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Connecticut Wildlife Mar/Apr 2007 March/April 2007 PUBLISHED BY THE CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BUREAU OF NATURAL RESOURCES ● WILDLIFE DIVISION March/April 2007 Connecticut Wildlife Volume 27, Number 2 ● March / April 2007 From ���������� � ������� the Director �Published bimonthly by State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection The Wildlife Division’s Deer Program www.ct.gov/dep Gina McCarthy ................................................................... Commissioner reports that the 2006 deer harvest was Edward C. Parker ............................. Chief, Bureau of Natural Resources about 10% lower than 2005 due to a Wildlife Division variety of factors. This certainly was 79 Elm Street, Hartford, CT 06106-5127 (860-424-3011) the case in the May household where, Dale May ..................................................................................... Director Greg Chasko ................................................................ Assistant Director for the first time in a long time, the venison supply may not hold Mark Clavette ..................................................... Recreation Management out until next fall. For a family that prides itself on growing, Laurie Fortin ...............................................................Wildlife Technician Elaine Hinsch ...............................................................Program Specialist catching, or hunting as much of its sustenance as possible, the Brenda Marquez ........................................................................ Secretary half-full freezer is unsettling. Shana Scribner ................................................................. Office Assistant Chris Vann .................................................Technical Assistance Biologist It’s not an issue of economics. The supermarket offers a dazzling Kenneth Metzler .................................................... Natural History Survey Dawn McKay ........................................................ Natural History Survey variety of foods and smart shoppers can realize some real Nancy Murray ....................................................... Natural History Survey values there. However, I am preoccupied with where our food Karen Zyko ........................................................... Natural History Survey Eastern District Area Headquarters comes from; how it was grown and handled. Perhaps this is due 209 Hebron Road, Marlborough, CT 06447 (860-295-9523) to my farming heritage, but I suspect there are other reasons Robin Blum ............................. Habitat Management Program Technician Ann Kilpatrick ................................................. Eastern District Biologist that run much deeper. At the root of it is a subconscious desire Carrie Pomfrey ........................ Habitat Management Program Technician Paul Rothbart ............................................. District Supervising Biologist to be as self-sufficient as possible by living in balance with Jane Seymour ......................................................... Belding WMA Steward the local environment. When I take a deer, or grow a peach for Judy Wilson ........................................... Private Lands Habitat Biologist Franklin W.M.A. that matter, I’m with my food from field to table. I know the 391 Route 32, N. Franklin, CT 06254 (860-642-7239) land it comes from. We share the same ground. On the other Paul Capotosto ......................................... Wetlands Restoration Biologist Michael Gregonis .................................... Deer/Turkey Program Biologist hand, when I buy a pineapple at the market, I’ll admit I’m little Min Huang ......................................... Migratory Bird Program Biologist disoriented, if only for a moment. Howard Kilpatrick .................................. Deer/Turkey Program Biologist Kelly Kubik .......................................Migratory Bird Program Technician Andy LaBonte ................................................... Deer Program Technician My grandparents were farmers, and when I was young they told Heather Overturf ............................................................... Office Assistant me that they were not much affected by the Great Depression. Winnie Reid ............................................................................... Secretary Julie Victoria .................................. Wildlife Diversity Program Biologist While they certainly weren’t prosperous, the fields, woods, and Roger Wolfe ..................................... Mosquito Management Coordinator streams sustained them like they always had, despite the woes Sessions Woods W.M.A. P.O. Box 1550, Burlington, CT 06013 (860-675-8130) of the financial markets. They took care of the land and the land Trish Cernik .............................................................................. Secretary took care of them. Fewer and fewer of us can say that anymore. Jenny Dickson ................................ Wildlife Diversity Program Biologist Peter Good ................................................ Supervising Wildlife Biologist Our ecological footprints may have grown to unsustainable Jason Hawley ............................................Furbearer Program Technician levels, but how will we know it if everything we eat and wear Shannon Kearney-McGee .............Wildlife Diversity Program Technician Christina Kocer .............................Wildlife Diversity Program Technician comes from somewhere else? Geoffrey Krukar ............................Wildlife Diversity Program Technician Dave Kubas ................................................ CE/FS Program Coordinator So back to our family freezer. We will still have venison this year, Peter Picone .................................................... Western District Biologist Kate Moran ...................................Wildlife Diversity Program Technician just fewer meals than in the past. Perhaps we will cherish it even Paul Rego .................................................. Furbearer Program Biologist James Koert Riley ...........................................Field Assistant/Maintainer more. Hopefully we will enjoy a wild turkey this spring, along Laura Rogers-Castro ................................. Education/Outreach Program with a fish fry or two and a garden full of fresh green beans and Laura Saucier ................................Wildlife Diversity Program Technician Jim Warner .........................................................................Field Assistant sun-ripened tomatoes. These home grown delicacies are not the Connecticut Wildlife only foods that we will consume during the course of the year, Kathy Herz ..................................................................................... Editor but they are the most spiritual, connecting us with the land we Paul Fusco ............................................... Media Designer/Photographer Wetlands Habitat & Mosquito Management Crew live on. 51 Mill Road, Madison, CT 06443 Steven Rosa .................................................. Mosquito Control Specialist Dale W. May Daniel Shaw ................................................. Mosquito Control Specialist The Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Program was initiated by sports- men and conservationists to provide states with funding for wildlife man- agement and research programs, habitat acquisition, wildlife management Cover: area development, and hunter education programs. Connecticut Wildlife contains articles reporting on Wildlife Division projects funded entirely or One of the first frogs to heard in the spring is the wood frog. The in part with federal aid monies. The Department of Environmental Protection is an affirmative action/equal male’s song sounds like a quacking duck. To learn more about the opportunity employer, providing programs and services in a fair and impar- first amphibians to come out in spring, see page 6. tial manner. In conformance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, DEP makes every effort to provide equally effective services for persons with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities need auxiliary aids or services, or Photo courtesy of Paul J. Fusco for more information by voice or TTY/TDD, call 860-424-3000. The Wildlife Division grants permission to reprint text, not artwork, provided the DEP Wildlife Division is credited. Artwork printed in this publication is copyrighted by the CT DEP Wildlife Division. Any unauthorized use of this artwork is prohibited. Please contact 2 Connecticut Wildlife the editor at the Sessions Woods office to obtain permission forMarch/April reprinting articles. 2007 We Asked -- Connecticut Wildlife Readers Responded! A random 500 subscribers to Con- plaints or dislikes about the magazine. A as well as ideas for topics to cover in necticut Wildlife magazine were recently common complaint was that the maga- future issues. You should be seeing some sent a reader survey to help the magazine zine was too short and not published of- of these changes in the near future. staff assess what our readers expect from ten enough. There were several requests One important item we noted from the magazine and what kind of informa- to increase the number of pages and arti- the survey results is that the DEP Wild- tion they want. An amazing 364 respons- cles and change the publication schedule life Division needs to do a better job of es to the survey were received, providing to monthly instead of bimonthly. diversifying the magazine’s
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