State Agencies Conducting Investigations on Potential Fish Health Issues
The Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries are directing numerous scientific studies and surveillance programs this spring in the western portion of Virginia in preparation for potential fish kills. Unexplained fish kills and episodes of fish with sores and lesions have occurred during each of the last four springs in the Shenandoah River system. In 2007, similar events also occurred in the upper James and Cowpasture Rivers.
If any fish kills are observed this year, the public is encouraged to provide information on the location, number and type of fish found dead or sick in the Shenandoah, Cowpasture and James River systems. Distressed fish are found mainly in eddies and shallow areas away from the main current. Anyone with information is asked to call the DEQ regional office in Harrisonburg at (540) 574-7800, or toll-free in Virginia at 1-800-592-5482. Information also can be emailed to fishreports@deq.virginia.gov.
Summer Squirrel Hunting Safety Tips
If you're planning to go squirrel hunting this June on selected VDGIF Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), you need to keep a few things in mind to ensure you have a pleasant and safe experience. If you're wearing camouflage, it should be lightweight. You'll also want to put on some bug repellent to ward off ticks, chiggers, gnats and mosquitoes. Learn to identify poison ivy (leaflets three let it be!) and avoid contact with the shiny green leaves and hairy vines. Note that you can also get a rash from handling clothes that have come in contact with this abundant woods plant. If you have walked through a patch of poison ivy, wash those clothes to remove the oils which cause the itchy rash. Snakes are also out and about with the warmer temperatures, so be alert. If it is a very warm day, it would be a good idea to field dress your harvested game as soon as possible and bring along a cooler with ice and plastic bags to store them.
As always, practice basic firearm safety. Treat every firearm as if it were loaded, only point at what you intend to shoot, and clearly identify your game and what is beyond. This June will be a great time to take youngsters squirrel hunting. They'll be out of school and there's very little other hunting opportunity available at the start of summer. It is a great time to introduce a youngster to actual in the field hunting without some of the distractions, or pressures of fall deer or turkey hunting like more hunters in the woods, cold and windy weather, or more elusive game. So, spray on a little bug juice and take a youngster squirrel hunting on one of the VDGIF's WMAs. You can locate them at the VDGIF map information system on our Find Game Web site.
Attention Boaters - Proposed New EPA Permit Program Heading for Congressional Vote
According to BoatU.S., if you are one of the 18 million recreational boat owners, you need to be aware of legislation working through Congress that would create a new, onerous and potentially costly EPA permit program to be in place by September 30 of this year. Recreational boaters and anglers have only a short time to encourage their Senators and Representatives in Congress to support the "Clean Boating Act of 2008." The bill would retain a 35-year-old exemption under the Clean Water Act of 1972 for "normal operational" discharges from recreational boats, such as deck run-off from rain or engine cooling water.
The EPA has been required to develop the permit program as a result of a lawsuit originally intended to prevent the spread of invasive species from abroad by targeting ocean-going commercial vessels carrying ballast water. The proposed Clean Boating Act of 2008 does not weaken any existing environmental laws that restrict the overboard discharge of oil, fuel, garbage, or sewage.
BoatU.S. is the nation's leading advocate for recreational boaters with over 650,000 members. BoatU.S. Vice President of Government Affairs Margaret Podlich advises that," With only nine weeks left in the Congressional session before September, we are facing a tight timeline. Everyone who enjoys boating needs to ask their legislators for their support when it comes to a floor vote. We need constituents to speak up now - even if they have done so in the past year." To easily contact your federal legislators or learn more about the issue, go to www.BoatBlue.org or www.BoatUS.com
Managing and Conserving Our Wildlife and Natural Resources
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
