectious to other deer throughout the entire incubation period.
Gripe #5: “Can’t we just shut down all the deer farms? Problem solved.”
RICHARDS: Even without the captive cervid industry, CWD will likely continue to grow and spread—it is now well-established among some wild cervid populations. Reducing or eliminating human-assisted movement of CWD, on the other hand, has been identified as a key preventative measure.
CORNICELLI: Even if we agreed it was the right decision, it would be difficult. The captive cervid industry is well-connected politically and has been very effective at promoting their importance to the world economy. Conversely, hunters do a poor job organizing and can sometimes seem more interested in their short-term benefits—antler point restrictions, season timing, and bag limits—rather than the long-term viability of deer populations. This is how deer farming, a small industry at $17 million a year in Minnesota, can overwhelm something as economically important as statewide deer hunting, worth $500 million a year in Minnesota.
Then there are hunters who buy into the captive cervid industry propaganda, saying, “This is not a big deal, we can use genetic manipulation to solve this problem, and captive cervid testing is 100 percent accurate.” None of this is remotely true.
Gripe #6: “You are exaggerating the scope of the CWD problem and fearmongering to raise money.”
THOMAS: Perhaps the most dangerous thing about CWD is how slowly it eats its way through a deer population. It does not create stacks of dead deer that are visible to hunters. In fact, many hunters in CWD zones never see sick deer. While CWD is always fatal to any deer that gets it, they may not show symptoms or appear sick for up to two years. Meanwhile, they are spreading it to other deer and depositing prions in the environment through their saliva, feces, and urine. So the situation may not appear alarming, even inside CWD zones.
The alarming part is what will happen to these deer populations over the next 10 years, 20 years, and beyond. There is no vaccine or cure for CWD, it is 100 percent fatal, and we still don’t know how to eradicate it from areas where it has been established. These are the facts—not exaggeration—and this is a recipe for a slow-moving disaster. Action must be taken now to prevent the further spread of CWD and to focus research on finding solutions.
Gripe #7: “CWD is such a huge problem, there’s nothing that any of us can do at this point.”
CORNICELLI: I don’t share that fatalistic view, and I think there’s still a lot we can do—although I admit that in several places (parts of Wisconsin), the horse has not only left the barn, it died some time ago. As an agency manager for more than 25 years, I would be negligent in my responsibilities, as would my colleagues, if we threw up our hands and gave up. But wildlife management authority is not created equal in every state. Some states have the regulatory authority they need to find solutions, but often state legislatures are unwilling to take the necessary steps to do what the state wildlife agency believes to be right.
THOMAS: Yes, there is, and hunters can contribute. When you travel out of state to hunt, find out if you’ll be hunting in a CWD zone, learn the local regulations about transporting parts of your deer carcass. If you learn of someone planning to illegally transport live deer, report them to law enforcement.
Prevention is the only effective method for dealing with CWD, and hunters in unaffected areas must become engaged in the prevention effort. If you don’t have CWD in your woods, you don’t want it.
Top photo courtesy of the National Deer Association
HOW YOU CAN HELP
CHEERS TO CONSERVATION
Theodore Roosevelt’s experiences hunting and fishing certainly fueled his passion for conservation, but it seems that a passion for coffee may have powered his mornings. In fact, Roosevelt’s son once said that his father’s coffee cup was “more in the nature of a bathtub.” TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to bring together his two loves: a strong morning brew and a dedication to conservation. With your purchase, you’ll not only enjoy waking up to the rich aroma of this bolder roast—you’ll be supporting the important work of preserving hunting and fishing opportunities for all.
it is obscene and irresponsible for the Department of the Interior, Secretary Zinke, the BLM and the current administration to be so abusive and neglectful of preserving and improving our Public Lands, National Monuments and National Parks. Instead, they are willfully neglecting, or intentionally raping and pillaging them all!!!
save our hunting fishing land
Please improve the habit for our wildlife
Bravo on a great new addition to an ecosystem that will now better support all kinds of wildlife…….hope it will be checked and serviced over the years.
As an avid outdoorsman and hunter, I feel that helping wildlife through habitat restoration and water development projects is imperative to help protect and enhance our natural resources for future generations. Hunting, fishing, camping, and backpacking on public lands is a huge part of my life and lifestyle. Access to public lands, improvement of the habitat, and water development for wildlife and livestock are integral pieces of the management puzzle so we can preserve this magnificent resource for our children and future generations. Please help protect our public lands and enhance our natural resources for wildlife and future generations.