Fall/03

THOMPSON INTRODUCES BILL FOR ROOSEVELT REFUGE, COLLIER CENTER

- This year is the 100-year conservation legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt. What started in 1903 with one, small, four-acre bird sanctuary off the coast of Florida has since grown to the world's largest network of lands managed for the benefit and protection of wildlife and the habitat that supports them. A year earlier, in 1902, Roosevelt came to Mississippi on his now famous bear hunt. Greenvillian Holt Collier was chosen to be the President's guide. He had already killed over 3,000 bears. Collier strongly desired that the President kill a bear so he captured one and tied it to a tree. Roosevelt refused to shoot the tied animal. The story received wide press coverage. Clifford Berryman ran two editorial cartoons on the front page of The Washington Post. Morris Michtom saw the cartoon and designed the Teddy Bear, which the Mississippi Legislature recently named the official state toy. On July 24, 2003, Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) introduced legislation that would establish the “Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge” and the “Holt Collier Wildlife Interpretation and Education Center.” According to Congressman Thompson, “President Roosevelt and Holt Collier were not only great hunters, but leaders in our Nation's conservation movement. It is a pleasure to introduce legislation to honor these gentlemen and help carry on their legacy.” Congressman Thompson is to be thanked not only for his national leadership in conservation, but providing it in a manner that will benefit Mississippians for years to come. It is truly breathtaking to be associated with a piece of legislation that will recognize one of the greatest hunters and Greenvillians that ever lived and the father of the conservation movement that I have dedicated my life to. From its small, humble beginnings, the National Wildlife Refuge System has been a successful land based trial in conservation. President Roosevelt could not have possibly imagined the vastness of it. It is hoped that the future will hold the addition of even more lands into the system to help preserve and protect America's wildlife resources while providing significant opportunities for hunting, fishing and wildlife-associated recreation. Mississippi currently has 13 National Wildlife Refuges comprising almost 220,000 acres. The “Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge” will encompass lands around the historic hunt location and connect other public lands in the South Delta that will serve as wildlife corridors. The “Holt Collier Wildlife Interpretation and Education Center” will highlight the life of Holt Collier and the conservation efforts of President Roosevelt. Lands will be purchased only from willing sellers.

COCHRAN HELPS PASS HEALTHY FORESTS LEGISLATION - All of our forests, public and private, from North to South to East to West, from urban to rural are at stake. We have tremendous problems - from fire to pests/pathogens to declining forest ecosystems. These forests provide clean water, habitat for fish/wildlife, inhibit sprawl and support small communities. Throughout our Nation, including Mississippi, a lack of proper forest management has caused undue stress, resulting in poor forest health, significant loss of forests due to large-scale insect and disease outbreaks and a resulting fuel accumulation on over 200 million acres of Federal forests and millions of acres of state, local and private forests. This has resulted in an unnaturally high risk of catastrophic wildfire that not only place communities at risk, but threaten to destroy critical habitat of fish and wildlife and important watersheds. The lack of active management on these Federal forests is placing at risk millions of acres of adjacent lands which are critical to rural America and our economy. The recent wildfires are among the most destructive in the last half-century. The prevention of such fires and the spread of pests/pathogens are in the public interest, and, to the extent that reform is required to expedite preventative measures, such reforms should receive serious consideration as part of any forest legislation. Recently, U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) led the U.S. Senate as Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry to support comprehensive forests health legislation that addresses these problems and needs facing our entire Nation. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) was also a strong supporter. This legislation provides a unique opportunity to recover threatened and endangered species in a manner that respects the rights of private property owners. We can also take advantage of our Nation's vast satellite technology to help detect pest and pathogen problems and quantify carbon that has been sequestered by forests. It also provides opportunities to further voluntary cooperation between state forestry agencies and private land owners by improving watersheds and controlling invasive species. Opportunities for better use of dead trees and forest thinnings, as biomass material, will be beneficial in reducing fuel loads and restoring and enhancing fish and wildlife habitat. There is widespread agreement that the full Senate must act this fall to provide solutions to the various forest health problems that face our Nation in a manner that will protect, restore and enhance our environment.

