Bringing the Woods Back Containing an Epidemic: Partners in Wild Hog Control
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Fall 2012
The Fight for the Obion River Bottoms
Get Your Feet Wet with Great Outdoors University
Wade into the article about
GOU stream strolls on page 14!
Tennessee Wildlife Federation 2012-2013 Board of Directors
Dan Hammond Chairman, Franklin
Dr. Jim Byford Martin
Chris Nischan Nashville
R.J. “Buddy� Baird III Rogersville
John Jackson Dickson
Dr. John O. Gayden Vice President, Memphis
Nick Crafton Memphis
Richard Speer Nashville
Mike Chase Knoxville
Sam Mars III Harrogate
Rob Lineburger Treasurer, Brentwood
L. Peter Schutt Memphis
Allen Corey Chattanooga
Terry Lewis Knoxville
Tami Miller Franklin
Loring Helfrich Secretary, Nashville
Bob Freeman Nashville
Frank Duff Chattanooga
Monty Halcomb Wartrace
Publication Design by:
Lori Neely
klstudios@comcast.net
Kendall McCarter, Executive Editor Jay Sheridan, Editor
Advisory Board Bill Cox Collierville
Paul Grider Bolivar
Phillip Fulmer Sr. Alex Grisanti Maryville Memphis
Mark Ingram Maryville
Jean Maddox Nashville
Tom Rice Nashville
Mike Kelly Nashville Jim Maddox Nashville
Ric Wolbrecht Memphis
Brian Sparks Collierville
Contents
Out-Of-Doors tennessee
Fall 2012
Features
4 Containing an Epidemic Partners Rally Around Hog Strategy 16 Snakebite One Person’s Learning Experience
18 Tennessee Division of Forestry Bringing Back the Woods Programs & Events 12 Hunters for the Hungry Eagle Scout Project Makes an Impact in Giles County 14 Great Outdoors University Stream Strolls & River Rambles 19 TNSCTP Inner-city Memphis Team Challenges Stereotypes D e p a r t m e n t s TWF Staff Michael Butler, Chief Executive Officer Kendall McCarter, Chief Development Officer Karen Vaughn, Director of Grants & Special Projects Chad Whittenburg, Director of Mitigation and 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
2 3 6 10 21 22
Chairman’s Corner From the Chief Executive Officer From the Archives Partners in Conservation Advocacy Board Member Spotlight
George Oswalt, 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
Memorials and Honorariums 24 Robert E. Tipton, Dr. John O. Gayden and Peter Schutt
Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 1
C h a i r m a n ’s C or n e r
A Voice of Reason for our Great Outdoors I first became involved with the Tennessee Wildlife Federation more than a decade ago, and in December, my two-year term as chairman of the Board of Directors will end. Looking back on the last decade, I am exceptionally proud of what we’ve accomplished together—the staff, the Board, and our supporters across the state. Since 1946, this organization has always delivered for Tennesseans, without concern for credit or accolades. No one person is responsible for what TWF has accomplished. Rather, circumstances have brought people, thoughts and efforts together for a common cause. Sometimes in life, you realize that you have a chance to be better than you are alone by joining with others. That’s certainly the case for my relationship with the Federation, and it’s been a spectacular experience. When my wife, Cherie, and I decided that this was an organization worth supporting, the then-Tennessee Conservation League had hit a plateau. To us, it was a chance to work with a staff and Board who recognized the challenge, but also the opportunity. The Board developed an operations plan, eventually rebranded the organization as the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, and executed a successful fundraising campaign that set us on a solid path. Our staff slowly cultivated programs like Hunters for the Hungry, the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program and Great Outdoors University, all of which have become nationally recognized models. Just this year, we’ve heard that Hunters for the Hungry provided more than a half million meals to Tennesseans in need, and TNSCTP brought home 13 national titles. Great Outdoors University has offered life-changing experiences to so many inner-city children and their families in Memphis and Nashville—more than 12,000 of them over the last six years. We’ve developed a pilot program that is now being implemented in Missouri and North Carolina, and we’re working to expand our own model to East Tennessee. We successfully advanced a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the individual right to hunt and fish in Tennessee, delivering a
historic 90 percent rate of passage, and we’ve defended our natural resources against potentially harmful or misguided legislation in the state house. This year, we launched new programs for wetlands mitigation and wildlife ecological services to work with industries and individuals to enhance land holdings for the benefit of ecology, habitat and conservation for all Tennesseans and our wildlife. Currently, we’re in the midst of a strategic planning process that will guide us into the future. With the assistance of the Center for Nonprofit Management in Nashville, we are identifying key priorities and honing our focus. Through all of the discussions, one consistent theme continues to rise to the top: getting people into the outdoors. Many wonderful organizations focus on a specific type of land preservation, bringing back threatened species of wildlife, or other aspects of natural resource management, all across the nation. We consider those organizations to be our partners. But the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s unique value proposition is to be the champion for not only conservation, but also for the sound management and enjoyment of wildlife and natural resources for current and future generations, with our energies focused first and foremost in the great state of Tennessee. We achieve our good works through our efforts in stewardship, advocacy and education. It’s also about getting kids outdoors, and instilling in them a love and respect for nature that is absolutely essential to the future preservation of it. But that’s just the beginning of our mission. In fact, the TWF exists as much for the birders and the hikers and photographers as for the hunters, fishermen and shooters. It was the same in 1946 as it is now—we’re all in this together. If the Federation can serve as the voice of reason for Tennessee’s natural resources and bring more people into the fold, then the future of our state’s wild places—and the opportunity to enjoy them—is secure. I’ve enjoyed this experience tremendously, and I am excited about what the future holds for the Tennessee Wildlife Federation. None of this would be possible without you, and we thank you for your support.
F rom the C hief E xecutive O fficer
Future Generations
We Must Stand and Deliver Most of us who love the outdoors had this passion handed down to us from a parent or grandparent. Some of us learned from older siblings or from the parents of one of our friends. A few of us were mentored by an adult through a conservation organization’s program.
fast… generational changes like these can shift almost before our eyes.
For me it was my father, and my childhood fascination with the brilliantly colored waterfowl he would bring home on those cold winter days of duck season. The passing along of his passion would have the end result of me choosing this career.
You can start by becoming a volunteer with one of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s youth development programs, Great Outdoors University (GOU) and the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program (TNSCTP).
But times, oh how they do always change! If you look at any recent research on the primary drivers influencing the recruitment of children into an appreciation and love of the outdoors, you will always see family as a major driver—if not the driver. The problem is that the notion of the traditional American family, and its effectiveness at raising our children, has seen great change over the past several decades. The results show up in our kids. Consider a few statistics related to children in Tennessee and across the country. • 6 9 percent of children ages 2-5 can use a computer mouse, but only 11 percent can tie their own shoelaces. • M ore young children know how to play a computer game (58%) than swim (20%) or ride a bike (52%). • A ccording to a New York Times article in January of 2010, the average child (age 8-18), spends more than seven and a half hours a day using technology gadgets. Among those are two and a half hours of music, almost five hours of television and movies, three hours of internet and video games, and just 38 minutes of good old-fashioned reading, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That adds up to about 75 hours a week of free time, outside of school and other obligations. • T ennessee ranks 6th in the nation (2010) in childhood obesity, with more than 20% of our children being classified as obese.
So what can we do to help? Invest our knowledge and time into the lives of today’s children, and share with them the wonderful things we knew growing up. The great outdoors changed our lives, and it can and will change theirs.
