crazy girl

Conservation of Wildlife In 1936 Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling stood in Washington DC. in front of President Franklin D. Roosevelt with the idea of organizing a national wildlife conservation group. With the idea to help regulate wildlife game hunting and fishing in the United State, Mr. Darling convinced President Roosevelt and the General Wildlife Federation, later changed to the National Wildlife Federation, was born. Their idea was “uniting sportsmen and all outdoor and wildlife enthusiasts behind the common goal of conservation” (paragraph 3). This organization then invited Hunters from all over the country to attend a conference in Washington DC. to introduce the new found group and their goals. This meeting ended in such success that members of the conference left to head back home and started up wildlife organizations in their own states that mimicked the beliefs of the National Wildlife Federation. These chapters of the national group were able to meet once a year at the annual National Wildlife Federation conference and relay their ideas to all of the other organizations around the United States help evolve the regulation and conservation matters around the country. In the evolution of these conservation groups around the country, forty seven states have bought into the movement of the beliefs of the National Wildlife Federation. Since then our fine state of South Carolina has developed an organization of their own. The South Carolina Wildlife Federation, which was founded in 1931 by a handful of avid wildlife sportsman, traveled through the state to build their association to two thousand members in just a few months. Another wildlife organization in South Carolina is the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The Department of Natural Resources was founded in 1994 under the South Carolina Restructuring Act. The organization was founded to preserve South Carolina’s natural wealth. The DNR also helps regulate the laws and regulations of hunting in the state of South Carolina. They regulate the seasons in which a particular species can be hunted. A specific conservation effort in the recent years has been the reproduction of wild turkey. Wild turkey recruitment decreased substantially in 2013 likely due to record rains statewide this summer. Wild turkeys are much more vulnerable to significant rise and fall in reproduction and recruitment. Lack of reproductive success is often associated with bad weather, cold and wet, during nesting and brood rearing season and most of the state saw unprecedented rainfall that began late in the spring and continued throughout most of the summer. Experts say that the reproduction and population levels are not to the level of endangered species but could lead to the quality of hunting through the state could drop. They say that ratio of hens to gobblers are fine now and sit at .70 but once they drop below .5 we need to step in and figure out a way to help the population grow. The conservation in South Carolina is led by Charles Ruth, the DNR Deer and Wild Turkey Program coordinator. Mr. Ruth is on record saying, “The bottom line is the state’s turkey population remains about 15 percent below record levels of 10 years ago. Although the harvest has increased a little the last couple of years, we need better reproduction for several years to get the population back up. That is the nice thing about turkeys; given the right conditions they can naturally bounce back in a short period of time.” (paragraph 6)