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Finding funding for pheasant habitat [The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.](Daily Republic (Mitchell, SD) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 18--Paul Coughlin talks about the landscape in South Dakota as if it were a radiant, elaborate painting. The 47-year-old Aberdeen native has lived in the state his entire life. While growing up, he developed a passion for the outdoors. "I really enjoyed hunting and fishing, but I really enjoyed the aspect of all wildlife," Coughlin said. "Whether it's our wetlands, the grasslands, the Black Hills, the Badlands, or wherever it is, I just enjoy the landscape we have in South Dakota." Coughlin's hobby morphed into a career. He now works for the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department as a habitat program administrator, which entails managing all state game production areas used for public hunting. Much of Coughlin's focus goes toward maintaining and improving pristine pheasant habitat on state public hunting land. Specifically, he concentrates on whether there is enough grassland to provide nesting and brood cover for pheasants. "You have to have the grassland on the landscape to raise the birds," Coughlin said. "You have to have the winter cover on the landscape for the birds to survive from year to year." The problem of maintaining suitable pheasant habitat goes beyond state public hunting land. A significant drop in the state's pheasant population in 2013 prompted Gov. Dennis Daugaard to examine South Dakota's habitat for pheasants and other wildlife. When more than 400 people attended the Governor's Pheasant Habitat Summit in December in Huron, it was clear there was strong interest in finding a solution to the state's declining habitat and what that could mean for pheasants. At the summit, Daugaard announced the formation of a work group to investigate ways to improve the state's habitat for wildlife. The 13-member group assembled eight recommendations that "focus on practical solutions for maintaining and improving pheasant habitat," according to an in-depth report developed by the group, released in September. As today's annual statewide pheasant season opens, the question of funding those recommendations to improve habitat in the state is expected to be a topic of discussion. Coughlin is as interested as anyone. "We have the potential to get back to, as people say, 'The good old days,' " Coughlin said. "We have the potential to get that if we recognize how important habitat is on the landscape, and not just pigeonholing ourselves into saying, 'If we just had more CRP or more public lands then we'd be fine. That's not the case." 'Shaping our landscape' At noon today, the statewide pheasant hunting season opens. Resident and out-of-state hunters are eligible to hunt rooster pheasants on public land and, with permission, on private land, with a limit of three daily and a possession limit of 15. This year, preseason population counts provided some encouraging news for rooster-chasers. In late August, the GF&P reported the number of pheasants seen during its annual brood count increased 76 percent this year after the significant drop in last year's count. Last year, GF&P said the number of pheasants spotted during the count dropped 64 percent compared to the year before. That decline, which served as the motivation for the Governor's Habitat Summit and the report that followed, was the second largest in the history of the count, which dates to 1949. Part of the blame for the drop was placed on the high demand on farmers to use more land for crops, often resulting in the destruction of grassland that serves as valuable habitat for pheasants. In recent years, high commodity prices have led to the expansion of more row-crop fields such as corn and soybeans. Corn topped $8 per bushel in 2012, but has since dipped to a five-year low and is now less than $3 per bushel as this year's harvest gets under way. "I think we still have to remember that a lot of the land-use decisions going on out there are really business decisions," said Travis Runia, GF&P's top pheasant biologist. "Agriculture producers are watching markets and watching federal farm policies. The federal farm policy has really shaped the South Dakota landscape over the last 20 years. We've seen a transition from mixed producers where they had cropland and livestock on the landscape to producers that have cropland now. A lot of that is probably a response from federal farm policy, which has a lot of support for cropland and not as much for livestock producers. "While we have a lot going on for conservation right now, I think we still have to remember these large-scale mechanisms that are shaping our landscape as well." CRP vs. native grasslands Runia has been getting two to three calls daily from nonresidents asking about the prospects for this season since the work group's report was released in August. When hunters ask whether South Dakota will ever get back to the historical highs for pheasant population, he consistently points to the amount of land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program as a telltale sign that "the good old days" likely won't be here in the foreseeable future. The CRP program, part of the farm bill since 1985, pays farmers and ranchers to keep land out of production as a way to promote wildlife habitat and water quality. In 2007, there were almost 1.6 million acres of CRP in South Dakota. That year was the state's recent high pheasant harvest at about 2.1 million birds. In a span of six years, the amount of CRP dropped to less than 1 million acres. Last year, CRP acres dipped below 1 million mark and the statewide pheasant harvest last season was about 983,000 birds. It was the third time since 1991 that hunters harvested fewer than 1 million birds in a season. At the beginning of this month, South Dakota had a bit more than 900,000 acres enrolled