[TN-Bird] non-game report to TWRA commissioners 9/17/08

 
 
Nongame Report to TWRA  Commissioners 
Wed. Sept. 17,  2008 (posted 9/18/08) 
I attended the recent TWRA  Commissioners meeting for a PowerPoint 
presentation by Nongame and Endangered  Coordinator Richard Kirk and I will 
attempt to 
relay the gist of the  meeting. 
This year TWRA has a budget short-fall,  and previously the Commission had  
expressed a desire to cut non-game projects, favoring game projects as central  
to their mission and funding sources.  Prior to Richardâ??s presentation, the 
Commission had expressed strong  concerns that NG & ES programs were providing 
too much drain on hunting and  fishing license dollars.   
The aim of the presentation was to  inform Commissioners of the importance of 
non-game programs to both nongame and  game species.  Richard Kirkâ??s  figures 
showed that, even after spending millions of NG & ES dollars for  mutually 
beneficial habitat and other projects, the NG-ES program had a  short-fall of 
only $42,000 in hunting and fishing license funds, due to matching  funds via:  
bluebird plate revenue,  volunteer in-kind services, university contracts, 
etc.   
I am not able to properly summarize  Richard Kirkâ??s excellent presentation, 
but  
if you get a chance to see it, I  urge you to do so. I donâ??t know if it can 
be arranged at a TOS state meeting,  but I urge each chapter to invite Mr. Kirk 
to present it to their  group. 
One figure from his presentation  that stuck with me was 25,000 â??capturesâ?? 
or individual species data points over  the last three years. Conducting 
surveys and gathering data is central to  management and as we know you canâ??t 
manage 
properly if you donâ??t know whatâ??s  there. 
The non-game section works on  non-game mammals, reptiles and amphibians; 
endangered fishes and mussels,  snails, other invertebrates as well as work 
with 
threatened bird species, such  as cerulean and golden-winged warblers. They 
employ the state ornithologist and  conduct Partners in Flight bird point 
counts 
etc. 
There was an awareness about  protecting habitat, and that acquiring and 
protecting habitat benefits all  wildlife, game and non-game. They have done so 
with NG & ES federal grants,  such as generated via the â??Teaming With 
Wildlifeâ?? 
coalition, to fund most of  TWRAâ??s NG-ES program. 
The conservation community was invited to  attend and comment. There were 
supporting  
testimonials by several people  including Scott Davis director of the Nature 
Conservancy of Tennessee. He  reminded the Commissioners that all the recent 
land acquisitions turned over to  TWRA were purchased by donations to TNC and 
state general funds etc, and not by  hunter dollars. 
The Agency is quite aware that they  are responsible for all this. But 
according to Director Gary Meyers, being  responsible for all this amounts to 
an â??
un-funded mandateâ??, and just operating  on hunting and fishing dollars is 
inadequate to manage it  properly. 
The result of the meeting was that  Commissioners now seem to â??get itâ??. 
They 
understand the need to go to the  legislature with the facts for proper 
funding. They also realize the need to  educate hunters and fishers that their 
dollars are not being wasted on non-game;  in fact, they are receiving as much  
or 
more than they are giving. The Commissioners expressed appreciation for  
Richard Kirkâ??s informative presentation and suggested that he repeat it soon  
after the next set of Commissioners are appointed, implying that the new  
Commissioners need to be better informed concerning NG-ES programs and benefits 
 than 
they had been prior to this meeting.   
There may be some who suggest the  splitting the game from non-game, but I 
suggest that we need to go with the  agency weâ??ve got. While there is always 
room for improvement, they are basically  on the right track and deserve a 
surge 
of support from the birding community for  the work they do for songbirds and 
all non-game animals in Tennessee. Among other things this will  probably mean 
writing letters of support if and when funding matters come up in  the next 
legislative session. Funding for Tennessee nature at all levels, including our  
TN State Parks system by the way, will need all the support we can muster 
next  year. 
Parenthetically, the subject of  cranes or Crane Viewing Days did not come up 
at the meeting. But Chief of  Wildlife Greg Wathen informs me that there is 
some money ear-marked for TWRAâ??s  Region III that could be used to co-sponsor 
an event, and that there is still  willingness to share responsibility of a 
Crane Days type event, but not take it  on solely as a TWRA project. 
Richard  Connors 
TOS President 
Nashville, TN



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