Great Outdoors University is a youth conservation experience and education program whose mission is to connect kids with the great outdoors in meaningful, life-changing and lasting ways. GOU participants are children and youth who would not likely have the opportunity to learn about and experience the outdoors otherwise. GOU is currently providing programming in Memphis and Nashville, with plans to expand across the state. We need volunteers who possess the necessary outdoors skills and a willingness to share that knowledge with children who come from the inner-city or disadvantaged economic means. Or consider getting involved with the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program. TNSCTP’s mission is to introduce youth to the shooting sports, and to recruit them into an outdoor lifestyle for a lifetime through the process. Currently, we have more than 300 coaches and volunteers helping to teach and coach nearly 2,000 young boys and girls as they learn to shoot clay targets and enter the field to hunt. The program is growing quickly and we always need more coaches and volunteers. As a supporter of the Federation, these programs represent two great ways you can help us reach children across Tennessee, and instill in them a love for the outdoors that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. The impacts of your efforts will be visible and well known, for they are the impacts that all of us have experienced when an adult took the time to invest in us and teach us about Tennessee’s land, water and wildlife. For more information on how you can become involved, call us at 615-353-1133 or e-mail us at tnwf@tnwf.org.
• N early 60% of marriages in Tennessee end in divorce, and Tennessee divorce rates rank in the Top 10 nationwide. I raise these statistics not to climb onto some moral pulpit, condemn or lay blame, but merely to point out the challenges facing our children in Tennessee, and those facing us dedicated to teaching our conservation ethic and sharing our love for the outdoors. If we do not take up this challenge—to teach and mentor our children—we will lose all that we have worked so hard for. And it can happen Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 3
Containing an Epidemic: Partners Rally Around Wildlife Agency on Wild Hog Control Strategy
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ennessee has seen an explosion of wild hogs over the last decade, with widespread destruction of farms, fields and woods showing up in new areas all the time.
Chuck Yoest, TWRA’s big game coordinator, has overseen the effort, implementing a three-pronged strategy to eradicate the hogs where possible and control them were necessary.
When the issue first reared its head, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency declared “open season” on the hogs—hunters could shoot them on-site, virtually anywhere, and there were no seasons or bag limits. Unfortunately, that strategy didn’t work.
Not only is there a need for outreach and education, but also to eliminate the illegal transportation of hogs across the state. They keep showing up in new areas, clearly demonstrating that people are releasing the animals, ostensibly to create their own hunting opportunities.
Last year, TWRA took the uncomfortable step of de-classifying wild hogs as a big game species, and marking them for eradication. The new approach is to remove the expectation that the Agency provide hunting opportunities for the species—that’s what they do for game species—and to work with landowners and hunting leases to bait, trap and kill as many hogs as possible.
A new law strengthening the penalties for illegal translocation of wildappearing swine went into effect July 1, thanks to an effort supported by the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, the Agency, and several statewide agriculture, conservation and public health organizations. Under the provisions of the new law, a person who illegally transports or releases wild hogs (i.e., wild-appearing swine) into the wild without documented approval from the state Department of Agriculture can be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, fined as much as $2,500 and sentenced to up to 11 months and 29 days in jail for each wildappearing swine illegally translocated. State Rep. Ron Lollar (R-Bartlett) and Sen. Steve Southerland (R-Morristown) sponsored the legislation. Earlier this year, TWF and TWRA joined into a Memorandum of Understanding with the state Farm Bureau Federation, Soybean Producers, Pork Producers and departments of health and agriculture to work towards the eradication of wild hogs where practical, and to control populations elsewhere. Left Photo: In the U.S., damage caused by wild hogs is conservatively estimated at $1.5 billion annually.
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“Something needed to be done to address the proliferation, which is reaching epidemic proportions in parts of the state,” said Rep. Lollar, who served as chair of the House Conservation and Environment Committee. “This new law is another tool to protect farmers and landowners from the destruction the pigs cause, and hopefully it gets the attention of anyone who is considering the illegal transportation and release of this invasive species.” Based on the new law, the Department of Agriculture regulates transportation of wild-appearing pigs, and Yoest has been working closely with the state veterinarian and his staff to establish effective regulations without causing unintended consequences. “We want our officers to be able to enforce the law without interfering with legitimate production,” Yoest says. “There are several heritage breeders, and the officer must have reasonable suspicion based on the facts and circumstances that a crime is being committed.”
Hogs have destroyed large areas in one popular national park. Photo courtesy National Park Service.
Officials are looking at several options to streamline the process, including tagging systems that would obviously differentiate the legitimate farmers from rogues who translocate wild hogs illegally. TWRA has already prosecuted one case of illegal translocation based on the new law, which included undercover operations that caught people buying and selling wild pigs for hunting purposes, having transported them in trailers. Yoest’s second strategic prong is to engage landowners in the process of aggressively trapping and dispatching hogs by whatever means necessary. The change in the hunting regulations allowed landowners and hunting lease members to sign on to work with the Agency in the effort, and about 800 across the state have done so. This year, more than 4,000 pigs have been removed from the landscape—TWRA personnel was responsible for about 20 percent of those—and property owners are reporting results to the Agency. A graduate student at UT Martin is conducting a survey of landowners, local soil conservation district representatives, Farm Bureau presidents and others to gain insight on damage and distribution on a countyby-county basis.
“The pigs can wipe out crops and wildlife habitat with amazing efficiency, and a sow can bear a litter of 12-15 piglets every 115 days.” Yoest is excited about the data, and what it will mean to the project. “Hogs never had to be checked-in like other big game species, so we’re learning more and more about population numbers through this research,” he says. “We can determine the number of pigs per acre, calculate the acreage of suitable habitat and get a pretty good number on the total population on a local basis.” He says the early data is proving that trapping is successful, and that the information they’ve collected through the landowner exemption program has given them a basis upon which to make and confirm decisions. The third leg of the strategic stool is outreach and education. The signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding—now at 20 different organizations—have been working together to get the word out to constituents through their individual communications channels.
As this trail camera photo shows, wild hogs will eat anything, including fawns.
“Everyone has kind of rallied around the need to address this issue, not just from a hunting standpoint but from the perspective of agriculture and public health and the economics of the whole thing,” Yoest says. “All of these organizations can reach their members and supporters, and collectively educate them on why this matters.” Once you have an opportunity to present the facts to people, Yoest says, it’s a pretty easy sell. The pigs can wipe out crops and wildlife habitat with amazing efficiency, and a sow can bear a litter of 12-15 piglets every 115 days. They do massive damage to the land through feeding and wallowing; they are also omnivorous, and will eat just about anything they can find. Studies have clearly shown that the hogs eat turkey eggs and poults, and even the occasional fawn or other unsuspecting mammal. Other ground-nesting birds, amphibians and reptiles can suffer population decreases, and the pigs serve as a reservoir for diseases that can affect both livestock and humans. Wild hogs also root up acres of land, requiring significant time and money to repair. In the U.S., damage caused by wild hogs is conservatively estimated at $1.5 billion annually. As for now, it appears the state wildlife agency is on track to execute another in a long list of successful wildlife management strategies. With the public’s help, this is an opportunity to demonstrate how the professionals get the job done. For more information, visit the Agency’s wild hog control information page at www.tn.gov/twra/feralhog, or go to www.tnwf.org.
Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 5
From the Archives
Clark Akers, Dr. Greer Ricketson, Tony Campbell and Dr. Edward Thackston pose for pictures during the National Wildlife Federation’s 1980 annual convention in Miami. Akers received one of the whooping crane statuettes for his success in stopping the West Tennessee Tributaries Project. Thackston accepted the other “Connie” for the Tennessee Conservation League as outstanding NWF affiliate for 1979.
Clark Akers and the Fight for the Obion Basin The following is a classic David and Goliath story, adapted from Dr. Marge Davis’ book Sportsmen United: The Story of the Tennessee Conservation League. It remains one of the greatest grassroots victories in the history of the American conservation movement.
