# ND'S OIL BOOM: PROTECTING OUR HUNTING HERITAGE ACTION SUMMIT



## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

*NORTH DAKOTA'S OIL BOOM: PROTECTING OUR HUNTING HERITAGE ACTION SUMMIT, 
sponsored by Protect Theodore Roosevelt National Park Coalition*

Jan. 25, 2014, 12-4 PM, Downtown Fargo Radisson, Registration starts at 11:30 AM

"The wild game that was once a staple of western ND has been impacted by oil development. Let's work together to protect habitat and ND's hunting heritage."

Free conference includes:
Lunch
Keynote speaker John Cooper
Facilitated breakout group discussions on strategies, messaging, and actions that will amplify the voice of hunters in ND.

Keynote speaker John Cooper is a renowned expert in fish and wildlife. He served 22 years with the law enforcement division of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and was senior Resident Agent for North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

For more information contact Mindi Grieve, [email protected] or Scott Skokos, [email protected] 
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Mods, could you put a sticky on this through the 25th? Thanks, Dick


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## shaug (Mar 28, 2011)

> Keynote speaker John Cooper
> Facilitated breakout group discussions on strategies, messaging, and actions that will amplify the voice of hunters in ND.


Amplify the voice of hunters or..... ????????



> For more information contact Mindi Grieve, [email protected] or Scott Skokos, [email protected]


Mindi Grieve works for the Environmental Law and Policy Center

http://elpc.org/grieve

Scott Skokos is the senior field organizer for the Dakota Resource Council. Scott holds a Bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in Political Theory and a Master's degree from University of Denver in Natural Resource Law. In his spare time he likes to hammer against the use of coal.

http://drcinfo.org/?page_id=60

Keynote speaker John Cooper seems to be quite an authority. Member of the wildlife society and past president of the association of fish and wildlife agencies:

http://joomla.wildlife.org/index.php?op ... iew&id=672

John Cooper has held a lot of positions in State and Federal Agencies. Did he ever abuse his authority?... Yep.

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/ ... d14d7.html

Dick, not sure how you manage it? You seem to have surrounded yourself with bad actors again.


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## oldfireguy (Jun 23, 2005)

Sent email requesting agenda. No response.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Oldfireguy, this what I could copy from the flier for the summit Saturday.

Free Conference Includes:
• Lunch
• Keynote Speaker
John Cooper
• Facilitated breakout
group discussions on
strategies, messaging
and actions that will
amplify the voice of
hunters in North Dakota.

About Keynote Speaker John Cooper: John Cooper is a renowned expert
in fish and wildlife. He served for 22 years with the Law Enforcement Division of
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and was Senior Resident Agent for North Dakota,
South Dakota and Nebraska. John also served as Cabinet Secretary of the
South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks for 12 years. In addition, he
served as Field Editor for Dakota Outdoors magazine and has published several
articles in Sports Afield, In-Fisherman, Western Outdoor News, and Bassmaster
magazines. John is also the 2010 recipient of the Bird Grinnell Memorial Award for Distinguished
Lifetime Conservation from the Wildlife Management Institute.


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## oldfireguy (Jun 23, 2005)

Just curious. Is this a meeting of concerned outdoors people exploring the causes of game population drops (weather, habitat loss, development etc) or is it a gathering of "fossil fuels are to blame for all the world's ills" folks who want sportsmen to carry their banner?
I really don't know. Is there someone here who does?


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

If the weather is good I'll let you know. Need to run down to Fargo anyway.


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## Old Hunter (Mar 8, 2002)

The only time you see or hear from the nonresidents is when they request more hunting time.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

When one considers the stress the ND landscape is now under it is going to need all the help from everywhere and everyone that it can get.

The meeting today was attended by outdoor & wildlife organizations. The situation addressed was our wildlife resource of our badlands in western ND. The question posed was how do sportsmen engage the change taking place and the damage being done to that whole system. No one opposed oil extraction but all wanted to mitigate the negative effects on our wildlife.

While many sportsmen cherish their hunting opportunity for pronghorn and mule deer (both in remission), there seems to be a disconnect on the importance of habitat for wildlife. There is an unwillingness in the hunting community to see the benefit of habitat across species as a mutual benefit, both to wildlife and people.

SD is facing the same prospects with tumbling pheasant habitat. And taking steps for a united effort there to reverse course. The speaker noted that the difference in SD is that businesses there realize the importance of hunting revenue, as does the SD Department of Tourism, and both are strong supporters of wildlife efforts in that state. Unlike North Dakota.

It was an interesting meeting. Had to leave early because of bad weather.