in CRP. "Conservation, a lot of times, costs money," Runia said. "If you look at a program like the CRP program that's highly successful and highly popular among producers, if you start penciling out how much money goes into that, it's a lot. It starts adding up in a hurry." Pete Bauman, a South Dakota State University Extension range management field specialist based in Watertown, researches conservation with an area of expertise in native grasslands. Rather than CRP enrollment, Bauman is more concerned about the declining number of acres in native grasslands and how it affects the pheasant population. Bauman referenced one study, listed in the Pheasant Habitat Work Group's report, that shows between 2006 and 2012, more than 1.8 million acres of grassland were either converted to cropland, overtaken by water or lost to urban development. Bauman wants people to be aware that CRP is not the same as native grassland. "A lot of people maybe don't understand or differentiate," he said. "They think CRP is our grasslands in South Dakota. Frankly, CRP is a significant and important part of our grasslands, but CRP really is grass planted on previous crop ground. There's no doubt CRP has significant impact on pheasants and other birds, but it's the chipping away of our native grasslands that's most concerning." He explained that once a native grassland area is changed, there's no way to get back the same level of habitat ever again, even if it is replanted or set aside into CRP acres. "You can never go back," Bauman said. "You can't go back in the sense of what you had, not in our lifetime and maybe never." Funding habitat Nathan Sanderson, policy adviser to Daugaard on agriculture and the state GF&P, was a member of the Pheasant Habitat Work Group that assembled the eight recommendations to improve habitat. Sanderson said recently that since the work group issued its report, Daugaard has already taken steps to implement its recommendations. One of those steps was working with the South Dakota Community Foundation to establish the South Dakota Conservation Fund. Sanderson said there is no stated fundraising goal, but he expects it to be in the millions of dollars. The fund already has $200,000 committed to it because of two $100,000 donations from Tim Kessler and Pheasants Forever. Kessler is a member of Pheasants Forever's board of directors and is a former chairman of the South Dakota GF&P Commission. Dave Nomsen, director of Pheasant Forever's South Dakota Regional Office in Brookings, told The Daily Republic earlier this month of the organization's plans to match Kessler's donation. "It's going to take a whole fleet of folks working toward long-term action here to support South Dakota's pheasant hunting heritage," Nomsen said at the time. "The establishment of a substantial, dedicated funding process is going to pay dividends for generations to come here in South Dakota. We're really excited about the fund." Sanderson said it's too early to say exactly how the money from the South Dakota Conservation Fund will be distributed. "While it's possible some funding could eventually be used for native grasslands, I think the broader consideration is going to be expansion or retention of a variety of grassland landscapes -- not necessarily native, though that's a possibility -- through existing programs," Sanderson said in an email response to The Daily Republic. "The overall goal is to maintain or increase high quality pheasant habitat; whether that habitat is native sod or replanted native grass (or something else) is a secondary consideration." The work group recommended that $1 million be appropriated to the conservation fund to bolster private fundraising efforts, but Sanderson said it has not yet been determined if that will occur. "The governor is working on developing his budget, which he will present Dec. 2," Sanderson wrote. "He is, of course, well aware of the work group's recommendation for one-time funding and considering it." The GF&P's Division of Wildlife 2012-2013 budget, the most recent budget available, shows that about 31 percent of its funds, or $15.67 million, were allocated to habitat management. When asked whether general funds could be used for the $1 million allocation to the conservation fund, Tony Leif, director of the Division of Wildlife, said "we already currently allocate an appropriate proportion of the revenue we generate to habitat and access." "The other programs and services are also important to our state and would be difficult to cut in favor of an increased allocation to habitat," he continued. "The more practical solution is to identify an additional source of revenue that could be allocated to enhanced habitat programs." Stephanie Judson, president of the South Dakota Community Foundation, said interest in the conservation fund increased as the start of pheasant hunting season approached. The South Dakota Community Foundation manages more than 650 funds for "a variety of communities and causes in the state," Judson said. "The funds are invested in order to protect the initial contributions that are made to provide a steady stream of income to support the mission of the fund and to grow the assets, so over time, there will be additional assets available to support conservation efforts in South Dakota, including pheasant habitat restoration efforts," she said. Judson said the South Dakota Community Foundation can accepted several types of donations. That includes cash and checks, but she also pointed to online contributions to the foundation's website. The donated money is invested in stocks, bonds and other entities, and Judson said that 4.5 percent of the average-fund value is made available annually. That means if the fund is $100,000, roughly $4,500 would be made available to spend. "I think any time a governor of a state shows a commitment to building a long-term stream of revenue for an important cause, such as conservation, there's going to be a keen interest