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s part owners in two hunting clubs on the Obion River of West Tennessee, four men—J. Clark Akers III, Bill Dillon, Dr. John Tudor and Dr. Sam Harwell—together laid claim to about 1,350 acres of wild timber and pin oak flats in the river’s basin—a “duck hunter’s paradise.” A section of the river that flowed through their property had been channelized, and was scheduled for more dredging. Years earlier, a massive log jam at the Gooch railroad bridge had flooded thousands of acres of good timber. To the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the only way to prevent it from happening again was to widen and deepen the man-made channel and abandon the river’s original natural flow. In 1963, the Corps contacted affected landowners, asking them to donate an easement so the project could proceed. Akers refused; so did three others. So the Corps simply condemned the land. Soon, 6 | Fall 2012 | www.tnwf.org
what few trees had not been claimed by the flood were felled by machines; the river became a broad, muddy ditch. The project lowered the river channel by thirty feet; all the feeder creeks eroded down to the level of the main stream. Neighboring farmers “cleared every remaining tree and bush up to the banks and converted as many acres of timber as they could burn into bean fields.” Almost overnight, the duck hunter’s paradise had become a nightmare. For the next six years, no more work was done in Akers’ area. But in 1969, he learned that the Corps had let a new contract that would extend the ditch into Weakley County—and into some of the best remaining duck habitat in the basin. Akers decided to pay a visit to the Corps engineers. Given the disaster in 1963, he said, shouldn’t you guys at least study the effects of what you’ve done so far, before you do any more? The Long, Slow Road of Litigation The environmental impact statement we know today did not come into official existence until New Year’s Day 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed into law the National Environmental Policy Act, which required any “major federal actions… significantly
From the Archives
An aerial photo of the Black Swamp area in 1956 shows thousands of acres of timber.
A similar aerial image taken in 1980 shows the dramatic loss of timber resulting from the West Tennessee Tributaries Project.
affecting the quality of the human environment” to first prepare a detailed statement of impact, including a list of alternatives. Moreover, since the NEPA could apply to projects started before 1970, the new law could—and eventually would—be applied to the work affecting West Tennessee tributaries.
four men organized under the impressive-sounding name of the “National Ecological Foundation.” It was also why they sought the support of the League (now the Tennessee Wildlife Federation).
In April of 1970, Akers and his three fellow duck hunters sued the Secretary of the Army in U.S. District Court in Nashville. By every measure, it was a remarkable action. Suits brought by private individuals against giant government bureaucracies are fairly common nowadays, but not so in 1970. The idea that four duck hunters could overturn a massive federal project was preposterous, unthinkable, un-American. In West Tennessee, whole towns sided with the Corps; Eighth District Congressman Ed Jones declared the drainage project “essential to the health and well-being” of every citizen. An editorial in the Dyersburg Mirror railed against wealthy sportsmen who “[sat] comfortably in their plush offices” in Nashville while Dyer County farmers braced for the next season of floods. Ironically, the floods were worse now than ever, but that was beside the point. “[I]t may have been a big mistake to have started the dredging years ago,” conceded Henry Pierce, an outspoken landowner from Dyersburg, “but now that they have [started], they just can’t leave us here to drown in a half-finished job.” Akers must have been brave, but he wasn’t foolhardy. He and his partners knew that most judges would take a dim view of four people claiming to represent the conservation interests of the entire state. That was why they hired Charles H. Warfield, “one of the best courtroom lawyers in the state,” according to then-Tennessee Conservation League President Tony Campbell, and partly why the
The Corps, The Court and the Plaintiffs In January 1971, TCL petitioned to enter the lawsuit as coplaintiff, along with its much bigger brother, the National Wildlife Federation. The Sierra Club and the International Association of Game, Fish and Wildlife Commissioners intervened as friends of the court. NWF and the League retained Charles Newman, a Memphis attorney who was already gaining some experience with NEPA. Newman was the plaintiffs’ attorney on a high-profile case centering on the planned routing of Interstate 40 through Overton Park in Memphis. At any rate, the League was fortunate to have a good Memphis lawyer: at the Corps’ request, Akers v. Resor had been moved from Nashville to Memphis. Thanks to the inevitable delays, continuances, hearings, injunctions and general quibblings, however, it would not actually go to trial until April 1972. In the meantime, the Corps was enjoined from doing further work in the basin while it prepared a mitigation plan. Its first proposal, offered for public review in early 1971, offered to give the state 14,400 acres of wetlands, including 9,000 acres next to the Gooch and Tigrett WMAs, in compensation for the wetlands it had destroyed. At about this time (early 1972), the U.S. Attorney in this case, Thomas Turley, reminded the court that, under the Flood Control Act of 1936, the Corps of Engineers must have a local sponsoring agency to maintain the channels once they were cleared. Governor Buford Ellington had volunteered the state of Tennessee to be the Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 7
From the Archives sponsoring agency back around 1960 when the channelization first began. The Highway Department was put in charge of the maintenance work, even though “they didn’t have so much as a canoe,” as Clark Akers put it. In 1970, however, the General Assembly failed to make its usual appropriation for the channel work; no one seems to know exactly why. As a result, in 1972, the state created an all-new sponsoring agency, the Obion-Forked Deer River Basin Authority, to work with the Corps and generally “develop” the water and land resources in the basin. When at last the case went to trial, testimony lasted little more than a week, most of if not very flattering to the Corps. Expert witnesses testified how up to 95 percent of fish and wildlife habitat was at risk from channelization; how farmers were already getting government subsidies not to farm in the floodplain; even how the basin would in all likelihood continue to flood even after the project was finished. In fact, after pointed questioning, the head of the Dyer County Levee and Drainage District acknowledged that the channelization upstream of Obion County would almost certainly make things worse for the folks in his county. In May, Judge Bailey Brown delivered his ruling. The environmental impact statement was inadequate, he said. Until the Corps’ engineers could come up with a better one, they would have to sit tight on their West Tennessee Tributaries Project. For the next several years the ball went back and forth between the Corps, the courts and the plaintiffs. First, the Corps appealed Judge Brown’s injunction, but in 1973, they reached a settlement. Chief among its provisions: 32,000 acres of prime basin wetlands as compensation for the damage already done. In return for the mitigation lands and an acceptable EIS, Akers implied, he and his fellow plaintiffs would settle the lawsuit. Things seemed to be nearing a resolution; the newspaper even hailed it as such. But in 1976 the plaintiffs realized that the mitigation lands being purchased by the Corps were not in the designated areas. Back to court they went. Meanwhile, the Corps presented its revised EIS, two thousand pages worth of data, studies and comments.
Clark Akers as a young man with a limit of blue-winged teal at Reelfoot Lake. The lily pad makes a nice hat, doesn’t it? 8 | Fall 2012 | www.tnwf.org
Judge Brown held another hearing to consider its merits,
A modern satellite image of the area demonstrates that the impact of the Tributaries project is likely permanent. and ruled for a second time that it was inadequate, the only time since its inception that an EIS had been rejected twice. The judge renewed his injunction against further digging, and again ordered the Corps to produce an acceptable impact statement. The final Consent Agreement was signed by all parties in May 1985, and it stated that the Corps must mitigate for current damages by purchasing 32,000 acres of wetlands. Eventually, the Corps would purchase just over 14,000 acres of wetlands before shutting the West Tennessee Tributaries Project down. In the End, Mother Nature Has the Final Say The 1980 National Wildlife Federation Convention in Miami was a seminal moment for the League. The League itself was honored with a “Connie” Award for legislative work, and longtime TCL supporter Clark Akers won a whooping crane statuette in honor of his decade-long fight to preserve the Obion-Forked Deer watershed. The League’s win—its first since 1954—was gratifying proof of the progress it had made in the decade just ended. Akers’ award, on the other hand, was a promising omen for the years to come. This man, this David who had successfully challenged a government Goliath, would come to be seen as a metaphor of ‘80s activism, a symbol of the growing clout and stamina of the citizen conservation lobby. It was a tall order, taking on the Corps and their $30 million project, but Akers was in a position to fight it. He was a civil engineer by training, and had done well enough in business to have the time and resources. “A lot of people eventually woke up to the fact that what the Corps was telling them wasn’t the truth, that their land wasn’t going to
From the Archives
This illustration from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation shows the South Fork of the Obion River Watershed of the Mississippi River Basin. As you can see, manipulations of the flow of water can have far-reaching implications. flood anymore,” Akers says. “You can dig a 300-foot wide ditch, but if you drain all the oxbows and grade the low spots, there’s nowhere for that water to go.”