BEAR AFFAIR CELEBRATED FAMOUS HUNT - Rolling Fork, Mississippi was the site of a national celebration - the 2nd Annual Great Delta Bear Affair. It was held on October 18-19 commemorating the 101st anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt's 1902 bear hunt which resulted in the creation of the most famous children's toy in the world - the teddy bear. It was sponsored by Cellular South. On November 13, 1902, Roosevelt, a renowned hunter and conservationist, had traveled by train into Mississippi to Smedes Plantation, where he met what amounted to a contemporary Who's Who of Southern planters and businessmen. Among the notables in what turned out to be Roosevelt's famous hunting party were soon-to-be Louisiana Governor John M. Parker, Huger L. Foote, grandfather of Civil War historian, writer and friend, Shelby Foote, Tabasco Sauce heir John McIlnenny and Leroy Percy. Legendary guide Holt Collier was the guide for the hunt. On the night before the hunt, he reportedly promised Roosevelt a bear, “If I have to tie one up and bring it to you.” According to the now generally accepted story, Collier found a bear and it attacked his favorite dog. The guide, unable to shoot due to the proximity of his pet, used his rifle like a club, smashing the bear across its head and rendering it semi-conscious in the bayou. He then tied the bear to the nearest tree and sounded his hunting horn to alert the president. In a gesture which may have been born as much out of political expediency as altruism - there were a number of journalists on the trip that criticized Roosevelt in the press for his hunting activities - the President refused to shoot the pitiful creature. As the whims of politics and history would have it, political cartoonist Clifford Berryman, who highly favored Roosevelt, popularized the event with a caricature he called “Drawing the Line in Mississippi,” which eventually ended up in publications around the country. The idea of the teddy bear was born and soon a manufacturer began production of what would become the favorite toy of millions of Americans. In addition to dignitaries, a festival-like atmosphere characterized the event, complete with merchandise vendors, food vendors, lots of music, as well as seminars, foot and bicycle races, horse-drawn wagon tours, bird and animal habitat tours, a hunt re-enactment, a book signing, children's activities and a reunion of all bear-hunt descendants.

MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA COASTS FIND MORE BLIND ALLIGATORS - Scientists say they are baffled as to why so many adult alligators along the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf coasts are losing their sight. There's a growing population of blind gators in both salt and freshwater locations in both states, officials said. More than 52 blind alligators have been documented along the Mississippi-Alabama coast in the past year. Lynn McCoy, a river guide, has seen his share of gators while serving as an on-call trapper for the state of Mississippi. McCoy said recently he encountered two blind gators, including one that was 6-foot-6 long and wallowing in the tide off the beach in Ocean Springs. “I went down there and just fooled with him,” McCoy said. “I told them when I got there, there was something wrong with him.” That alligator and a 7-foot gator McCoy saw on another call have been euthanized, he said. They are being held for further study and tissue sampling. Timothy Gross, an ecotoxicologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Gainesville, Fla., said scientists have no clue what's causing the alligators to go blind. Gross said the answer may lie in a combination of drought, parasitic infestation and disease. “(Blindness) can happen occasionally, but it's a very uncommon event,” said Gross.

