Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

Is it possible that you and I stand here today as an accomplice in one of the greatest crimes ever perpetrated against our natural resources? Are conservation agencies in America today failing to come to the rescue of an endangered specie called the American hunter? If wildlife conservation organizations in the United States were to learn today that an epidemic of hoof and mouth disease was spreading through out wildlife population, we would immediately sound the alarm. We would work day and night to control the epidemic, and if the situation were to become serious enough, we would call in all who would help to join in our fight to protect our wildlife. We would warn that a cancerous plague was destroying our wildlife and that one of our major recreational activities was in danger. In short, we would press the panic button because we would be facing all the symptoms of a disease which could totally destroy hunting in America.

Those of us who live and work in the southeastern part of the United States, who love nature and the great out-of-doors, are the most fortunate people in the world. Within the area that makes up this association may be found the most infinite variety of out-door recreation. There are rugged mountains with cold swift, tumbling rivers and streams gentle rolling land with quiet valleys and slow meandering streams, and flat, level lands with swamps and marshes. Natural and man-made lakes in addition to the free-flowing rivers make this area unique for water-oriented activitv. We can hunt for deer, bear, b~ar, turkey, grouse and numerous small game species. We can fish for trout, muskellunge, walleyed pike and a great variety of warm water species native to each region. We can swim, ski and enjoy boating on some of the cleanest, most beautiful lakes to be found.

Man has kept wild animals in captivity for thousands of years. He did it by necessity in the beginning to help in the hunt or, when the growl of an empty stomach outweighed the animal's advantage of hunting prowess, to place in the pot. "Civilized man," usually with a full stomach and leisure time, gradually developed a view of the animal kingdom from a perspective other than skewered over an open fire. He became fascinated by the unusual, awed by the brute strength, and amazed at the diversity of the world's fauna. These shifts in man's attitude toward wildlife, as well as the old world collections of scientific menageries, spawned an increasing interest in zoological parks. This familiarity with unusual animals from all over the world has helped generate todays booming pet trade - a worldwide commerce in exotic animals. Men still exhibit animals for show and profit, but affluent man also likes to own exotic fish, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

"What he don't know won't hurt him." How often we hear that quote, yet how ridiculously false it is. It is the lack of knowledge or the misuse of the knowledge one possesses which produces undesirable results. Those charged with the responsibility of planning law enforcement training programs should ask themselves two questions: 1. What is training? 2. What is the objective of law enforcement officer training? To train is to form by instruction, discipline or drill or to teach so as to make fitted, qualified or proficient. The objective of the law enforcement training program is to make the officer prepared to skillfully perform the duties of his office and instill in him such confidence in his equals, superiors, subordinates and himself that he approaches his assignment with determination and enthusiasm.

I would like to point out the advantages of the military type of organization whcre utilizcd in Wildlifc Law Enforcement Agencies, and even as Ido so, would like to stress the importance of such agencies in allowing their agents, conservation officers, rangers or whatever title is given the "old gamc warden" in your respective states; a certain latitude, independence of action, and freedom from top levcl, official direction and command as far as practicable. We must realize, and keep in the forefront of our minds, that the working wildlife agent, the enforcement officer in the field, is our primary contact with the sportsman, hunter, fisherman, man who pays the bills, there in the field. The Wildlife Agent is in effect our Public Relations man for the department. He answers more inquiries about our activities, seasons, reasons for doing, than any other person or persons in the department.

Webster defines "reorganization" as: 1. an act of reorganizing or state of being reorganized. 2. the reconstruction of a business firm. The definition of the word barely takes up three lines of space in the half column of a dictionary page. but there is one helluva lot of difference between definition and deed. It had been almost thirty years since the last reorganization of the natural resources agencies in Maryland. At that time there was one agency, the Maryland Conservation Department. In 1939, the reorganization divided the conservation department into five separate departments, and formed a Board of Natual Resources with each new department being a member of the board. Each of the departments was responsible for assigned segments of natural resources management. The five departments were: Forests and Parks; Tidewater Fisheries; the Game and Inland Fish Commission; Geology and Mines. and Research and Education.

The late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover said, "Conservation law enforcement is probably the most hazardous type of law enforcement in the United States today." Probably no other law enforcement agency sends its men into the field with so little formal training as do state conservation agencies. For instance, most of the 14 Southeastern states do not require education above the high school level for conservation officers and these states do not have any basic requirements of training in conservation oriented fields or law enforcement. Top state conservation officials are aware of the problem. Ever since conservation law enforcement became an important factor in our society, authorities have pointed up the need for better training of its enforcement officials. Even with this limitation, conservation law enforcement generally attracts a higher caliber person than do most other enforcement agencies.

Gentlemen, I am pleased to have been invited by Chief Tucker Brown to address this group of professionals who comprise an important part of the state game and fish agencies of the several southeastern states. Since I choose to present this paper subjectively, rather than in the traditional form of the scientific paper, perhaps I should offer some credentials At present, I am a university professor of biology. Most of my time is spcnt supervising graduate studics relating to fisheries and game biology. I have also earned my living as a research game biologist and as a research fishery biologist in different southern states, and have had game and fish law enforcement duties. An important part of my formal education in wildlife conservation was received at a mid'western university. My chief interest has been and continues to be the preservation of public hunting and fishing, in part for the selfish reason that hunting and fishing has been a way of life for me for over 45 years.

By breaking up and assembling enforcement information into useful relationships. we can examine its contents and make logical conclusions. To do this, we need assistance because the human brain is very limited in its capacity to breakup. sort and assemble large amounts of information. The human mind is also influenced by personal opinions and is inclined to become confused by unrelated side issues. Therefore. we need a device to assist us which does not have these human faults. That device is the computer. The computer meets this criteria because it can quickly break-up and store vast amounts of information. It is not capable of thinking, therefore, it is not capable of becoming confused. It is an electronic and mechanical device which will only do what it is told to do. Because of this, it is the ideal tool to use in analyzing information; and when properly used, more beneficial to the enforcement chief than a Jeep full of Game Wardens.

Like many other activities carried out by State fish and game departments, hunter safety programs began to expand and became a significant activity only after World War II. The late 1940's and early '50's saw substantial increases in numbers of hunters, hunter participation, and overall expansion of State fish and game department programs and budgets. Several States got into hunter safety training in those early years, others are just now beginning. Lack of adequate funding has always been, and likely always will be, a major problem in fish and game management. This problem has been met in part, at least, by passage of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act in 1937 and the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act in 1950. These laws ear-marked existing excise tax revenues for allocation to the States, to fund fish and wildlife management programs on a cost sharing basis.

The Conservation Enforcement Officer is today faced with a challenge that all law enforcement officers face. This is the growing trend of disrespect and disregard for our laws, law officers and the rights of others. This is a trend that we have seen developing in this country, particularly over the past decade. We have seen several of our major cities torn by violence. Our college campuses have become a place for many of our young people to demonstrate and make demands, and when these demands are not met, these same young people go on burning, pillaging and looting sprees. We have seen sniping, ambush and outright murder of enforcement officers and other officials. In Alabama approximately nine percent of our Conservation Officers have been shot. Several more officers have been shot at, but luckily were not hit. Our courts seemingly are giving all rights to the criminal and taking away the rights of his victim and the law officer.

Historically, the Michigan conservation officer has worked as the situation dictated- a concept of total job responsibility- i.e., he worked 7 days a week if necessary, or as many hours daily as required, to fulfill the sundry functions of responsibility in his assigned work zone. I can recall when I started with the Department in 1941 that officers were required to work seven days a week. There was a job to do and we worked as the job demanded. In 1946, the work week was modified to five days, but with no hour limitation per day, and days worked in excess of five entitled the officer to compensatory days off. Many of the officers, nonetheless, continued to work extra days as necessary to do the job. On July 1, 1966, twenty years later. due mainly to union but also employee association pressure. a Civil Service overtime directive mandated compansation to the officers at time and one-half for hours worked in excess of 80 hours per bi-weekly pay period.

