South SJRWMD RAC Meeting June 16

[N. Cook]

The ST. Johns River WMD south Recreation meeting will be at the Indian River County Commission Chambers, 1840 25th St., Vero Beach....772-567-8000, on JUne 16 at 3 pm.

Among the normal agenda is: Management of Off Road vehicles and Off Road vehicle problems at Bull Creek WMA.

The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 20, so if any one has questions or comments on SJRWMD activities effecting duck hunting this is the meeting to raise them in time.

[duckmanJR]

I will be there...I am also going on the tour at Ft Drum. :)

[Keith Yates]

Joe I plan on doing the tour as well. See you there.

Please let me make some statements on the Bull Creek WMA ORV issues.

#1 The ORV problems all began when FWC added hogs as legal to harvest during the small game season. ORV's are not restricted to named and numbered roads during the small game season. Didn't take long for the buggie folks to figure out they could come to BCWMA and run their buggies through and around every grass pond in the BCWMA to push the hogs out so they can shoot them from their buggies. These buggies have run **** near everything in the BCWMA over more than once the past 2 seasons. This is going to take away a tradition from the folks who tread litely while offroad. I have used my atv and buggies to access out of reach places to harvest ducks/snipe and quail. If this rule change goes through it will greatly impact users of this WMA. Whatever ORV changes are made to BCWMA will also be changed on Three Lakes WMA. In plain english this sucks. It is going to cut off about half of my woodie holes. We were starting to see mottles as well and some buffle heads.

[N. Cook]

Keith, the rowdy crowd does ruin it for all....obviously the situation at Bull Creek was turning into a Corbett disaster....I support the off road folks up to the point of ACCESS. I do not support the complete freedom to roam and track up every inch of property. I would suggest fighting for ample "named and numbered" trails that would allow access to the different sections. I can see UW-F supporting access trails to duck hunting sites. I realize once a trail is designated the traffic will grow....but better than no access at all. Please let us know if we can help you.

[Quackers]

I will try and adjust my schedule to be in Vero that day. Should be able to finish up by 3pm for the meeting.

[N. Cook]

Thanks to those who attended the meeting....enjoyed opportunity to visit. This meeting was more on ATV problems at Bull Creek and we were able to renew our support for the efforts of the FRIENDS OF BULL CREEK who do great work there.