OUTSTANDING TREE FARMERS OF THE YEAR - ORBY AND BRENDA WRIGHT - Any tree farmer will tell you that tree farming is a rewarding enterprise. Indeed, tree farming offers many financial and aesthetic benefits. Tree farmers learn and apply forestry skills in order to cultivate productive forests from marginal farmland. They create habitats for deer, turkey, quail, fish and songbirds. But maybe the greatest gratification that tree farming offers is the chance to create a place that reflects what a person wants most of all, a place where he or she can pursue a passion. That passion may be learning the science of forestry. For others, it's providing college education money for their children. For still others, it's creating a family retreat. For Orby and Brenda Wright of Purvis, it's creating a dream home for themselves and for teeming throngs of wildlife. The Wrights are Mississippi Forestry Association's (MFA) Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year. Their 1875-acre Quail Hollow Ranch just south of Purvis is living testimony to the rewards of tree farming. In only fourteen years the Wrights have turned former pecan orchards and cutover land into vigorous stands of longleaf and loblolly pines and thriving wildlife habitat. “The Wrights purchased this property and have transformed a once low-quality and unmanaged tract of land into quite a showplace,” said Mark Hamilton, area forester for Marion, Lamar and Pearl River Counties for the Mississippi Forestry Commission (MFC). Hamilton nominated the Wrights for Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year. To help with flood control on one pond, Orby plans to install a Clemson Beaver Pond Leveler, provided by Wildlife Mississippi. Beavers also enjoy the water, and the “ponds” they have created in low-lying areas are a constant maintenance challenge. Orby performs prescribed burns on a two-year rotation (about 600-700 acres per year) in order to control grass and herbaceous species. He also employs herbicides to control exotic and undesirable species such as Johnson and cogongrass. He credits Randy Browning, private lands biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation, for help in knocking back the cogongrass. “Randy is ‘Captain Cogon’,” Orby said. When Orby wanted to establish a wildlife plot in a disturbed area, he tackled another pesky weed species, crotolaria, or rattlebox, along with undesirable tree species. While he has established healthy stands of loblolly, slash and longleaf on the tree farm, Orby likes longleaf best. “After 10 to 15 years, longleaf will catch up with loblolly and will produce better timber. Longleaf has good potential for poles and stronger timber,” Orby said. Tree farming certainly offers rewards, but as the Wrights can tell you, they are rewards won from hard work, dedication and love of the outdoors.

WATERFOWL SEASONS SET - A 60-day duck season is ahead for Mississippi waterfowlers during the 2003-04 fall and winter hunting period. The long-awaited season action came in a recent meeting by the Mississippi Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. The first duck season opens November 21 and closes November 23. The second hunting period begins November 28 and closes December 23. The third season opens Dec. 26 and extends through January 25. Hunters have a six-duck daily bag limit. The possession limit is 12. The daily limit may include no more than four mallards (no more than two hens), three mottled ducks, three scaup, two wood ducks, two redheads, one black duck, one pintail and one canvasback. The daily limit on mergansers is five, which can include no more than one hooded merganser. The possession is 10. One change on the hunting horizon this year will be a 30-day season on canvasback and pintail, which extends from December 27 through January 25. For these species, the daily limit is one each, and the possession limit is two. The hunting periods for coots are the same as for ducks. The daily bag limit is 15, and the possession limit is 30. The Magnolia State will have a Youth Waterfowl Weekend from January 31 through February 1. The bag limit will be the same as the six-duck regular daily limit. Canada geese, white-fronted geese, brant, and light geese can be hunted from November 21 through January 25. The bag limit for Canada geese is three, and the possession limit is six. The bag limit for white-fronted geese and brant is two. The possession limit is four. The light geese bag limit is 20. State conservation enforcement officials remind hunters that federal migratory bird law requires shooters to have their shotguns plugged and incapable of holding more than three shells. Waterfowl shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Some public hunting areas may have more restrictive hours. Check the regulations of the area you plan to hunt before going to the marsh. Officials also remind hunters that non-toxic shot is required for hunting waterfowl in all areas of Mississippi. Shooters may not have lead shot in possession while hunting. “All waterfowl hunters 16 years of age and older are required to purchase a federal duck stamp, and a state duck stamp or the electronic designation identified as 'WF' on their license,” explained Director of Wildlife, Fisheries and Law Enforcement T.J. Jennings. In addition, Jennings said, hunters must have a valid state hunting license containing HIP certification. Stamps must be signed in ink across the face before going hunting.