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## superdave72 (Oct 15, 2012)

Just curious if you will hold a similar meeting in the Bismarck or western part of the state that is really the area affected by the oil boom. Love the idea but Fargo is on the other side of the state and the area is not nearly as impacted as for those of us out west.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Dave, I'm not in the group but I'll forward that idea along. I was just an observer. One would think that mule deer and a pronghorn hunters would be interested as far as sportsmen, and certainly the folks that live & work in the badlands system. There were people at the meeting from western ND but folks I didn't know too.
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Edit update: http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id ... roup/News/



> "FARGO - Conservation advocates gathered Saturday to explore strategies to engage sportsmen in a broad coalition to protect North Dakota's hunting heritage in the face of rapid energy development and the loss of conservation lands.
> 
> The summit, hosted by the Protect Theodore Roosevelt National Park Coalition, was aimed at protecting wildlife habitat, which is being fragmented by oil drilling or lost to the conversion of conservation reserve acreage to cropland.
> 
> Read whole article, Jan 26-'14"


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

And another twist from the same Sunday Forum: *Letter: Bakken hell destroying 'Legendary'
*
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/424608/


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Dick....

I mentioned this years ago and it fell on def ears. I said what people should be worried about is loss of habitat and not number of hunters coming to your state. As you can see with one post on this topic someone already bashed NR's. But I saw all of this coming back 5-6 years ago (or when ever I joined this site). People knew CRP was going to come out of production. I didn't see the huge oil boom exploding like it did. But knew land/habitat was going to be lost. this is when hunters NR and R need to come together.

Also the big thing is people think that CRP on helps pheasants... NOPE. It is great nesting cover for song birds, ducks, geese, grouse, etc. Great hiding habitat for all animals....deer, pheasants, grouse, etc. then the benefits of helping to keep soil from erosion (wind and water), helping to filter out pollutants to our ground water, and other environmental benefits.

Now I am not blaming farmers at all. because it is their land and they need to make money. This is where the government, sportsman groups, etc. Need to step up and make CRP payments closer to what rental payments are. The sportsman groups need to lobby for these things.

Also the government in ND needs to look at some of their land ownership laws. I understand why they are in place. But maybe revamp them so some conservation groups can buy land (with a provision they are open to sportsman, only can purchase X amount of acres, land can't be sold to pvt individuals after 25 years or something, if land is sold after 25 years it needs to be re-invested into more land, etc). That way some chunks of land could have DU, Delta, Pheasants Forever, etc. projects on them. Now these groups will only buy some smaller tracks of land but hey it could help.

I mean there are steps that need to be taken. But first you need all hunters to get united.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Ever since I grew up on the farm with a program called soil bank I have thought it makes more sense for the future to supplement farmers for conservation practices not for bushels of wheat. I was only in the fourth grade when I would dig fields with a U Minneapolis Molin with a hand clutch. When I didn't have that clutch in hand it was an old bolt action Marlin 22 rifle that filled my hand. I have looked at these problems from both perspectives for years. If we are really concerned about the future of wildlife, and the future of farm children then conservation is the way to go. Today's highly erodible fields with gather topsoil and be tomorrows productive land. Our soil bank in the 1960's built up enough soil on the hill tops to plow without exposing gravel, and buried the bottom two strands of wire on an old fence in a low area.


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## Old Hunter (Mar 8, 2002)

Chuck when you come on this site supporting conservation measures it is nice but you are preaching to the choir. Did you write a letter to the governors office,department of tourism, or colation of mayors regarding the Outdoor Heritage Measure? Write these people and explain this is tourism dollars and that you come here and spend money in the motels,cafes,gas stations, and sporting good stores. If there is no game to hunt you have no reason to return.Send a email to Mike Mcfeely at KFGO radio in Fargo supporting this type of legislation, he is the only nonresident I have seen trying to help. I am pretty sure he will put it on the radio show. How about the hundreds of nonresidents that own hunting houses in this state ,I wonder how many wrote a letter of support? I bet that number is 0.Many of these guys are using these houses for daily or weekly rental. This hurts the motels and resturants. They pay their 150.oo a year in taxes and pick that up in one nights rental.
I have stated on this site many times I am not anti nonresident. At least 1/2 of my hunting days are spent with nonresidents. They are my friends and family.
I used to be active in the endeavor to help the hunting of North Dakota, taking time from work driving to Bismark for hearings sorry to say I through in the towel.The farm lobby is too powerful.I have no Idea how Dick Monson has the true grit to keep going. He is like the last soldier standing.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Old... I have done all of the letter writing (emails) things and encourage people I know who travel to hunt to do the same. I sent them to the department of tourism and the governor in regaurds to things i read on this site that I think is good and bad measures. I give my perspective as a NR. I don't like talking about $$$ because the amount of money a NR spends in a week isn't squat compared to someone living in state. So I try to leave dollar figures out for hotel stays and what not. I talk about license sales. Because those dollar figures can't be disputed. Also those figures are figured into states budgets and what not.

The sad thing is the letters fall on deaf ears because a NR can't VOTE. I have heard that in a response i got from a couple of years ago. But I keep doing it. It needs to be the resident that needs to do the same thing. I mean look at this site (it isn't as bad as it once was with NR bashing) but if they would put in the same effort in responding to a post as to sending an email. It might mean more than a letter from an out of stater. But I keep sending them.

Like i mentioned it needs to be a united front. But I understand about the farm lobby is huge.


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