Fall/Winter 2000

Conservation News

CAT ISLAND FUNDED- Congress has passed a $4 million appropriations bill for the purchase of Cat Island by the National Park Service. The Island is the uncut jewel of Mississippi’s barrier beaches. The action came due to the efforts of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) and U.S. Representative Gene Taylor (D-MS), to the 2001 spending bill for the Department of the Interior. “It’s been a long struggle to reach agreement for final passage, “ said Taylor. The Trust for Public Land will make the actual purchase and will be reimbursed by the government. The transaction might not take place for months, since the Park Service has not completed an appraisal of the property. An appraiser has been working to find similar land deals on which to base the price. “The appraisal is just so slow because there is no other property like it,” said Jerry Eubanks, superintendent of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Park Service rangers have begun to survey the island in preparation for routine patrols of the 2,100 acre parcel, which includes 21 miles of shoreline. Preliminary estimates put the value at around $28 million . However, the Park Service has not begun financial negotiations with the Boddie family, which owns the land. “We still do not have an agreement with the Park Service,” said George Boddie, a Lousiana engineer whose father, Nathan, bought the island in 1911. “We’re pleased with the passage of the authorization,” said Boddie. “The process was more complicated than we envisioned.” Negotiations began about two years ago. The Boddie family will keep 150 acres, which will include 10 family lots and space for a lodge with 28 units. The lodge will be for tourists, but it might include a facility for corporate retreats.

PIONEER CONSERVATIONIST DIES- William Henry Turcotte, a pioneer conservationist in Mississippi, died November 5 at a local hospice after a battle with cancer. He was 83. Turcotte is survived by his wife Dorothy of Richland, and sons John Turcotte of Tallahassee, Florida, William Scott Turcotte, of Terry, Jim Turcotte of Raymond, one daughter, Terry Thurmond of Gainesville, Georgia, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Known as the dean of ornithology across the state, Turcotte served as a game biologist for many years with the Mississippi Game and Fish Commission. Probably more than any other individual, Turcotte is considered the father of deer and turkey management programs in the state. Working with the agency and with private citizens and local groups, he was able to help reestablish populations of deer and turkey around the state after both species suffered decades of steady decline. Turcotte’s career as a biologist began in 1936 when he was hired by the Commission as a taxidermist. He worked as an assistant to Fannye Cook, another ardent conservationist for whom the Museum of Natural Science in Jackson is called. While working at the Commission, Turcotte worked toward his bachelor’s degree in biology at Mississippi College, graduating in 1939. During his long career that spanned most of the years of the State Game and Fish Commission, Turcotte served in every administrative post from field biologist to executive director. He retired on June 30, 1979, the day before the Game and Fish Commission was reorganized into the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Born in 1917 in Magee, Turcotte lived much of his life in Clinton and was educated in the public schools there. It was in rural Hinds County, walking the woods and fields with neighborhood children, that he first developed an early passion for studying every facet of birds and their habitats. This lifelong endeavor resulted in the 1999 publication of Birds of Mississippi in which he is the primary author. Turcotte’s conservation career was interrupted by World War II in which he served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps. As a navigator in the 91st Bomb Group of the 81st Air Force based in England, Turcotte flew aboard B-17s on numerous strategic bombing runs against Nazi Germany. He was shot down on his first and 14th missions, the last one over Germany where he was captured. He served almost two years in Stalag Luft Three, a German prisoner of war camp, before being liberated by Allied armies. After returning from the war in 1945, he resumed his work with the Game and Fish Commission. Affectionately called “Mr. Game and Fish” later by his colleagues and others who knew him, Turcotte used his enormous energy, drive and unique knowledge of wildlife to help formulate and direct many of the early wildlife research programs of the Game and Fish Commission. “Over the years, Mississippi sportsmen and naturalists have had no better friend than Bill Turcotte,” Mississippi Outdoors editor David L. Watts said. “Bill had an unsurpassed knowledge of birds and other wildlife that he attained largely from his formal education and his many long hours of field observation and reflection. His legacy is one any conservationist would do well to emulate.”

BOAT LANDING NAMED For AVERY WOOD- A popular LeFlore County boat landing has been given a new name. McIntyre Scatters is several thousand acres of wetland that receives water from several sources , including Tippo Bayou and the Yalobusha River. It is considered one of the best duck hunting areas in the Southeast. Some 50 friends, family and former employees attended the festivities to pay tribute to Wood’s extended career in conservation. Wood, a longtime resident of Greenwood, served as executive director of the Mississippi Game and Fish Commission from 1972 to 1976. State Senator Bunky Huggins (R-Greenwood) praised Wood for his contributions that have helped ensure a place to hunt and fish for future generations of Mississippians. Huggins then presented Wood a Joint Resolution passed by the Mississippi Legislature citing Wood’s many accomplishments in conservation over the years. Appointed to the Game and Fish Commission by Governor William Waller, Wood was one of the several key state leaders who helped spearhead legislation creating the Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Committee in 1974. Wood, along with Committee members who represented the Senate, House and the State Game and Fish Commission, worked with The Nature Conservancy and others to purchase land in state ownership for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation. After leaving the Game and Fish Commission, Wood worked in the private sector for several years before going to work for the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

COPIAH COUNTY LAKE Under CONSTRUCTION- Construction of a new state lake in Copiah County began recently. It will be owned and operated by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. Located about 27 miles south of Jackson and west of the Crystal Springs exit off Interstate 55, the lake will impound approximately 500 acres, according to Fisheries Chief Ron Garavelli. “The lake is designed for recreational fishing and will include all wooden and earthen piers to allow use by all segments of the public,” Garavelli said. “Eventually, 30 camp sites will be strategically located around the shores of the lake to provide the best camping on the property,” Garavelli said. “Other facilities will include a bath house for campers, a pavilion for group gatherings and buildings for staff and equipment.” Garavelli said the completion date for the dam site is December 2001. “With this time frame, we look to start filling the lake in the winter of 2001.” Garavelli said the lake will be stocked with Florida bass, bluegill, redear, crappie and channel catfish.

TOLL-FREE NUMBER FOR BUYING LICENSES- Buying your hunting and fishing licenses will soon be a lot easier. All anyone has to do is pick up the telephone and dial 1-800-5GO-HUNT to purchase a Mississippi hunting and fishing license. The service will be available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The call is toll-free. Residents and non-residents will be able to take advantage of the new telephone service to buy all Mississippi hunting and fishing licenses except commercial licenses , crossbow licenses and lifetime licenses. A $1 agent fee will be charged for residents and $3 for non-residents. Officials say when anyone uses the new system their call is answered by a live operator. They will take all the necessary information and then give the caller a temporary number. They can hunt or fish using this number until they receive their paper license. In order to use the new telephone ordering system, Mississippi residents must possess a valid Mississippi driving license. MasterCard and VISA are accepted for payment of licenses.

FUNGUS KILLS KUDZU- A Louisiana Tech Professor, formerly of Greenville, Mississippi, has patented a fungus that kills kudzu as well as other weeds. “ A lot of chemical pesticides are being taken off the market,” said Lynn Walker, whose research has been coordinated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Others are being restricted and we’re looking for alternative ways to control pests, particularly weeds.” The patent covers a microbe that will kill kudzu and other weeds like sicklepod, which assails soybeans and peanuts. “If used on sicklepods,” Walker said, “the fungus can safely be applied beneath the crop’s canopy.” Walker and two of his graduate students obtained the initial patent in 1998. Now, with USDA help, Walker is pursuing another patent that centers solely on kudzu. The result will be a joint patent between Louisiana Tech and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but will still fall under the umbrella of Walker’s original patent. Kudzu spreads about 120,006 acres a year and potential losses are at $336 million annually; forested areas especially suffer. The problem has grown so big, that the government declared kudzu a noxious weed in 1998, which means its movement over state boundaries is restricted. Walter is seeking to treat the problem through nature itself. His method of controlling kudzu centers on the fungus Myrothecium verrucaria. “Normally, this fungus is not a pathogen,” Walker said. “It grows naturally on dead organic matter in soil and on decaying wood products.”

TAYLOR SUPPORTS Bill To Help WETLANDS- While not everyone in Washington loves the Water Restoration and Development Act (WRDA) of 2000, Mississippi would benefit greatly from a provision to help restore wetlands. The WRDA would send the Mississippi Gulf Coast $10 million to begin using dredging spoils to restore wetlands. In some cases, such use of dredging spoils will actually be cheaper then current disposal methods, doubling the benefit. “When the Corps of Engineers does maintenance dredging of our ports and harbors, this dredged material is normally disposed of offshore or at upland locations,” said Representative Gene Taylor (D-MS), a longtime supporter of smarter uses of dredging spoils. “Instead of wasting these dredged materials, they can now be used to create more coastal marshes. Marshes are not only critical habitat, but coastal wetlands also serve as natural filters for pollutants found in storm water runoff.”