A rising sun burns the fog from the West Tennessee flooded timber.
Locals were excited by the prospect of more land to farm, and less enthused about landowners from another part of the state messing with their prospectus. The local paper ran a cartoon of the “Nashville Four” as one great big hand pushing a bunch of farmers down into the mud.
In 1996, Gov. Ned McWherter formed the West Tennessee Tributaries Task Force in response to a group of farmers still trying to find a way to reactivate the project. McWherter was trying to find a solution, but the state’s official policy eventually became “no channelization.”
“They hadn’t been digging for several years, but here they were again,” he says. “I managed to get an environmental injunction and went to see the Colonel. I asked him to at least look at the environmental impact first, and he told me nothing could stop them.”
Fifteen years later, it was a procedural stalemate. Akers sums it up aptly, and is victorious in the knowledge that Mother Nature will have the final say.
Even after the 1985 settlement, the legal maneuvering continued. The Obion/Forked Deer River Basin Authority tried to revive the channelization project as a state surrogate for the Corps of Engineers, and the Conservation League and Akers’ National Ecological Foundation sued the state and then-Gov. Lamar Alexander to stop it. The courts ruled that the River Authority was in violation of the agreed-to order, issued yet another injunction, and eventually a second settlement was reached.
“You have righteous people arguing for the natural river on one side and farmers arguing for flood control on the other,” he says. “We in the middle say that channelization clearly doesn’t work, and the damage is not worth the cost—these rivers are going to revert to meanders over decades anyway, so why not just leave them alone?”
Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 9
P a r t n e r s i n C o n s e r vat i o n
Warner Park Nature Center has plenty to hum about.
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t’s not rare in the warm months to look out the window and see a flash of red and green flutter by the front door. As the only “hummer” to nest east of the Mississippi River, the ruby-throated hummingbird has found its summer home in Tennessee, making it a hot spot for research banding. At Warner Park Nature Center in Nashville, Superintendent Sandy Bivens spends her days observing this process—hummers are captured by feeder traps, weighed, measured and photographed. After being affixed with a tiny metal leg band engraved with a special number, the birds are released.
Bivens launched the Nature Center’s banding program in 2001, after completing the extensive training required for a permit. “Hummingbirds are so fascinating—watching them fight, feed, fly upside down and migrate—it never gets old,” Bivens says. “And we learn so much about the population numbers, life spans and migrations from the banding data.” Bivens says they’ve caught hummers on the exact same day, a year later… after many thousands of miles of travel south and back north again, they end up in the same spot. The best time for banding is during the fall migration, which begins in July and peaks in August and September. Of the 100 birds they’ve banded, about 50 tend to show back up the following year. The Nature Center offers several programs for citizens to come and observe these amazing birds, and participants with the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s Great Outdoors University program have gotten to see the process up close. Only trained individuals with a permit are allowed to band the birds. “Everything we do during banding is all about the safety of the bird,” Bivens says. “We make sure we have enough volunteers to get the job done and release the birds in a timely manner.” She says it wouldn’t be possible with friends, volunteers and partner organizations. Left Photo: Hummingbirds are very carefully captured in a feeder cage, and a breathable bag helps keep the bird calm until it has been banded, measured and released.
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P a r t n e r s i n C o n s e r vat i o n
The banding station, where a tiny leg band is affixed and measurements are recorded.
It’s not unusual to see a crowd on banding days, and visitors are encouraged to watch.
“Our whole focus is education, and TWF has sponsored events and brought in guest speakers,” she says. “They are helping make these programs possible.” The Federation is sponsoring an event on December 1 that will bring two of the nation’s foremost hummingbird experts, Bob and Martha Sargent, to Nashville. The Sargents will be sharing their knowledge on wintering hummers and unusual species. The event is open to the public. In addition to hummingbird banding, the Nature Center also pairs up with the Great Outdoors University program to introduce inner-city youth to other aspects of Tennessee’s wildlife. As part of the Metro Parks system, youth attending programs in 22 local community centers are able to participate in Great Outdoors University trips. This is the third year Metro Parks has partnered with the Federation on outdoor education initiatives.
A specialized tool measures without harming the hummingbird.
“It has always been part of Metro Parks’ and the Nature Center’s mission to connect our urban community center youth with nature and the outdoors,” says Vera Vollbrect, Warner Park Nature Center director. The Nature Center’s PEN Pals program—People Exploring Nature—has provided overnight camping, outdoor education and recreation experience to area kids for more than 20 years. “The addition of the GOU partnership allows us to expand the offerings to include these types of programs,” Vollbrect says. “It’s a great opportunity for our community center youth, and it furthers our mission of getting kids outdoors.” Edwin and Percy Warner Parks, collectively known as The Warner Parks, were established in 1927. Located just nine miles from downtown Nashville, the Warner Parks together span 2,684 acres of forest and field. In addition to the nature center, there are hiking and bridle trails, an equestrian center, picnic and shelter areas, scenic drives, cross country running courses, a model airplane field, athletic fields, and two golf courses. An active Friends of Warner Parks group has helped ensure the preservation and enhancement of the Parks’ offerings since 1987. For more information, visit www.friendsofwarnerparks.org.
Air blown through a straw reveals the skin under the feathers. Fat levels are assessed as a sign of migration readiness. Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 11
TWF Programs
Bryce Allen: A Young Man on a Noble Mission
How an Eagle Scout Project Helped Make an Impact in Giles County
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n recent years, Giles County has been at the top of the list statewide in total deer harvest, yet the Hunters for the Hungry program had no presence there. That is, until recently. The white-tailed deer, once a rare sight in Tennessee, has recovered so successfully that some local populations are causing considerable damage to agricultural crops. One young man wise beyond his years recognized the problem and found a solution. It didn’t hurt that his family is in the farming business. “It was really a selfish motivation on my part, sitting here watching the deer eating up my beans and thinking that there’s no reason why anyone should go hungry in this county,” says Paul Allen, an Elkton farmer, Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program coach and father to Bryce, 17, a senior at Giles County High School. “Bryce and I were talking about it and he had an Eagle Scout project to do. He just took it and ran with it.” Bryce gained the support of the local TWRA wildlife officer, food pantry, churches, meat processors and others. Then he launched Sportsmen Helping Giles County during the 2011 deer season. “When dad told me that there was no real Hunters for the Hungry program here, it surprised me,” Bryce says. “This is one of the counties struggling the most financially, and I thought we could help local people by encouraging people to take more deer and donate the venison.” Bryce organized a hot dog luncheon at the First United Methodist Church in Pulaski and solicited donations from all across the county. He approached local deer hunter Albert Menefee, a successful businessman, and conveyed the need for the program so effectively that he left with a $10,000 donation.