from the citizens of the state, and that's what we're seeing," Judson said. Duck stamp increase Another of the work group's recommendations that will directly increase funding for habitat is to support congressional efforts to raise the federal Duck Stamp from $15 to $25. The Duck Stamp is a federal license required for outdoor enthusiasts older than 16 who hunt migratory waterfowl. Congress passed the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act in 1934. Since then, it has generated more than $800 million to conserve nearly 6 million acres of wetland and wetland-associated grassland in all 50 states, the work group's report says. "A model of conservation efficiency, 98 cents of every dollar goes directly to acquire or lease lands," the report reads. South Dakota has benefitted immensely from the funding that comes from the Duck Stamp. More than 165,000 acres of National Wildlife Bird Refuge and Waterfowl Production Areas have been purchased with Duck Stamp funds. Additionally, 1.34 million acres of conservation easements have been secured in South Dakota because of the stamp. The $15 price for the stamp has remained the same since 1991, which is the longest time it has gone without an increase. It has received the support of GF&P officials such as Runia and Rocco Murano, senior waterfowl biologist for GF&P. The Federal Duck Stamp Act of 2014 is in the Senate and an identical bill is in the House. It increases the price of a Duck Stamp from $15 to $25, and also requires any additional revenue from the price increase to be used for conservation easements, which ensures that habitat will be better protected without a substantial increase in federal land ownership. But it is unlikely that Congressional action will be taken with those bills during this legislative session. Because of that, the bill will have to be reintroduced during the next session of Congress, which will meet in January. U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., supports the increase in price for the stamp. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., is retiring, while Congresswoman Kristi Noem, a Republican, is running against Corrina Robinson in the November general election. Noem also backs increasing the price for the Duck Stamp. "The Duck Stamp has provided much-needed support for habitat improvement efforts," she said in a written statement to The Daily Republic. "I will continue talking with local hunters and conservationists to identify the best options to maintain and enhance our lands for future generations." Getting the word out In 2009, Iowa held an event that was similar to South Dakota's Governor's Pheasant Habitat Summit. Todd Bogenschutz, upland game biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, applauded South Dakota's efforts to improve pheasant habitat, but said many of the work group's recommendations were the same as Iowa's efforts five years ago. "When we did it here in Iowa, our task force came up with that we need to market the available programs better; need to maintain habitat; and we need more funding," he said. "I think (South Dakota's) task force could be boiled down to probably those similar things." He felt Iowa's pheasant meeting was overall beneficial, and added that getting the knowledge of the available programs to farmers and landowners is vital when trying to enhance habitat. "The marketing side, that was the one thing we heard from landowners is that they didn't realize how many programs are actually available through non-government organizations like Pheasants Forever or the U.S. Department of Agriculture," Bogenschutz said. Three of the work group's recommendations are directly related to getting the word out about incentives for farmers and landowners to keep their land in conservation. The first is to facilitate greater collaboration among conservation partners to better utilize available resources for improving habitat management. Another is to develop and implement the South Dakota Conservation Certification Program, which will reward producers who maintain a certain baseline level of conservation. Finally, the work group recommended creating a "Habitat Pays" education and promotion series about the various ways habitat benefits South Dakota. "A lot of our wildlife comes down to grass on the ground," Runia said. "There are a lot of options out there. I think that's one of the reasons there's a recommendation out there to have a habitat-central website to put all these options in one place, so if a producer is looking for help or looking to put conservation on the ground, there's a one-stop shopping location to look at their options." Coughlin, who won't hunt this weekend and will miss his first statewide pheasant opener, said the most important thing people can do to make an impact on the state's habitat is to keep the issue on the front burner. He explained people can't sit back and wait for the government to implement the change. Instead, Coughlin said, it takes action from the general public. "That's the thing that needs to be stressed," he said. "This is everybody's plan. There are a lot of things in there that need to be implemented and need to be addressed." With his passion for the outdoors, seeing South Dakota's landscape change so rapidly has been difficult. It's why he's so focused on this issue of habitat and the state's pheasant population. "I'd like to think that at the end of my career I can look back and say that I helped make a difference," Coughlin said. "For the 25 years I've been in the wildlife field, early on I remember hearing the horror stories and what was happening with wetlands and grasslands in Minnesota and Iowa. I just thought, 'Wow, I'm glad that's not happening here.' But it is now. That's something that motivates me more than anything else." ___ (c)2014 The Daily Republic (Mitchell, S.D.) Visit The Daily Republic (Mitchell, S.D.) at www.mitchellrepublic.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |