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Russ Mason

Habitat vs. renewable energy: What can be done to lessen the impact on wildlife?

Leave a Comment / Discussions, Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting, Nature Page & Night Sky, Opinion, Opinion, Wisconsin /

In 2024, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) counted just 288 male prairie chickens on 37 leks, or breeding sites, in the state. All were on state-owned properties in central Wisconsin, with 73% of the birds on the Buena Vista State Wildlife Area.
On Jan. 16, 2025, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin issued a final decision approving plans for the state’s largest solar farm, a 10-square-mile behemoth, directly adjacent to the wildlife area.

Habitat vs. renewable energy: What can be done to lessen the impact on wildlife? Read More »

Commentary: Report shows scavenging swine could spread CWD

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting, Nature Page & Night Sky, Opinion /

Feral hogs – anywhere, anytime – are bad news. They destroy crops, prey on fawns, destroy nests, and in their spare time, spread a variety of diseases, including African swine fever and pseudorabies.
Feral hogs are prolific and can have two litters a year. Each is large and, as an old friend used to say, in a litter of 10, 11 survive. Now, a publication in the journal Emerging Infectious Disease reports that: “scavenging swine could play a role in disseminating CWD and could therefore influence its epidemiology, geographic distribution, and interspecies spread.”

Commentary: Report shows scavenging swine could spread CWD Read More »

Commentary: Hunting and fishing license dollars aren’t enough for conservation

3 Comments / Discussions, Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Fishing, National Hunting /

Legislation that addresses the root causes of a problem is far less common than legislation that addresses its symptoms. For this reason, it’s both predictable and unfortunate that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Legislature are once again considering a hunting and fishing license price increase.
Without doubt, the department’s Wildlife and Fisheries Divisions are in increasingly desperate need of new funding. Yet the cause of this shortfall isn’t that hunters and anglers pay too little for licenses. Instead, its that everyone else pays nothing at all.

Commentary: Hunting and fishing license dollars aren’t enough for conservation Read More »

Commentary: Hunters have an undeniable branding problem

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting, Opinion /

The word “hunter” has five defined meanings:
• A person who hunts game,
• A dog used or trained for hunting,
• A horse used or adapted for use in hunting with hounds,
• One that searches for something,
• A pocket watch with a hinged protective cover.
None of these definitions associate hunting or hunters with wildlife conservation.

Commentary: Hunters have an undeniable branding problem Read More »

Russ Mason: Climate change is increasing severity of EHD outbreaks

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting /

We hear about the effects of climate change every day.
Yet, for most folks in the Upper Midwest, the effects may seem remote. We aren’t experiencing hurricanes or crippling droughts that may make the southeast and southwest fundamentally unlivable at some point in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the sense that climate change is somebody else’s problem has changed during the past month as deer in the Midwest are dying from the biggest outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) since 2012.

Russ Mason: Climate change is increasing severity of EHD outbreaks Read More »

Russ Mason: Would a simpler licensing structure benefit Michigan hunters?

Featured, Hunting, Michigan, National Hunting, Opinion /

In 1934, the Michigan hunting regulations pamphlet was a single piece of paper folded in half, creating a front, back, and two inside pages.
Today, the document has expanded to 80 pages, and also is electronically available both for convenience and because regulatory changes could occur after printing. No doubt, some of this regulatory increase reflects new challenges and federal impositions (e.g., mandatory hunter education, CWD, sealing of furbearers, increasingly complex federal waterfowl requirements), but mostly, it reflects well-meaning attempts to increase opportunity and hunter recruitment, retention, and reactivation.

Russ Mason: Would a simpler licensing structure benefit Michigan hunters? Read More »

Russ Mason: Are natural resource agencies losing appreciation for paying customers?

Featured, Fishing, Hunting, Michigan, National Fishing, National Hunting, Opinion /

When it comes to conservation and sustainable populations of fish and wildlife, state agencies are doing too much with too little.
“Doing more with less” is an unrealistic euphemism. More to the point, it’s inequitable given the “some-users-pay” model that currently is the foundation for most state-based conservation. And yet, being impractical (and fiscally unsound) doesn’t mean existing trends won’t continue.

Russ Mason: Are natural resource agencies losing appreciation for paying customers? Read More »

Wildlife councils spread positive message on hunting, fishing, but does it work?

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Hunting, Michigan, National Fishing, National Hunting, Opinion /

Michigan and Colorado recognize that the future of hunting and fishing depend on the goodwill of Americans who don’t hunt or fish (and are unlikely to start).
Both have legislatively established wildlife councils that promote the economic and ecological benefits of hunting and fishing with funding provided by a surcharge on every license sold. Both councils are making a difference.

Wildlife councils spread positive message on hunting, fishing, but does it work? Read More »

Russ Mason: Wildlife councils succeed in educating public on merits of hunting; why not employ a similar approach on R3?

Featured, Fishing, Hunting, Michigan, National Fishing, National Hunting, Opinion /

Arguably, the time is coming when most state fish and wildlife agencies won’t have the expertise to effectively promote hunting and fishing. The consequences are profound, not only for hunters and anglers, but also for the future of conservation.

The reasons for this decline boil down to an ever-increasing emphasis on representation. Reasonably enough, agencies want employees with a wide diversity of backgrounds that reflect the diversity of the general public. The perspective is that diversity is a key to relevance, which is why diversity is a pillar of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Relevancy Roadmap. It’s been an uphill climb.

Russ Mason: Wildlife councils succeed in educating public on merits of hunting; why not employ a similar approach on R3? Read More »

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