DWR open houses

[Amy]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-06-11 AT 10:58AM (MST)[p]Over the next couple of months, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will be holding open houses in areas across the state. The purpose of these open houses is to listen to our customers' concerns about Utah's mule deer herds and to discuss efforts that are underway to help improve herd numbers.

We held the first of these meetings in Price in the middle of February (read about it on the [a href="http://wildlife.utah.gov/blog/2011/visiting-with-our-customers-about-deer/"]DWR blog[/a]), and the next meeting will be in Cedar City this Thursday night. Here are the details:

Cedar City Mule Deer Open House
DWR Southern Region Office
Thursday, March 10
5-7 p.m.
1470 North Airport Road
Cedar City

These meetings will be your chance to talk one-on-one with biologists and law enforcement officers, and to share your concerns and suggestions with the DWR.

If you can't make it to this meeting, there will be others. Right now, the following additional dates and locations have been scheduled:

March 15 - Vernal, location TBD, 6-8 p.m.
March 16 - Panguitch, location TBD, 5-7 p.m.
March 25 - Richfield, in association with Sevier Valley Expo, 5-7 p.m.
April 5 - Fillmore, location TBD, 5-7 p.m.

Our northern and central region offices are still finalizing dates and locations for their open houses. As soon as I have more information, I'll post it here.

Amy Canning
Communications Specialist
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

 

[goofyelk]

Amy, THANKS.
Glad to see ya here on MM too.
And, what are you doing working on a Sunday????

 

[hangfire]

Thanks for taking the time to post up the info.

 

[stillhunterman]

Thanks Amy, you do an awesome job, as always!

She is a very committed individual goofy! ;-)

 

[Amy]

>And, what are you doing working
>on a Sunday????

I actually meant to post earlier this weekend and got a bit sidetracked. ;-) But since my message this morning, I've received some additional information:

The Vernal open house (March 15, 6?8 p.m.) will be held in a conference room in the Bingham Entrepreneur Energy Research Center (BEERC) building on the USU regional campus.

 

[LOWCOUNTRY]

Thanks for the info I would not have known had it not got posted here.

 

[woodruffhunter]

I must admit that I am impressed that you make an effort to get the word out about this open house. Will all the critisism the DWR takes, its nice to see you making this effort.

 

[Amy]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-09-11 AT 12:22PM (MST)[p]> Will all the critisism
>the DWR takes, its nice
>to see you making this
>effort.

Thanks, woodruffhunter. We realized (particularly during last fall's RAC and Wildlife Board meetings) that we need to do a better job of communicating with our customers and listening to their concerns.

I've received a few updates on open house locations, so here's the latest list:
[ul]
[li]March 10 (tomorrow night) - Cedar City, DWR office on 1470 North Airport Road, 5-7 p.m.[/li]
[li]March 15 - Vernal, BEERC building on the USU regional campus, 6-8 p.m.[/li]
[li]March 16 - Panguitch, Triple C Arena, 5-8 p.m.[/li]
[li]March 25 - Richfield, Sevier Valley Center (in association with Sevier Valley Expo), 5-7 p.m.[/li]
[li]April 5 - Fillmore, Millard County Public Safety Building at 765 South Highway 99, 5-7 p.m.[/li]
[li]April 21 (tentative date) - St. George, location and time TBD[/li]
[/ul]

Please feel free to stop by at one of the upcoming meetings and share your thoughts!

 

[eyeguard]

Hi Amy,

Not to rain on your parade...but the DWR has needed to do a better job of communicating and listening to Utah's Sportsmen for a VERY LONG time!

For starters, everyone knows the RACS are just for show. While the issues get presented, everyone knows the counsels/committees/boards already have their minds made up (and it's usually exactly the opposite of what the majority voices... and unfortunately the wrong thing to do every time!!!). Sure they'll listen to everyone get their 2 minutes of lip time even into the wee hours of the night... but if enough sportsmen and women are willing to put in that kind of time... shouldn't the DWR not only listen, but then oblige and comply with the requests of the MAJORITY?

Why even hold the RACs when the DWR is just going to do what SFW tells them to anyway? Can they not speak and make decisions for themselves? SFW doesn't represent the MAJORITY of Utah's residents/sportsmen and women. The DWR shouldn't cave to their agenda(s) just because of the fat $$$ contributions SFW gives them. If SFW was actually honest and genuinely concerned about the welfare of the state's herds, they would give the money to the DWR regardless, and let them use it to their discretion... again, not to cater to any one specific organization's agenda!

I don't mean to come down on you personally. It's apparent you take your job seriously, and I'm appreciative of this. I just know that from all the people I've talked to (common every day joes like myself), my sentiments aren't unique to Utah's public. If you were to survey the Utah members of this site, you would probably get the same reaction from most of them I'm voicing here.

I really hope the DWR will actually not only start to listen, but do what Utah's sportsmen and women expect in order to benefit the welfare of this state's wildlife. Too often it seems that they let us all rant and rave... and they feel like that is sufficient (humoring all of us), and then turnaround and do something completely different (ignoring our concerns and suggestions). Until that stops happening (along with the other I've previously mentioned), it'll be hard for me to have much faith in the DWR and its personnel.

Thanks for letting me vent. Just my $.02

EG (aka Noel Slater)

"A man can be hard to find in the mountains, but you're welcome at my fire anytime."

 

[stillhunterman]

I can empathize with your frustrations eyegard, but they are a bit misdirected. Sure the DWR can do some things better and they recognize that and are attempting to do so. As far as the way the big game herds are managed the DWR is mandated by legislative law and the Wildlife Board to accomplish their directives-and therein lies the rub.

