Game & Fish

Arizona Heritage Fund offers a diversity of positive impacts

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[Commentary by Rich Glinski, Park Supervisor, Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant, Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department] — While working in the Nongame and Habitat programs at Arizona Game and Fish Department, I had a first-hand opportunity to witness the benefits of Heritage dollars working for wildlife. From gathering data on little known species, to implementing needed wildlife management actions and acquiring important habitat, the Heritage Fund to me represented a means of doing great things for wildlife resources.

After retiring from the AGFD I began managing an educational facility for Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department. The Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant has given me an opportunity to work with a great variety of interpreters and teachers, many of whom have reaped benefits for kids by involving them with Heritage projects. I have become keenly aware of the wonderful educational opportunities afforded by Heritage dollars.

And as the new and exciting world of parks and recreation has unfolded before me, my formal involvement with the professionals in Arizona Parks and Recreation Association has enhanced further my notion of the broad-reaching influence of Heritage Fund money. From acquiring park lands to providing interpretive signage, Heritage dollars seemingly are always at it, making Arizona a better place to live.

As with my work on wildlife issues, my new connections with education, parks and recreation have made me aware of the diverse array of challenges our great state faces, and how much the Heritage Fund is critical to providing opportunities to meet these challenges. This is especially true with the new economic gloom, which threatens to un-do much of the wonderful production gained by Heritage dollars thus far.

The diversity of impacts that the Heritage Program has spread across Arizona’s landscape is truly impressive. If your life meanderings have not given you the opportunity to assess this first-hand, I hope you will visit the websites of the Heritage Alliance, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, or the Arizona State Parks. Look over the accomplishments, savor them, and then please work hard to protect this opportunity.

Track condors with the Arizona Heritage Alliance, March 20-22

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Join the Arizona Heritage Alliance on a three-day field trip to Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Friday, March 20 to Sunday, March 22.  Join a condor research team as it tracks the progress of rare and endangered California condors.  For this once-in-a-lifetime (and fun) activity, click here for more information or to register.

Support increases for Arizona’s voluntary non-lead ammunition program

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[Source: Readitnews.com] — Arizona’s sportsmen and women are stepping up to help the recovery of endangered California condors.  For the fourth consecutive year, participation in the state’s voluntary non-lead ammunition program has grown. Surveys shows that 90 percent of hunters took measures in 2008 to reduce the amount of available spent lead ammunition in the condor’s core range versus 80 percent the year prior.

“We are very encouraged by the high participation rate in 2008 and the year-over-year increases since the program began,” says Kathy Sullivan, the condor program biologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. “It clearly indicates that hunters are aware of the conservation challenges condors face, and they are willing to voluntarily take action to reduce the available lead.”

Lead poisoning has been identified as the leading cause of death in condors and the main obstacle to a self-sustaining population in Arizona.  Studies show that lead shot and bullet fragments found in game carcasses and gut piles are the main source of lead in condors.  [Note: to read the full article, click here.]

Adopt-A-Ranch Program shows that collaborative conservation works

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[Source: Arizona Game & Fish Department’s Wildlife Blog, Wildlife Views] – – Two ranch improvement projects conducted in early November as part of the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Adopt-A-Ranch Program illustrate how various groups can come together in a win-win for private landowners, the recreating public and wildlife conservation.  The Adopt-A-Ranch Program is a cooperative effort between Game and Fish, landowners and volunteers across the state to complete projects that improve ranch land while enhancing wildlife habitat or recreational access for the public. The program has helped relations between landowners and people who wish to recreate on those private lands.

On Nov. 8, 18 volunteers from the Arizona Trail Riders Club (ATR), eight people from the Williams Family Ranch, and personnel from Game and Fish worked together to install a culvert on the Constellation Road at Slim Jim Wash north of Wickenburg, Ariz.. The road, mainly used by ranchers, is an access point to many hunting and recreational areas.

During the heavy rains of 1993, the wash severely cut the road; since then, traffic has detoured down into the wash. With the culvert installed, the roadbed can be built back up to its original level, eliminating the hole that vehicles were forced to drop down into and then climb back out of. The culvert will protect the road from future storms and enhance vehicular access for the ranchers and the public. [Note: to read the full article click here.]