THE UTAH UPLAND GAME ADVISORY COMMITTEE

January 8, 2001

A Committee meeting was held this date: Present were:

Mike Bodenchuk (Wildlife Services), Vic Fatovic, Mike Fowlks (DWR), Robb Leishman, Dean Mitchell (DWR Upland Game Program Manager), Ray Lee, Ernie Perkins, Steve Peterson, and John Staley (Chair). Excused was Darryl Noble (in Calif. Goose Hunting). The minutes from the meeting held on October 16th, 2000, were approved as submitted.

OLD BUSINESS:

Utah “Walk-in-Access” Program:
John Staley reported that the group is past the concept and participant gathering stage. There is now an organization, a game plan, and work is proceeding on specific topics. Meetings will be held the first Wednesday of every month through May, at 6:00 P.M., in the DWR Salt Lake City offices. Interested parties are encouraged to participate and attend. Call John Staley @ (801) 394-1888.

NRO Upland Biologist Position:
Ernie Perkins advised the committee that George Wilson retired the previous Friday, and that his duties have been distributed out to remaining Northern Region employees. There remains some hope that some of the key habitat and program responsibilities may be focused within a single position at the Region office. This would largely meet the committee’s desires and would greatly alleviate committee concerns. The committee remains hopeful that (many) upland game habitat and program duties can be assigned to a single individual in the Region.

Ernie also expressed appreciation the committee members and other organizations who contributed to George’s retirement gift. In addition to the committee members, we had contributions from Golden Spike Pheasants Forever and the Salt Lake County Fish and Game Association.

Chukar Partridge Management Plan:
By the end of the evening of the meeting, Dean Mitchell had received committee member inputs on natural history, habitat, population, and use and demand. These provide the core for the front end of the plan. He will put them together and e-mail a draft back to everyone. At the next meeting we will start working on the back end of the plan – namely – the issues and concerns, summary and conclusions, and management goals and objectives areas.

NEW BUSINESS:

Legislative Session Information: Mike Fowlks gave the committee an update on the upcoming legislative session. A copy of the known legislation is provided as an attachment to these minutes. It appears to be a fairly quiet session for Upland Game issues – so far as is known at this point. However, gotcha’s and surprises could show up at any point. Interested citizens should keep track of developments via the Legislature’s web site: http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2001/2001.htm

The Committee asked Mike to comment on developments from HB –41 “Trespass Across Cultivated Land” from last year’s session. Mike responded that there has been lots of negative public comment – most of which blame the Division for the rule; there have also been some negative landowner comments. There were not many tickets written this year – Mike believes that the Division C.O.s have been judicious this year. It is possible that some amendments to the law could be introduced during this coming legislative session.

Upland Game Predation Management:
The committee had invited Terry Messmer (USU) and Mike Bodenchuk (USDA Wildlife Services) to this meeting to discuss the USU “Pheasant Recruitment Study” and upland game predator control in general. Terry Messmer called from Denver to advise that his flight had been cancelled and that he would not make the meeting. Mike Bodenchuk jumped right in to cover the topic. He covered the specifics of the study, concluding that the study may or may not (inconclusive) show that control is effective for pheasant predators. He noted that results were better in Sevier County than in Cache County & believes the size of the areas was the reason. Mike also covered the history and background of predation management in the Western US and Utah, and discussed predation management for other species – e.g. sage grouse, where very effective programs have been documented.

The committee readily accepts and supports predation control for sage grouse, but is less convinced on cost vs. return for pheasants. The committee adopted the following position: “Utah License Fees / taxpayer dollars should be used for predation control only on public and public accessible land, and (secondarily) only on private lands adjacent to public and public accessible land when treatment is necessary to ensure success on the public lands. Sage Grouse should be given top priority and full funding, and this effort not compromised.”

Water for Wildlife: Steve Peterson asked Dean if individuals could donate water shares to the division to ensure useable water sources for wildlife. Steve knows of individuals who have expressed willingness to do so – for places where there are no longer reliable seeps and springs. Dean was very interested. Steve and Dean will work together. The committee will look forward to an update.

Project Submissions: Ernie Perkins advised that the deadline for upland game habitat project submissions to the Habitat Council is April 6th. Interested individuals and groups should develop upland projects through the Regions.

CLOSING:

Let us know of donations, projects, etc., made by your group – we want to publicize good activities!

If you know of other interested parties who should get copies of the minutes, and who are involved in upland game organizations or programs, please get us their name. If you want to make an electronic mail input, please send it to one of the following:

Ray Lee rlee@mail.rhs.weber.k12.ut.us
Rob Leishman Robbrpt@uswest.net
Dean Mitchell DeanMitchell@utah.gov
Darrell Noble roofs@inconnect.com
Ernie Perkins eperkins@uswest.net
Joe Riches Starrline@efortress.com
Hal Smith hmsmith@parkcity.net
John Staley jsmunster@aol.com

The next Committee meeting is planned for Monday, February 12th, 2001, at 6:00 P.M. at the DWR State offices at 1594 West North Temple, Salt Lake City. Topics should include a legislative session update, initial discussion on a guzzler management plan, and work on the chukar management plan. Everyone is invited to attend.

2001 POTENTIAL LEGISLATIVE ISSUES UTAH DIVISION OF WILDLIFE RESOURCES

POTENTIAL ISSUES