Gentlemen: Certainly, most of you are aware that the State of Mississip'pi is one of the few states that has created a separate state agency charged with the sole function of Boat and Water Safety Administration, I am sure that many of you are expecting me to have some dramatic spill as to the advantages of this individuality, I don't intend to dwell on that. I address my remarks about our organization, its operations, effectiveness, cost, and impact on the boating public, In so doing I will talk about both advantages and disadvantages of administering water safety. You must draw your own conclusions as to whether it should be administered by a department of Conservation or not. First let's look at boating law enforcement Should the law be enforced by conservation officers?

The use of undercover investigators is not a new concept in the field of wildlife law enforcement, however, the concept of full-time undercover investigators (as used in Florida) may be an innovation to further enhance the effectiveness of our chosen profession. Full police powers by wildlife officers is also not an entirely new concept in wildlife law enforcement. It is interesting to note, however, that, at this time only twelve (12) of the fifty-one (51) states have taken the necessary legislative action to give their wildlife officers full police power status. Within the last two (2) years, the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Water Fish Commission has initiated a program utilizing full-time undercover investigators, and has also acquired full police powers for its wildlife officers. Today, I will attempt to relate our experiences in the two aforementioned innovative concepts of a progressive wildlife enforcement program.

The impact of television as a mass media has been a powerful force in this country. Probably no other media has had such a powerful effect in such a short existence. In the wildlife public relations business, we are constantly looking for media which will present our programs in a sharp, specialized and pinpointed approach to an audience. Nowhere is this more applicable than in television. What other medium has such a widespread captive audience. Ninety-six out of every 100 American homes has one or more television sets. Surveys have shown that the average home will have their tv's turned on over six hours each day. Americans are so attuned to this media that by the time they reach age 21,30,000 hours have been logged in front of the television screens. The use of television for the promotion of wildlife conservation and hunting and fishing is relatively new. The first hunting and fishing series was produced only about 20 years ago.

When Larry Richardson asked me to present a paper at this conference, he gave me a general idea of what he wanted me to expound on. In essence, it was days of converting the findings and writings of our wildlife biologists to laymens language for public consumption in our news releases, magazines and through out radio and TV boradcasts. Today's public is better educated and hep to modern technology than we in the business of Information are prone to give them credit. However, I think just good common sense applies if we are to do a good job of conveying our conservation story in an understandable fashion. Now, I'm more closely allied with the listening and viewing audience than with the reader since my speciality is radio and TV, although I've been known to write an article on occasion. So, with that in mind, my concentration will be centered more toward the radio and TV audience.

Twenty years or so ago, I & E sections of most state fish and wildlife agencies did little more than issue an occasional news release and publish a hunting and fishing magazine. The news releases, for the most part, were announcements of hunting seasons or changes in fishing regulations and although sports editors, in Kentucky, gave them good play, they were seldom considered real "news." The magazines were generally black and white publications with a newspapertype format. The stories they carried were primarily how, when or where to hunt or fish and the illustrations were usually photographs of people holding big (or not so big!) fish or of groups of people who had done or were about to do something that had to do with hunting or fishing. Sportsmen club news covered many a page in thc early puhlications and we made it a point to use lots of names and pictures of cluh memhers.

Over the past few years, the phrase "enclangered species" has gained tremendous usage III the nati6nal media. It is a popular phrase with a multitude of interest groups: certain preservationists use it in attributing wildlife decreases to hunters; and at least one national gun sport organization claims that hunters are the endangered species; and some universal thinkers stoutly maintain that Man himself is now number one on the endangered list. If I may borrow on the drama of current jargon, I would like to submit that in Information and Education work, we face yet another "endangered species": the disappearing audience. In the division of public relations in Kentucky's Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources we sense that there have been some significant decreases in at least a few of our outdoor-related audiences; correspondingly we have indications that other audiences have grown-and some at a swift rate. How do these perceived changes effect our information work?