Matthew 25, and really helped us feed people good healthy protein through the winter.” Coggin and her volunteer crew—35 members of local churches—prepared recipes for soups, stews, casseroles and chilis, and included them with the ground venison they delivered to people in need. “People really loved the venison and appreciated it,” Coggin says. “We’re all looking forward to having more this season.” Bryce, who shoots trap on his dad’s Giles County High School team, is headed to Tennessee Tech next fall, with a plan to study electrical engineering. His trap scores have been high enough to qualify him for the U.S. Junior Olympics event in Colorado Springs, and he plans to keep shooting competitively. “I’m probably not going to be in Giles County after college, and I want this program to be self-sustaining,” he says. “So we’re talking about how to hand this off to a local organization to work with the TWF and Hunters for the Hungry to make sure it continues here.” As for that Eagle Scout service project, Bryce has successfully completed the requirements and is looking forward to December, when he becomes a recipient of the Boy Scouts’ highest honor. But, as you might expect, he’s thinking of others: several of his friends are currently finishing their projects. “There are seven of us who have been in the same troop since the Cub Scouts, and a couple of them had other irons in the fire,” he says. “We’re waiting on them to finish so we can all participate in the Eagle ceremony together.”
Over the course of the season, more than 50 whole deer were donated by local hunters, providing about 2,000 pounds of lean, healthy venison to Matthew 25, a Giles County-based, all-volunteer thrift store and food pantry. Ica Coggin, the manager at Matthew 25, says it was a Godsend for local people. “We hand out about 75 boxes of food a month, and meat is expensive. We’re usually only able to buy meat if the thrift store is profitable enough to afford it,” Coggin says. “We’ve had an increase in need—people who used to make donations to us are unemployed now and having to ask for help. This was a wonderful thing for 12 | Fall 2012 | www.tnwf.org
Updated processor lists, including remaining quotas for free deer donations, are available on our website at www.tnwf.org. DECAL- HFTH-FINAL TENNESSEE WILDLIFE FEDERATION JULY 27 - 2012
If you would like to get involved with Hunters for the Hungry, please contact Program Manager Matt Simcox at 615-353-1133, or by email at msimcox@tnwf.org.
TWF Programs
T
he Tennessee Environmental Education Association (TEEA) has named Peter Schutt of Memphis the organization’s 2012 Environmental Administrator of the Year. Schutt, a Tennessee Wildlife Federation Board member, founded TWF’s Great Outdoors University program in 2006, as a means by which to provide inner-city children with meaningful outdoor experiences. TEEA Board Member Charity Novick nominated Schutt for the West Tennessee regional award, but the Board decided he was deserving of the larger statewide honor. “Peter has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to grow Great Outdoors University, not only helping to fund it but also organizing programming and participating in trips,” Novick says. “He has made a difference in all of our lives, from the students he’s served to all of us who get the witness the change from nature deficit to nature awareness. He has a true passion for connecting youth with the outdoors.”
Since its founding, GOU has provided more than 12,000 outdoor experiences for kids in inner-city Memphis and Nashville, who likely would have otherwise never had the opportunity. Peter is pictured here on a recent trip to Winchester Farms, his property east of Memphis.
Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 13
Story & photos by Sonya Wood Mahler
Stream Strolls, Creek Crawls, Pond Prowls & River Rambles:
Getting Your Feet Wet
with Great Outdoors University
T
he highlight of many Great Outdoors University field trips is when kids encounter water. Most of our GOU destinations have access to a stream, creek, pond, lake, or river, and one of the most important pieces of gear we provide is water shoes for everyone.
For inner-city kids, there is often trepidation at the idea of getting into the stream. GOU Field Trip Coordinator Jessica Cozart led a Boy Scouts’ ScoutReach camp day to the Wolf River earlier this summer, and wrote afterward that the kids were initially terrified to get into the water for the stream stroll.
On a hot day, it is the very best way to cool off... a stream or creek is often ten degrees cooler than the fields and woods around it!
“At the end of the trip we had to drag them out,” she said. “I feel that they conquered some of their fears today.”
Activities on our trips might include wading, sinking our feet into the mud, laying a log bridge across a creek, using rocks and sticks to build dams, sliding down a slippery bank, and skipping stones on the shore of the lake. Our GOU groups have spent time catching tadpoles and crawfish, watching a snake eat a fish, turning over rocks to look for salamanders, finding strings of gelatinous frog eggs, and watching swallows collect mud for their nests.
Kim Smythe, a field trip coordinator who led a Youth Villages day trip to St. Columba, told the story of one boy who was afraid to touch a snake at first.
We’ve looked closely at macro invertebrates that live on the bottom of the pond. We’ve built boats out of bark, sticks, and leaves, set them afloat, and followed them as they made their way down the stream. We’ve cooled our feet in a spring, picked blackberries along the banks of the river, and watched the sun sink into the hills on the other side of the lake. All in a day’s work on a Great Outdoors University field trip. 14 | Fall 2012 | www.tnwf.org
“He asked me to stand next to him and help hold the snake,” Smythe said. “He grew bolder and finally enjoyed the experience. Afterwards he called out to me from the creek, ‘Kim, after I touched the snake, all the pain and fear I felt just went away. Look at me in the creek! I’m not afraid!’” The stories go on and on. Allan Trently led a BRIDGES camp day on the Wolf River, and remembers this poignant moment: “Upon finding an Asian clam, one participant—who had been very nervous in the beginning—exclaimed, ‘Look, it’s Asian just like me!’
TWF Programs
One of the favorite activities is catching crawdads.
There’s no better way to cool off on a hot summer day.
It was encouraging to hear her say this, since she was obviously proud of her heritage.”
County last month. Erin Tyrell, who participated as a field trip coordinator, said she left the trip feeling that they had done something important for these kids, giving them a chance to escape the inner city if just for a day.
On a weekend trip to Hickory Creek Farm near LaFollette, Tenn., in June, the temperature was over 100 degrees. We spent the better part of two days playing in Hickory Creek and never felt the heat. Our group caught crawfish in the creek, roasted them over the campfire, and ate them for supper. During the height of the drought this summer, many of the rivers and creeks in the Nashville area were dry. But that didn’t stop our groups, who went on adventurous hikes down the dry creek beds. In contrast, on a GOU trip in July to the Cascade Mountains near Glacier, Wash., eight Boy Scouts counted how long they could stand barefooted in the 38-degree water of the Nooksack River, formed entirely by melting ice pack. But the piece de resistance of any stream or river is the waterfall. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it is 80 feet tall or six inches tall… all the kids love it! Middle-schooler Kelvin Alford of Nashville went on a GOU trip through Metro Parks to Burgess Falls State Park earlier this year, having never seen a waterfall before. “I didn’t know that there were such things as waterfalls,” he said afterward. “Now it’s my favorite thing in nature!” Kids need the opportunity where they can be themselves, take risks, use all of their senses, and breathe deeply. Giving them that opportunity is what we do best through TWF’s Great Outdoors University. One group of Girl Scouts visited Yellow Creek Farm in Houston
“One of the girls looked up at me at one point and exclaimed how great it was to just feel the water on her legs and smell the fresh air,” Tyrell said. “Getting caught in the rain halfway down that creek is something I’ll never forget. All of the girls were screaming because we were getting soaked but they were also laughing so hard. That experience was a special one for them.” You may be thinking that this sounds muddy, icky, unsanitary, maybe even downright dangerous. Tell that to the dozen kids who begged to go a little farther along the creek, just to see what’s around the next curve. Tell that to the last kid who has to be coaxed out of the water so we can head back to the bus, or to the GOU naturalists who watch from the top of the bank and have the opportunity to witness pure magic on a summer afternoon. Or to the parent who, before putting a muddy pair of shorts into the washing machine, reaches into a pocket to pull out a smooth, shiny stone that fits perfectly in the palm of her hand… the very best of souvenirs. Since 2006, Great Outdoors University has provided more than 12,000 life-changing outdoor experiences. Please consider helping as we work to expand this program to more children and other parts of the state. To learn more, visit www.tnwf.org. Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 15
By Carol Reese
I
felt a sting above my ankle when I stopped to snip some blackberry stems blocking the path. I leaned down to see if there was a wasp still attached to my sock and saw instead the distinctive triangular head of a poisonous snake. It was a gorgeous orange and tan copperhead, and its head was drawn tightly back to pop me again. I stepped away, not frightened, just incredulous. At least, I thought, it was just a copperhead. I had a long hike home, uphill on meandering paths that dodged the downed tree tops and thickets. I called the dogs and walked steadily as the burning sensation continued to spread from the bite. It wasn’t terribly painful... yet. At the house, I phoned Dr. Dean Martin, my veterinarian. In his hands my dogs have fared well from snakebite, and since I was much larger than they, I hoped he might tell me I had little to worry about. Instead he ordered me to the emergency room and tried to send someone to get me, an offer I waved off.