The WB has NO checks or balances and pretty much does as it sees fit, even if there is NO biological reasoning behind their decisions. Is the WB open to outside influence from special interest groups? Absolutely! Until this process is revamped for the good of Utah's wildlife and hunters, it will continue down the same path, and that is NOT good.

Blaming the DWR for issues created outside of their control is not going to help. Blaming the "right" people and following it up with a LOUD and CLEAR voice will. The blue collar hunters of Utah can band together and get things changed, it just takes losing the apathy that is so prevalent...

I suggest you check out www.unitedwildlifecooperative.org for a breath of fresh air and a chance to voice your frustrations.

 

[Amy]

>I really hope the DWR will
>actually not only start to
>listen, but do what Utah's
>sportsmen and women expect in
>order to benefit the welfare
>of this state's wildlife.

Thanks, Noel. I can tell from your post that you truly care about Utah's wildlife and how it's managed. And I agree with you that the effort to improve our communication with Utah's sportsmen and women is definitely overdue. These open houses are just the first of many steps we'll be taking in the upcoming months to better address our customers' concerns.

You've touched on a couple of issues I'd like to expand on because I think there are some misconceptions about Utah's public process and how wildlife policies are set:
[ul]
[li]The RACs. The five regional advisory councils (RACs) ? like their name implies ? serve in an advisory capacity to the Utah Wildlife Board. RAC members represent a variety of interests (sportsmen, agriculture, other government agencies, wildlife enthusiasts, etc.). Their role is to listen to biologists' proposals, obtain feedback/input from the public and then make recommendations to the Wildlife Board.[/li]

You can listen to the audio of any RAC meeting (or review the meeting minutes) by visiting [a href="http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/rac-minutes.html"]wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/rac-minutes.html[/a].

[li]The DWR. The DWR also makes recommendations to the Wildlife Board. The DWR does not, however, set wildlife policies and rules for the state of Utah. From page 3 of the 2011 Big Game Application Guidebook:[/li]

Who makes the rules?
The Utah Wildlife Board passes the rules and laws summarized in this guidebook.
There are seven board members, and each serves a six-year term. Appointed by the governor, board members are not Division employees.
The Division?s director serves as the board?s executive secretary but does not have a vote on wildlife policies.
Before board members make changes to wildlife rules, they listen to recommendations from Division biologists. They also receive input from the public and various interest groups via the regional advisory council (RAC) process.
If you have feedback or suggestions for board members, you can find their contact information online at wildlife.utah.gov.

The DWR has partnerships with numerous government agencies (at federal, state and local levels), sportsmen and angler organizations, conservation groups, businesses, private landowners and many others. If any of these partners want to weigh in on the DWR's recommendations to the Board, we encourage them to do so through the RAC process.

[li]The Wildlife Board. As mentioned above, the Wildlife Board listens to input from the public, the RACs and the DWR's biologists before deciding on wildlife policies. The role of the Board is defined in Utah State Code 23-14-3 (see http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE23/htm/23_14_000300.htm). You can find audio recordings and written minutes of all Wildlife Board meetings on the DWR website at http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/board-minutes.html.


This post ended up being much longer than I intended, but I hope it sheds some light on the wildlife policy-making process. (You can find more information at http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/hunting/board-rac/363-rac-involvement.html.)

If you can, please try to make it to one of the open houses. I think you'll see that we're sincere in our efforts to listen to sportsmen and to help Utah's deer herds.

 

[brutus]

I just attended the open house in cedar and it was better than racs for actually discussing one on one with division employees. It was better than expected and am glad they did it. I think that this time the wildlife board got it right when they went for the micro units cause 3 out of 5 voted for it so thats the way they went. After talking with some of the people at the meeting tonight it seems as though they are kinda looking forward to smaller units cause it will give them more intiment details about those problems facing those units.

I'm glad they are at least trying and I have a better understanding of what they do and I think they were a little more comfortable talking there than at the racs were they are pretty much defensive.

 

[eyeguard]

Hi Amy,

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back on the site. I appreciate you setting me straight, and doing so civilly without taking it personal, or getting defensive. I guess I should've just directed my remarks straight at the Wildlife Board then. I live in Northern Utah, any idea when the open houses will be for up here (or did I miss them already)?

Noel

"A man can be hard to find in the mountains, but you're welcome at my fire anytime."

 

[Hooner]

I was able to attend the open house in Cedar last night. I was nervous that the meeting would not be worth my time. I was very pleased with the meeting. I think that the DWR did a fantastic job of presenting information to the public. I was able to spend ample amount of time with the biologist of the majority of the units in S. Utah. They were awesome to answer my questions and listen to my ideas. I think that Jason did a great job and I appreciate him answering my questiosn and listening to my ideas.
Amy please be sure to tell everyone that helped with the meeting thanks. I know that of the group of people that I went with every one was very happy with the way it went. I know that i don't always see eye to eye with the DWR but I appreciate the renewed effort so far in 2011. Thanks again.

 

[goofyelk]

Outstanding post Amy!

This is the kind of information that need to be brought
to the attention of every sportsman in Utah...

I've witnessed the DWR taking hits for issues out of
their control for far too many years..

 

[Amy]

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to attend and for posting your thoughts about the evening. I'm glad you felt it was worthwhile! I'll be sure to forward your feedback to our Cedar City office.

And to answer your question, Noel: dates and locations are still being finalized for the open houses in northern and central Utah. As soon as I have the specifics, I'll post them here and make sure they get added to the DWR Facebook page. (It's at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Utah-Division-of-Wildlife-Resources/136959382981749)