STATE GAME AREA PANEL RELEASES RECOMMENDATIONS

The Blue Ribbon Advisory Group on Southern Michigan State Game Areas released its management recommendations today. The panel, co-chaired by 2016 Michigan United Conservation Clubs’ Conservationist of the Year Bill Demmer and MUCC Executive Director Dan Eichinger, was created in May 2015.

The recommendations include five operation recommendations, five recruitment, retention and reactivation recommendations, and five recommendations for connecting to surrounding communities, though they stress that some of the recommendations may not be suitable for all game areas, and should be implemented on a trial basis at select game areas. The five operational recommendations are:

1) Dedicated Management and Allocated Use

2) Limited Draw Hunts

3) Prioritize Small Game Hunting

4) Re-Establish a Pheasant Program

5) Qualitative Measures for Assessing the Hunting Experience

The full set of recommendations and the panel’s report can be read here: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/mucc/pages/1745/attachments/original/1476383277/Blue_Advisory_Group_Report_October_2016.pdf?1476383277