“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” - Aldo Leopold Twenty minutes later I walked into the Lexington Hospital emergency room. “I’ve been bitten by a copperhead snake,” I said to the lady at the counter, feeling sheepish about how uninjured I looked and felt. Things flew into high gear. I was suddenly prone, with drips in my arm. Phone calls were made, medical history taken, friends showed up (thanks Betty Neilson!) By now, my face was flushing and my 16 | Fall 2012 | www.tnwf.org
heart beginning to race. In a bit, I became violently ill in every way you can imagine. I was loaded into an ambulance for a run to Jackson General with sirens wailing. Between bouts of being ill, I wanted to laugh from disbelief. At the hospital, anti-nausea medications took hold, but the leg became a dragon. A wasp sting hurts like the dickens for a minute before it begins to subside, but this pain never seemed to find that turnaround. The entire leg was finally possessed by it and there was no position that offered relief. I had waved off pain meds previously but by mid afternoon, was more than ready. Still, the doctors had given me hope that after a night of antivenin, I might go home in the morning. The leg just didn’t cooperate, and 36 hours after the bite, it was a hot, red, tight monster, with the swelling moving higher by the hour. Infection from the snake’s mouth had set in, and treatment changed to high powered antibiotics. By Monday morning, they had kicked in, and I was able to maneuver out of the bed and hobble about. I was bitten Friday morning, and it was Monday afternoon when I got home. I made it through snakebite only to be nearly killed in the terrible melee of the canine welcoming party. Yes, it was “just” a copperhead—a copperhead that taught me some respect. 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.
The Truth About Sharing the Woods with Snakes T
his story is a good reminder of why we should always be mindful of where we step. Yet statistics show that venomous snakebites are exceedingly rare. The reality is that snakes are all over the woods, and they would just as soon avoid you as you them. According to the Tennessee Herpetological Society, most Tennessee snakebites are the result of the copperhead, a snake who possesses a relatively mild venom.
In fact, across the United States, only 12-15 deaths occur annually from snake envenomation, out of about 8,000 total snakebites. Those are pretty good odds! Some other facts: The vast majority of bites are below the knee (85 percent), and about half are “dry bites,” where the snake does not inject venom. Perhaps most importantly, a good number of bites are “illegitimate,” meaning that they occurred when a person was handling or harassing a snake. The takeaway? Watch where you step, and if you do encounter a snake in the wild, take a wide path and let them be. It is illegal in Tennessee to kill a snake unless it presents imminent danger of injury or death, and these critters play a role in the ecosystem just like we do. For more information, visit www.tennsnakes.org.
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!
Tennessee’s
Division of Forestry
Bringing the Woods Back to the Volunteer State
F
arming practices in the 1930s and ‘40s left large swaths of Tennessee’s woodlands stripped bare. With nothing to hold the earth in place, rains washed gullies out of what used to be woods. Fortunately, soil conservation became a focus later in the 20th century, and tree planting became one of the best solutions at the time. Tennessee’s Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry produced the tree seedlings that helped heal our state’s scarred landscape, and continues to produce seedlings for timber and conservation purposes today. The Division’s East Tennessee Nursery in Delano grows between six and seven million seedlings each year, including five species of pines and at least 40 different species of hardwoods. Seedlings are available to private and public landowners to help meet their forest management and conservation objectives. “Whether a landowner’s focus is timber production, wildlife habitat or water quality, we produce the quality and quantity of tree seedlings to meet the need,” says David Arnold, assistant state forester. “We strive to meet the broadest scope of landowner tree planting needs as possible. Our goal is to
promote forest conservation through tree planting.” Through their tree improvement program, the Division of Forestry also places great emphasis on the development of superior seed used to grow high quality, genetically improved seedlings, better adapted to survive, grow and produce forest benefits when planted on Tennessee’s landscape. From a timber perspective alone, due to efforts of the program, landowners that plant the nursery’s pine seedlings today are seeing a 25 percent gain in productivity, as compared to seedlings available 30 years ago. The Division’s tree improvement program is expected to continue achieving a one to two-percent annual gain in pine volume production for the next decade or longer. The East Tennessee nursery grows enough pine seedlings to plant more than 10,000 acres of forests each year. When harvested at maturity, these forests can yield a conservative estimate of more than $20 million in current dollars to landowners. The jobs and other value added benefits associated with these plantings make the true economic impact of the Division’s reforestation program staggering. The Division also focuses on the genetic improvement of fine, high-value hardwood tree species and the methods necessary for best growth and survival when out
planted. Many hardwood plantings utilizing Division seedlings will be tailored to provide environmental benefits, the most important being streamside buffers and wildlife habitat. They are currently implementing a strategy to identify landowners who, by planting those riparian buffers, will ensure that forested watersheds continue to produce clean, abundant water for public use. And they are also partnering with the Tennessee Wildlife Federation to supply high quality seedlings for wetlands mitigation projects across the state. The reforestation program is uniquely positioned to provide seedlings that are specifically tailored to meet a variety of goals for Tennessee forest landowners, thanks to decades of experience in growing seedlings, establishing seed orchards, cultivating partnerships, improving infrastructure, and conducting research. These efforts have benefited individual landowners through increased timber sales revenues and improved hunting grounds. Society, as a whole, has benefited as well, through clean water and scenic landscapes. By nature, forestry endeavors are long term journeys. Often that journey begins by planting a seedling. The Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry’s reforestation program accepts the challenges required to continue to produce the seedlings needed for the journey. For more on the Division of Forestry’s reforestation program visit them on the web at: www.tn.gov/ agriculture or call the nursery manager, John Conn, at 423-263-1626.
Left Photo: Soil erosion from deforestation left parts of Tennessee looking like this in the mid-20th century. 18 | Fall 2012 | www.tnwf.org
TWF Programs
Manassas
Traps
An Unexpected SCTP Team Comes Together in Inner-City Memphis
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t seemed an unlikely place to form a clay target shooting team.
