NWTF holds its Deep East Texas Chapter banquet
By PATTY LENDERMAN Lakecaster Managing Editor

The National Wildlife Turkey Foundation isn't just a big, faceless national organization that is only about turkeys. The scope covers every age group and gender, from hunting to conservation, to improving habitat and more. It is about every aspect of the outdoors, enjoying it, learning about it, and most importantly passing on the heritage of it. The NWTF has several branch programs with broad scopes of topics, education, and projects. Some of the programs offered include:

JAKES (age 12 and under) - Juniors Aquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship. This educational program was designed for kids who like hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, or just being outside with their family. Several special events are put together each year for this group.

Xtreme JAKES (ages 13 to 17) - This group is the older version of the original JAKES program, with more advanced programs.

Women in the Outdoors (WITO)- This program is about learning new skills, meeting new people and spending time with family and friends. Instructors teach this group about camping, hiking, fishing, kayaking, shooting, boating, bird watching and so much more.

Outdoors photo/Patty Lenderman NWTF RIFLES, pictured above, as part of Saturday's auction. Pictured right,Paul Ferrel, NWTF Regional Director, addresses the gathering.

Wheelin' Sportsmen - The NWTF provides people with disabilities the opportunity to participate in outdoor activities. Local chapter events nationwide include hunting, fishing, and shooting activities.

When the NWTF was founded in 1973, there were only 1.3 million wild turkeys throughout North America. Since then, the number of wild turkeys has increased to more than 7 million birds thanks to state, federal and provincial wildlife agencies, the NWTF, its members and partners.

The NWTF, headquartered in Edgefield, S.C., is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation and education organization dedicated to conserving wild turkeys and preserving hunting traditions. Growth and progress define the NWTF as it has expanded from 1,300 members in 1973 to 545,500 today. Visit www.nwtf.org for more information.

With that growth has come impressive strides in wildlife management as the NWTF has forged dynamic partnerships across the country. Together, the NWTF's conservation partners and grassroots members have raised and spent more than $230 million upholding hunting traditions and conserving more than 11.3 million acres of wildlife habitat.

What does all this equate to on a local level? In an unprecedented partnership, the US Forestry, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the NWTF has forged a bond to work together to improve research, knowledge, habitat, and hunting opportunities. Each year the NWTF holds a fund raising banquet in each district to help support these projects. The 1th annual NWTF banquet for the Deep East Texas Chapter was held in Jasper, TX on July 28 at the Event Center. Special guest speakers included Regional Director Paul Ferrel, Texas Parks & Wildlife Biologist Gary Calkins, and President of the Deep East Texas Chapter Cindy Dans. The annual banquet is an opportunity for members to get together, find out what the NWTF has been accomplishing on local, state and federal levels, incorporate new members and raise funds through the auctions and donations.

Where do these funds go? NWTF volunteers work very hard to raise money to support the mission of the NWTF. Rightfully, many wonder where the money they raise at local banquets goes. After expenses and memberships are paid, 56% of the profits of local banquets comes directly back toTexas in the Texas Huting Heritage Super Fund. This account is managed by the Texas Board of Directors and funds projects in Texas including, habitat enhancement, JAKES events, local scholarships, and WITO events, to name a few.

Twenty four percent of banquet proceeds are used to fund national projects. This includes regional habitat programs including Operation Oak and Guzzlers for Gobblers. The national projects account also is used to fund NWTF's research grants. With several ongoing research projects being conducted by Texas universities with funding provided through NWTF's national projects account, and with numerous local chapters in Texas taking advantage of the Regional Habitat Programs offered, NWTF in Texas is ensuring that money raised in Texas is hitting the ground in Texas.

Four percent of banquet proceeds are returned to the local chapter to cover operational expenses and 1% is returned to the Texas State Chapter for operational expenses. When you consider the Super Fund, national projects, and the local and state chapter returns, up to 85% of local banquet proceeds are being spent on projects in Texas.

Fifteen percent of banquet proceeds are used by NWTF for operational expenses.

Some of the projects that have been in motion in East Texas include re-stocking, habitat and reproduction research. The last big Eastern Turkey re-stocking program in East Texas was in 1997, with several smaller re-stockings through 2001. More than 10,000 birds have been released in 40 counties. Gary Calkins reported that officials in Austin turned down more re-stocking requests until there was an official count of birds. The project of determining bird count has been given to SFA students Ryan Bass and Jason Isbel. Their thesis will include deriving a method of count for wild turkeys. This project is funded by the TP&W Turkey stamp. They will also be looking at reproduction, habitat, taking blood samples and analyzing genetics. It is anticipated to be a four year project. The NWTF recently stocked 230 birds, at a cost of $625 per bird in three different locations in Anderson, Nacogdoches and Houston counties. The stocking areas were chosen due to the type of management on the properties, the natural habitat in their areas, and the diversity of each of the areas met the criteria necessary to determine if big turkey populations could be established quickly. The NWTF's biologist Scotty Parsons is overseeing several of the projects that are ongoing, and according to Gary Calkins the partnership between the three entities (US Forestry, TP&W, NWTF) is a great one, and working together they are making great progress.

Habitat improvement and maintenance is the key to sustaining wild turkey habitats on public lands in Texas. During the first six months of 2007 we have been exceptionally successful in achieving this effort on U.S. Forest (USFS) lands. Approximately 125,000 acres have been prescribed burned on National Forests and about 4,600 acres burned on the Caddo National Grasslands. Turkey harvests are up and poult production reports sound favorable. Another milestone was achieved in the announcement of Scotty Parsons as National Wild Turkey Federation Regional Biologist for East Texas. His position is funded through the NWTF State Chapter, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the U.S. Forest Service. His focus is habitat management on public and adjacent private lands; in particular Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) managed Jointly between USFS & TPWD personnel.

Between February and May, Scotty Parsons participated in meetings with USFS and TPWD personnel to gather information, develop strategies and offer suggestions to improve habitat management on these lands. Texas sportsmen depend on these lands for hunting and carrying on the hunting heritage.

Scotty's primary focus on National Forestry Grasslands in Texas has been the Caddo National Grasslands and the Davy Crockett National Forests' Alabama Creek Wildlife Management Areas. In both of these Wildlife Management Areas he is working diligently with District staff in developing options for a new management concept called stewardship contracting; we anticipate this will greatly expand habitat improvement actions on Texas USFS lands.

On the private lands scene, Scotty has already assisted in a number of wildlife cooperative association meetings, conducted one Wild Turkey Woodlands field day and assisted with the continuation of Eastern Wild Turkey Restocking and Research Program. (from the Deep East Texas Chapter of NWTF)

If you would like more information about the NWTF Deep East Texas Chapter, please contact Cindy Dans at 409-382-5752