	P.O. Box 2642 \| Darien, GA 31305 \| Tel 912-437-8164 \| FAX 912-437-8765
Home \| About Us \| River News \| Wildlife \| Advocacy \| Education \| Events & Meetings \| Resources \| Links \| Newsletters

CONSERVATION is Good Economics

By The Altamaha Riverkeeper, James Holland

This story is targeted to sports men and women but I believe the contents apply to all people from all walks of life.

I believe that everything is connected. In this story I will explore an aspect of the natural world's connectedness; conservation from a sportsman's perspective and how conservation benefits the economy.

The dictionary describes the term CONSERVATION as the preservation of natural resources for economical use: specifically, the preservation of forests, fisheries, and harbors. CONSERVE, to protect or save from loss.

As a young man in the military one of my first experiences at conserving came when we were taught to conserve our drinking water in our canteens. I learned this very valuable lesson during a training exercise when I drank every ounce of the water in my canteen with hours left before I could have any access to more water. This experience had nothing to do with economics or sports but every thing to do with survival.

It is quite possible that we may go through life never considering that most of us are conservationists. For instance, when I was younger I had what I considered to be some very fine bird dogs. When my dogs pointed to a covey of quail and the covey flushed then we would hunt for the single birds. It was fairly easy to estimate the total number of birds in the covey when they flushed. I was taught as a young boy never to kill all the birds in the covey, even if you could. It was and I assume still is common practice to leave five or six birds alive in the covey so they can multiply for the future.

Saving those last few birds in a covey, conservation, has everything to do with economics It preserves the sport for the future. Yes indeed, it has a lot to do with economics. People spend a lot of money on dog food, dogs, guns, shells, veterinarian care, vehicles, gas and the appropriate attire for quail hunting. Sportsmen and women also spend thousands of dollars in rural areas to be members of hunting clubs.

The practice of allowing hunters to only shoot gobbler turkeys and not hens is also a conservation practice that allows the species to propagate so we continue to have a supply of birds for the future. The sport of turkey hunting benefits the economy as well. A lot of money is spent at local hunting supply stores on attire, gun shell, call boxes, reeds, and slates.

Why do we have size and bag limits on fish? Again, this is a good conservation practice that assures an adequate stock of natural wild fish in our streams. By practicing common sense conservation and obeying our fish and game laws we insure a future in recreational fishing for many generations to come. Common sense conservation is as simple as returning small fish back to the stream and adhering to bag and size limits.

Like many others, fishing is next to my heart. More money is spent on fishing than any other wildlife sport in Georgia. Fishermen and women are constantly buying new rods, reels, lures, hooks, corks, bait and sinkers. Additional large bucks are also spent on boats, outboard motors, trailers and fancy odds and ends that I wish that I could afford.

Boat dealer's, fishing guides, charter boats, fishing tackle shops, marinas, camp grounds, motels, restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores all benefit from the sport fishing industry. According to recent figures from the Department of Natural Resources, recreational fishing in Georgia in is a one billion, 7 million, and 329 thousand dollar industry, annually. Georgia now has more fishermen and hunters than ever before and a diminishing habitat for fish and game. It is vitally important that we all practice good conservation habits to maintain our sport and our economy.

HABITAT

Habitat conservation efforts should be the mother of all protection for our natural resources. In all of our conservation efforts I believe that conservation of habitat is the most important. Take wild duck habitat for instance, the removal of duck habitat is a lot like my mistake as a young military person by not conserving my drinking water on a military field exercise. Without adequate water habitat in your area, there will be no large numbers of ducks. After a few years of migrating down a flyway and not locating suitable habitat, ducks simply alter their flight patterns to more suitable habitats. We have some extremely good waterfowl management areas in Southeast Georgia, however, these waterfowl management areas alone are not adequate to keep large numbers of ducks coming down to their traditional fly ways from the north. To return duck hunting to its glory days in Southeast Georgia would require the restoration of areas like Big Buffalo Swamp in Glynn County and Snuff Box and Big Mortar in McIntosh County.

All areas of Georgia may not have been so adversely impacted for wild duck habitat as the southeastern region of the State. I will relate to one area, known as Paulk's Pasture, located in Glynn County, where I believe we dropped the ball on conservation and lost a major prize. At Paulk's just a few years ago when the wood ducks left their roosting habitat in the morning the departing flock would blacken the sky. Today, this same area is a State Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and to some, hardly worth fooling with for duck hunting. The hardwood bottomlands and swamps for the most part have been timbered and have ditches draining them. Many wildlife management areas in Southeast Georgia are in the same condition and suffer loss of habitat like Paulk's Pasture and thousands of swamps have been lost to timbering.

In many areas beaver ponds have had their dams broken and the beavers have been trapped out in order to make room for more row crop pines. Large beaver ponds create prime wood duck habitat and also conserve surface water. Have you ever noticed the number of wood duck boxes on the side of trees and on posts in or near the waters edge of a pond? Why are these artificially made wood duck nesting boxes necessary? The loss of habitat makes the boxes necessary. It's great that we are providing a habitat even though it is an artificial one but why can't we protect the natural habitat to maintain the wildlife that was once so plentiful? Poor wildlife habitat conservation is the most probable cause for the degraded habitat. This degraded habitat may very well be costing the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue each year from the diminishing population of ducks and duck hunters. As stated in a previous paragraph, the definition for conservation is the preservation of natural resources for economical use. In a sports person's mind degrading the habitat might be considered as reverse economics or economics out of control because in the end we all lose.

The diminishing bob white quail population is another example of problems with wildlife habitat management. Not too many years ago, when the southern long leaf pine habitat was common and farmers maintained fencerows with vegetation, the bobwhite flourished. For a number of different reasons the long leaf pine habitat gave way to what some deem to be faster growing row crop pines and agriculture. Many farmers also used to conduct another beneficial practice of burning their forested land each winter.

It was during this era that agriculture under went new revolutionary changes, which brought about a more industrial style of farming. During this agricultural revolution the landowners required more and more acreage for growing crops and the need for more open lands caused the removal of many vegetated fencerows and forested areas. Destroying the vegetative buffers and forested habitat, which is so vital to the bob white for nesting, eluding and avoiding predators, may have been one thing that led to a reduction in the bob white quail population. Along with habitat degradation there were other factors back in those days such as the wide spread use of DDT that may have been the death knell for the huge bob white quail populations that were once in Georgia.

I believe we do have a little hope when it comes to the landowners of today. Many landowners are returning to their roots and traditional practices and are restoring long leaf pine populations. Many of our farmers have learned there are advantages to having vegetative buffers around their fields. One huge advantage is the control of soil erosion and the buffers provide habitat, once again, for wild game. Some farmers I know over in Laurens and Pulaski counties appear to have buffers around their fields approximately 40 feet wide. My hat goes off to these farmers for they truly understand that landowners are the shepherds of the earth.

Good land conservation makes sense in so many ways. Land conservation provides essential habitat for birds, rabbits, and other animals that are just as connected to the land as we humans are. You also save water by having healthier streams that create high quality soil that is essential to growing good crops. Conservation increases our recreational opportunities and economic opportunities.

Join ARK

Help us to protect the environment!

| | | | | | | |