In my opinion, the best communications device for informing the public of particularly important messages is through the use of television PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS, also referred to as "spots" or simply "P.S.A.'s". The old cliche, "a picture is worth a thousand words," comes into play and with T.V. spots you have both - picture and words. I realize that there is no substitute for newspaper news releases. P.S.A.'s cannot be produced and distributed in a day as news releases can. However, if the correct approach is taken, television can more than supplement the newspapers as a strong communications tool. I believe T.V. spots should pertain to general subjects such as conservation, hunting and fishing information (naturally, geared to help sell licenses) or to controversial issues. A good example of the latter is the spot we produced when our $4.25 game management permit fee was initiated.

Motivation is not a new word in the English language, but only in the past decade or so has it come into common usage. This recent usage probably came about by psychologists, school teachers, and parents who wonder whether their offspring will be sufficiently motivated to make a success of their lives. My dictionary defines "motivate" as "to provide with a motive; to impel; to incite." Motivation is a noun form of the transitive verb "motivate." So, we want to motivate people, perhaps impel them. It is doubtful that we should incite them except in extreme emergencies. The word "incite" has been too often associated with riots or other civil disturbances. The latter connotation may better be dropped at this point. If we are going to motivate people, or attempt to motivate people, it might be well to first decide what we want people to do. Well, what do we want them to do?

It is indeed an honor and a pleasure to deliver the president's message of this Silver Anniversary meeting of the Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners, the best regional association in the United States! Will those who attended the first meeting please stand to be recognized. I have been privileged to be associated with the Southeastern since 1947, having been hired as a game biologist in Kentucky shortly after the Association's first conference. Those who attended that meeting in Florida were still talking about it years later. The second meeting was held in Lexington, Kentucky, and it featured notable performances by such young biologists as Earle Frye. Since those early years, the Southeastern Association and its annual conference have grown steadily and achieved national recognition. Throughout its history, the Southeast has been blessed with truly outstanding leaders who pointed the way not only for the region but for the entire nation.

President Gale, Chairman Eltzroth, distinguished program members, ladies and gentlemen. It is with great pleasure that I welcome each of you to South Carolina. I am also pleased that the Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners chose the City of Charleston for its 1971 Conference. My only hope is that you will not hurry home immediately following the close of your meetings, but will stay with us for the remainder of the week and enjoy the many recreational opportunities that South Carolina has to offer. The decade of the 1970's has been referred to by many as being the period in our country's history that will see the greatest amount of change in the utilization of our resources. This change is coming about because we are beginning to realize that resources no longer are restricted to what we extract from the ground, grow in the soil, or cut from our forests, but these resources in reality make up the very environment in which we live.

I appreciate the opportunity to meet with the Southeastern Association at this conference marking a quarter of a century of effective environmental efforts. Little did that small group who met 25 years ago foresee that this Association would grow into the strong viable organization it is today-respected as the vanguard association of its kind. Congratulations on your silver anniversary! You fish and game people are the front line troops in the conservation and environmental struggle. I can honestly say that in surveying the entire conservation picture, I don't know of any group that has fought for more causes, taken more abuse, or worked any harder than you have and you can well be proud of your record. The one thing you cannot do, however, is to rest on it. You must continue to carry the burden because, frankly, many of the agencies that should be doing the job are not.

Being associated with MARINE RESOURCES in the State of South Carolina, I am here this morning to put a little salt in your program. Perhaps the first thing that I need to do is give a general definition of an estuary and the coastal zone area. Many versions of an estuary have b€en published but the one given by Pritchard (1967) appeals to me, "An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water which has a free connection with the open sea and within which sea water is measurably diluted with fresh water derived from land drainage." The Coastal Zone has been defined as "a strip of geography where the land meets the ocean." It has also been defined by land-oriented individuals as "the location where the people meet the ocean." In any case, "it is where the action is." It is where extremists of the economic development movement meet extremists of the preservationist movement and get involved in a fight that I hope neither side wins.