Funding would be an issue. Transportation to and from the practice range could be tricky. And the biggest hurdle for bringing the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program (TNSCTP) to Manassas High School in Memphis was the fact that those who were being recruited to participate had no familiarity whatsoever with the sport. “There was a world of obstacles to overcome,” says Jim Crews, 75, a Memphis area shooting enthusiast who was instrumental in launching the program at Manassas. “The students there had no exposure to clay target shooting, very little exposure to outdoor activities, and didn’t know which end to load a shotgun. “But I’ll tell you, if God hadn’t wanted this to happen, it wouldn’t have happened. There were so many things that providentially took place that I’m convinced got it to happen.” It took several months of working out the logistics, but Manassas High had fielded a bona fide clay target shooting team by April of 2012. The initial squad consisted of nine boys and two girls, and with enthusiasm continuing to grow, Manassas is expected to be ready for the various tournaments in the 2013 TNSCTP season. “We’re well ahead of where we thought we were going to be,” says Carl Coleman, Manassas head football coach who has been helping out with the clay target shooting team. “They took to it pretty fast. We actually have some pretty good shooters.” Manassas High School, a primarily AfricanAmerican school located in a poverty-stricken area of north Memphis, may be best known for the Academy Award-winning documentary Undefeated, which chronicled the school’s
turnaround football season of 2009. Prior to that season, Coach Carl Coleman, left, Jim Crews, bottom left, and Bill Quinlan, right, the Tigers had coach the Manassas Trap Team. Manassas is the first inner-city school in Tennessee to field a TNSCTP team. (Memphis Daily News/Lance Murphey) suffered through years upon years of hapless times on the football field. otherwise fund the sport on their own. So with the help of a volunteer, Crews applied The saga of the clay target shooting team may for a grant from the NRA Foundation for not have the dramatic or emotional force of shotguns, ammunition and safety materials. the film, but there is a parallel of sorts. Most of the state’s clay target scholastic programs He and others also secured private donations, are either in private schools or in public as well as funding from the Tennessee Wildlife schools in more affluent areas. Manassas is the Federation. first inner-city school in Tennessee to field a TNSCTP team. In addition, the team has relied on volunteers to help transport the students to practices at Crews says he was at a shooting range in the the Memphis Sport Shooting Association’s summer of 2011 watching teams practicing, trap fields, some 30 miles from the school. and came up with the idea for his pitch. Even though it’s a haul to practice, Crews says it was important for the students to be among “I got to thinking to myself, if we could take other teams from the Memphis area. a program like (the TNSCTP) to an innercity school, it might have a dramatic effect,” “That was a big step,” he says of being able to he explained, “at least on a small number of use the MSSA facility, “because I wanted them students who have never been exposed to in the mainstream of the sport and not stuck anything like that.” out somewhere where they were the only ones practicing.” Darione Smith, a junior who plays tackle on the football team, is one of those students. He Coleman, who has no clay target shooting had no idea there was even such a sport, but experience but is a hunter, says the sport he was eager to give it a try. has literally and figuratively taken students beyond their boundaries. “I wouldn’t say I’m a natural at it, because it takes a lot of practice and hard work,” says “I think it helps take them outside their Smith, who adds that it also takes good hand- environment and their culture, and they have eye coordination. “When the target comes actually liked that,” he says. “I think this is out, you’ve got to watch the target. You can’t another stepping stone to show them they can look at the gun; you’ve got to keep your eye on do something else besides playing football, the target and feel where the gun goes. baseball or basketball.” “We’re getting better. I feel we’re ready for competition.” Unlike most of the schools participating in the TNSCTP, Manassas students and their parents can’t really afford to buy the equipment or
TNSCTP is a program of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, with key partner support from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 19
TWF Programs
The Jefferson County Patriots are the 2012 National Varsity Trap Champions.
High Overall Lady Shooter Candace Ridley of McKenzie with Dan Hathaway, executive director of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
TENNESSEE SCHOLASTIC SHOOTERS BRING HOME 13 NATIONAL TITLES Volunteer State Wins Most Gold Medals Among 31 States Represented
T
he best competitive scholastic shotgun shooters in America came together in July for the National Scholastic Clay Target Program Championships in Sparta, Ill. In the end, Tennessee teams and individual participants had earned 13 national titles in skeet, sporting clays and trap. Among the 31 states participating, no other had more gold medals. “Tennessee has earned a reputation for bringing top-flight shooters each year to compete against the best in the nation,” said Andrew Peercy, statewide manager for the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program. “These kids, their coaches and parents have worked tirelessly to prepare for this event, sometimes years worth of preparation. On the world stage, American shooters have won Olympic gold medals this year, and the sky’s the limit for some of these kids.” In the skeet competition, the Haywood County Young Guns team won the Intermediate Entry category, with Henry County winning gold in the Rookie division. Individually, Haywood County’s Haynes Kirby won the national Intermediate Entry title, and Carah-beth Maddux was named national champion in the Ladies Varsity Skeet division.
In sporting clays, Montgomery Central won the High School Squad title, and Clint Hinton of Bethel University won the 20 | Fall 2012 | www.tnwf.org
Collegiate individual championship. Spring Hill’s Laura Decuir won the individual Ladies Intermediate Entry national gold. And in trap, the Jefferson County Patriots won the Varsity team title. Kyler Ainley of Henry County won the Varsity individual national trap championship, with the only 200 straight targets broken in the entire tournament. Ainley was named the Rudy Cup winner, as well, which goes to the High Overall Tennessee Trap shooter from the event. Taylor Black of Arlington was the High Overall Ladies Varsity trap shooter, and Caitlin Rigsby of Spring Hill won the HOA for Ladies Intermediate Advanced. This is the second year in a row that Tennessee shooters have won the High Overall in both men’s and ladies trap for the week-long tournament. The event also names the Combined High Overall Shooters, recognizing the men’s, ladies and team high scores across all ages and divisions. Tennessee shooters won two of those titles—The Jefferson County Patriots with the Overall Team HOA and Candace Ridley of McKenzie in the ladies Overall. For full results from the Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championships, please visit www.tnsctp.org.
Advocacy
Aside from the ethics of penned shooting, the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease appears to be linked to deer being grown as livestock and transported from facility to facility. This photo, supposedly from a deer farm in Texas, has appeared on multiple websites and online forums. The origin of the image is unknown.
While Deer Farming Battle Continues, Chronic Wasting Disease Spreads
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un a quick search on eBay today, and you’ll find several game farms promoting “hunts” for trophy whitetails.
this industry in Tennessee, and threaten our priceless white-tailed deer herd.
One in Pennsylvania had a recent listing promoting “wooded, three-acre pens,” and bucks that you can select before the hunt. The deer don’t have ear holes from tags that a taxidermist would have to repair, the outfit says, and “your bragging rights will be secure.”
The wildlife in our state is owned by you and me, the people, and held in trust by the state for effective management on our behalf. It would be nothing short of irresponsible to legalize an industry that is apparently implicated in the spread of this alwaysfatal, highly contagious, impossible-to-eradicate plague that is Chronic Wasting Disease.
“It would The financial benefit of a few “prospectors” is not be nothing short worth the obvious risk to the public’s resource, of irresponsible to now or ever. They’re asking all of us to accept the The ironic thing is that, in October, Pennsylvania legalize an industry that liability on their behalf, and that’s a gamble we became the latest state to find Chronic Wasting is apparently implicated in simply refuse to take. Disease in the cervid populations. A news release from the state game and fish commission the spread of this always- The Federation has been asked to consider introducing proactive legislation this session to confirmed that a tissue sample taken as part fatal, highly contagious, put the issue to rest for good, by permanently of the state’s intensive CWD monitoring and prevention efforts had come back positive—from impossible-to-eradicate banning this business within our borders. a game-farm deer in Adams County. plague that is Chronic You, our supporters, have made the difference over the That state has quarantined two associated deer farms Wasting Disease.” last two years, through your calls, emails and advocacy
You simply pick how much you want to spend based on inches of antler… this one was $4,800, and you wouldn’t be required to buy a license.
in two other counties. The heart of the deer farming industry is transportation of animals and animal parts—semen, hides and racks, and breeder stock—which intermingles herds and has the real potential to insert the disease into an entirely new area.
The states of Missouri and Texas have also been added to the CWD-positive list in 2012, which brings the threat to a state bordering ours. This is getting too close to home. For the second consecutive year, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation and our coalition of wildlife biologists, veterinarians, conservation organizations and thousands of grassroots supporters like you have beaten back a dangerous piece of legislation that aimed to legalize
on behalf of our wildlife resources. We’re going to need you again this year.
If you haven’t already, please go to our website at www.tnwf.org and sign up for our Notes from the Field e-newsletter and Action Alerts. Our pledge is to only call on you when your support can be most effective, and not to bombard you with Chicken Little scenarios on a regular basis. This is a critically important issue. Help us stand as the Voice of Reason for Tennessee’s wildlife and habitat, for current and future generations.
Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 21
T W F Bo a r d M e m ber Sp ot l ig h t
Dan Hammond:
Bringing people together for a larger purpose.
Dan Hammond and Sajo
D
an Hammond was on an African safari when he first met Lusajo Daud Msweve, the Tanzanian known as “Sajo” that he now calls friend. Sajo has a high school education, a married father of a young son with a clear passion for wildlife management. He’s done all the right things to create a future for himself. The only problem is that he didn’t have the finances to attend college, which would provide an opportunity to move up in the ranks of game officials in his native country. But Hammond has changed all that. Now, Sajo is attending the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweke College in Tanzania, on a scholarship from Dan and his wife, Cherie. “I’ve been on three safaris and met Sajo during my last trip into Southern Tanzania along the Ruvuma River, on the border of Mozambique. I could tell that he was thoughtful, intelligent, worldly… he has great potential,” Dan says. “He had high aspirations, but the only sure way he could advance in wildlife management was to go to university. I knew if he got the chance that he could make a real difference for Tanzania.” Dan’s seen the best and the worst of Africa—on the one side is abundant natural resources and some who are trying to do right by them; on the other, regulations that don’t always make sense,
22 | Fall 2012 | www.tnwf.org
rampant poaching and guerilla operations in many areas that undercut the progress. “Sajo has the skills and ambition, but advancing without a college education is difficult,” he says. “The degree was the only way to overcome. He tells me that his future is now bright, and he has my Tennessee flag hung in his dorm room, which is so moving for my wife and me. We have made a real difference in this young man’s life, and potentially for Tanzania’s wildlife. In the end, Sajo could be my greatest contribution to conservation.” That’s saying a lot, coming from Dan Hammond. He’s presided over the recent history of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation (TWF), serving as chairman of the Board for the last two years and a director for more than a decade. And he’s contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to help spark the success of TWF programs like Hunters for the Hungry. “It’s an organization that mirrors my values,” he explains. “Preserving habitat, land, air and water quality, holding industry and the legislature accountable, working behind the scenes without a lot of fanfare, but getting the job done for all the right reasons.” He says TWF is about conserving and enjoying Tennessee’s great outdoors resources responsibly, and serving as a “voice of reason” for everyone who loves the outdoors.
T W F Bo a r d M e m ber Sp ot l ig h t The company was sold in 2007 for nearly $150 million, providing a rewarding return to his investors, and he moved on to the next idea: a network of community, small town newspapers. That company, American Hometown Publishing, is still in operation today, with 13 papers running from Virginia to Oklahoma. In 2010 Hammond launched his latest endeavor: Just a Pinch Recipe Club (justapinch.com), an online social network connecting home cooks with recipes, coupons and tips that’s become far more than a recipe exchange—it’s a community for millions of people around the world who gather to talk about everything from food to family to the issues of the day.
Dan Hammond and family Left to Right: wife Cherie, son Bradshaw, daughter Rebecca, and son Justin
“There are plenty of organizations on the fringes,” Hammond says, “but TWF is unique in its focus on Tennessee conservation, getting people in our state outdoors and preserving our heritage for future generations to enjoy.” Dan grew up in Noblesville, Indiana, with no outdoorsmen in his close family. But as a young boy, something kept pushing him to head afield with his BB gun, a World War II era canteen, and a pack of cheese and crackers. Those experiences evolved into a serious interest in wildlife, and upon graduation from high school, he was headed to Miami of Ohio to earn a degree in life science and zoology. It was a job in biomedical sales that brought him to Nashville after college, but at age 25, he realized he wasn’t fulfilled—he wanted to start his own corporation, and began formulating a plan for how to get there. He took a 50 percent pay cut to go to work in a large advertising agency and gain critical experience in marketing and strategy. He thought he was headed toward the launch of something in data management, perhaps electronic funds transfer. It was the 1990s, the dawn of the Digital Age, and new opportunities were on the horizon.
The site is attracting 1.8 million people a month, with the average user visiting two or three times each day and spending 17 minutes on the site. In two years, Hammond has assembled the largest online repository of user-posted, home-cooked recipes anywhere. Users save 20,000 recipes to their digital recipe boxes each day. “The same thing’s been going on since Adam,” he says. “Food has always been the doorway to neighbor and family conversations, and it is the number-one ad category, in good times and bad.” His success—and that passionate level of thinking—has helped raise the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s profile over the last decade, bringing people together for a larger purpose. Hunters for the Hungry is a prime example. “That program really encapsulates what we’re all about: conservation-minded outdoorsmen and women giving back,” he says. “Tennesseans feel strongly enough about using the resource to provide for others that they are willing to harvest a deer and pay for the processing so that hungry people can have protein. Since the inception of Hunters for the Hungry, Tennesseans have provided more than 3.5 million meals to the needy. It’s an incredible thing!” It just takes someone like Dan Hammond to help shape it.
But a discussion with a friend on the media’s lack of penetration into rural America shifted his thinking, and a new concept was born. “We did some research and found that 35 percent of the U.S. population is rural, and that they spend as much as suburban and urban Americans in virtually every category,” Hammond says. “But major consumer goods manufacturers were primarily focused on urban and suburban markets. The demographics were strong—in fact, twice as many rural homeowners don’t even have a mortgage, they have disposable income… a marketer’s dream. So the question became how do you take major media to rural America and make money doing it?” The answer was American Profile, a feature-oriented publication inserted into rural community newspapers and telling the stories of the people and places that make this country great. It was the largest publishing launch in the nation’s history, and over the next few years Hammond would be named among the 50 Most Innovative CEOs, among other honors.
Dan Hammond planting the TWF flag at base camp in the wilds of Alaska. Tennessee Out-Of-Doors | 23
Memorials and Honorariums Gifts in Memory of Robert E. Tipton David Breshears ~ Pine Bluff, AR Friday, Eldredge, & Clark, LLP, ~ Little Rock, AR Lee Brown ~ Little Rock, AR Planters Cotton Oil Mill, Inc. ~ Pine Bluff, AR Suzanne Plyler ~ Memphis, TN Mike Mills ~ Memphis, TN Raymond H. Pirtle, Jr. ~ Nashville, TN East Memphis Neonatology Associates, P.C. Memphis, TN Evan Tompros ~ Phoenix, MD Cully and Barbara Ward ~ Nashville, TN Kendall McCarter ~ Jackson, TN Ruth Wood ~ Talkeetna, AR Don and Alicia Baker ~ Memphis, TN Sarah Key Studdard ~ Memphis, TN Virginia Quinn ~ Nashville, TN
Carol & Witt Stephens Charitable Foundation Little Rock, AR Sheffield Nelson ~ Little Rock, AR Norma H. Roberts ~ Pine Bluff, AR Brian Sparks ~ Collierville, TN Don Spharler ~ Pine Bluff, AR Kenny Harrell ~ Charleston, SC Lee Steinhouse ~ Nashville, TN David R. Dunavant ~ Memphis, TN Arts Memphis ~ Memphis, TN John Gayden ~ Memphis, TN Richard and Beth Buchignani ~ Memphis, TN Jimmy and Alison Wetter ~ Germantown, TN Michael Parrish ~ Pfafftown, NC John and Karen Emmett ~ Memphis, TN
Gifts in Honor of Dr. John O. Gayden Karl & Cathy Dunn ~ Germantown, TN Deborah Dunklin Tipton ~ Memphis, TN
Gifts in Honor of Peter Schutt John and Mary Leslie Olson ~ Tallahassee, FL
Building Your Legacy With TWF Our Mission Statement: 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. 24 | Fall 2012 | www.tnwf.org
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.
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