Page 11 - SDWF Out of Doors

Out of Doors 11 May - July 2023
natIonal wIldlIfe fedeRatIon faRm bIll fly-In

In late March, Dave Ditloff called The latest buzz for wildlife habitat is
to ask if I would be interested and “working lands’ and it’s largely a myth.
available to participate in a national Working lands are used annually,
fly-in to help lobby for conservation annually hayed or grazed and will never
components to the upcoming Farm reach a full and necessary potential
Bill. The existing Farm Bill is up for nesting/fawning habitat. It strongly
for renewal and Congress is in the appears that the movement of CRP
process of drafting a new bill. After and other wildlife Farm Bill programs
some soul searching, I agreed. I have is headed down the “working lands”
spent so much time in meetings and path. Working lands are being pushed
airports that it takes a major need to hard by the Ag Industry thus are being
get me at either. I have been a career fully embraced by our elected officials.
long advocate for good, sound, In summary, I tried hard to pitch both
Farm Bill conservation programs. In
South Dakota our wildlife is totally the NWF and our local South Dakota
dependent on conservation positive needs to our Congressional staffers.
Farm Bills. Especially those involving The Farm Bill is still very much in the
landscape sized land set aside conservation efforts such as the early stages of being developed and written and the existing Farm
Bill may or may not be extended while a new Farm Bill is being
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The most recent example
occurred from the mid-1980s until just recently. Our pheasant drafted and negotiated so a lot can happen between now and its
populations and frankly most other wildlife species reached near conclusion. The best guess is that the real work will begin this fall
historic levels during these very positive Farm Bill conservation and likely continue into next year.
programs. Sadly, the new emphasis on “working lands” has
emasculated most of these landscape sized set aside CRP acres in SD Wildlife Federation Donors
favor of land that is annually used for agricultural production. At the 2003 Winter Board Meeting the SDWF Board created the SDWF Legacy Council. The council was created to
allow recognition of the people who support SDWF above and beyond their membership and raffle donation.
The Fly-In occurred on April 24 and 25 in Washington, DC and was Thank you to the following donors for their contributions to the SDWF. Please consider becoming a member of of
hosted by the National Wildlife Federation. We had orientation the Wildlife Legacy Council. SDWF is a 501(c3) non-profit, all donations are tax deductible. These tax-deductible
and training at their DC headquarters on Monday and attended contributions will speak volumes for the future of the SDWF’s Wildlife Legacy Council! Please consider your donation
today. Donations can be sent to SDWF, PO Box 7075, Pierre, SD 57501.
scheduled visits with our congressional offices on Tuesday. About The Legacy Council consists of five different donation levels. These donation levels were revised October 2011 to:
30 affiliate members attended from about 20 states. We also met Level V Eagle $1,000 & above; Level IV Buffalo $401-$999; Level III Elk $301-$500; Level II Deer $201 - $300; and
as a group to “de-brief” and share how our Congressional meetings Level I Pheasant $100-$200.
went. AUG 2021- JULY 2022 MARK BROWN - VA JAY KEUSMANN - SD
LEVEL V EAGLE JOHN CLIFT - CA DON JACOBS - SD
I was highly impressed with the work done by the NWF staff. I TERRY & LAREE MAYES -SD H.E. HEGERFELD - SD GREG LARSON - SD
LEIGH MCMASTERS - SD
FRED HUBBARD - SD
CHUCK & GINGER SCALET - KS
found them to be very knowledgeable, dedicated, and passionate RYAN TUPPER - SD ELLIS JOHNS - MN ORVILLE MILLER - D
about what they were doing. The lobbyist training was excellent. LEVEL III ELK GARY JOYCE - SD MIKE RILEY - MO
BOB LUTZ - ID
NICKLAS LIPP - SD
CHUCK KEELER - MN
We learned to 1) arrive a little early but never late, 2) be prepared MARLIN R STAMMER - CA JEFFREY KETTER - WI KEVIN CUMMINGS - AZ
LARRY KIEFT - MI
BRAM WEIDENAAR - SD
JIM SKROVIG - SD
and be concise, 3) make sure we specifically ask what we wanted, JIM KRETCHMAN - SD ARLO LEVISEN - SD
4) leave appropriate background information for the staffers to AUG 2021- JULY 2022 - CONT. CHARLES KRETCHMAN KENT MUNDON - SD
LARRY O’REILLY - MO
DENNIS LARSON - SD
LEVEL II DEER
use and 5) follow up with a brief e-mail to thank them and to re- RICHARD MILLER - SD CHARLES LEBEDA - SD JANUARY 2023-JUNE 2023

emphasize our most important points. STEVE BERBERICH - SD DARYL LOWRY - KS LEVEL I PHEASANT
THOMAS MANZER - SD
JOHN COOPER - SD
JEFFRY SCHERSCHLIGHT - SD BILL MILLER - SD ORVILLE MILLER
LARRY LEWIS
The staff had all the appointments scheduled and our briefing folders F HERBERT WISWALL - SD WILLIAM MUDD - KY DON ROEHR
ready. A NWF staff attended each interview but left the messaging BOB SCULL - SD DAVID O. NORDBY - NY JIM LEVILLE
JOHN QUAINTANCE - SD
MARK BEITELSPACHER - SD
mostly up to the affiliate members. I met with staff from Rep. Dusty MIKE DOUGLAS - CA DON ROEHR - SD KEVIN FUERST
STAN MURPHY
JAY ROMANS - NC
Johnson, Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds. I laid out the basics KEITH PLAVEC - IL TODD ROSE - SD GREG LARSON
TERRY SAMPSON - SD
DARREL REINKE
of “nesting habitat 101” to each so they fully understood the need JIM DAHLBERG - SD RODNEY SATHER - SD DAVE BISBEE
T.A SCHREINER - OH
DUANE PETERS - SD
for secure nesting/fawning cover for our SD wildlife species. From LEVEL I PHEASANT JOHN SIMPSON - SD ROB RYKHUS
CARL BRAKEBUSH
bobolinks to prairie chickens to pheasants to ducks to deer and BOB SCHLUTER - MN HOY SPEER - AZ LEVEL II DEER
STEELE FINANCIAL SERVICES -SD
RICH ANDRESEN - SD
antelope and how important the Farm Bill was to South Dakota’s FRED BAKER - OH GRANT STREET - SD STEPHEN WHEELER
JOE SWENSON - SD
KRISTIE BAKKER - SD
wildlife. I don’t know if it sunk in but I sure tried to simplify and MIKE BOOCOCK - SD HT TEBAY - WV LEVEL III ELK
explain the critical need for secure nesting cover – grasses and DAN BORMANN - WI GERALD WICKSTROM - SD 29/90 SPORTSMEN’S CLUB
TOM WICKSTROM - SD
CARL BRAKEBUSH - WI
forbes that are allowed to mature (it takes 3 years to establish) and ALLEN B. BROWN - SD JEFF ZLONIS - MN LEVEL IV BUFFALO
BLACK HILLS SPORTSMEN CLUB
remain undisturbed for 5 – 7 years.
Sportsmen/women- Want to help fund SDWF and the Youth Conservation Camp plus reduce your taxes this year? Donate stocks and land to the SDWF. You not only won’t have to pay
taxes on those assets, you will pay less tax because of your generosity!