Duck and Fletcher

it's amazing they're given free agency and the amount or about what they had always impresses me is that a lot of it was like i had time just being verified all of this work was done without a lot of money a patient this was walking to describe say even with today's satellite imagery from overly those maps the ecosystems that we are threatened with robert groves

will rub is does this feel like the biggest disasters he's a nurse these two mr jack leonard survey resulted in two landmark product a man throwing fifteen unique vegetation type and one survey of the gaming fur bearing animals and local nearly seventy

years since their survey a man well regarded by many as the foundation for biological research the vegetation types an animal like that lecture service the baseline which all changes either manmade or environmental and they measured since the early nineteen forties this is the store and fletcher ind and wrestling biologists list are going to care about the workers there wasn't for when it started and it was through the age at that time it was a four year survey so at the time and i was only child for six years so i got to go along with my

folks a lot in so i had a lovely childhood but that part of it was is gone washed and believed it was a wonderful i have all that going on and me being able to observe and see what they were doing well i can remember when all of the guys jabs ledger of who is going to do the survey at least part of the state an atom bomb lord selecting and my dead no rallies and those debates bring pickups and i rewrote the first their members they had metal cages the bat and went on a rattlesnake child has got to go out and watch and that one time he got kind of a coyote and then went and they had a party for a time and the porcupine got out police in my grandparents' backyard that was really the guys chasing down a

job with a cell it was just like we were on was part of a family the guys were so cheerful and half billion dollars that's why they are so thrilling thrilling the primary reason for duncan fletcher survey was due to the recent ecological disaster known as the dust bowl game and fish administrators wanted to find out just how much the state's natural resources have suffered from poor farming practices and record setting drought at the same time the passage of the peyton robertson act plays federal excise taxes on such things as firearms and ammunition giving state fish and wildlife agencies to welcome new revenue stream to bolster funds generated from hunting and fishing licenses the new funding source enabled the game and fish department to embark on a comprehensive search often done for days or even weeks at a time the surveyors meticulously documented oklahoma's floor and falling

using traps of various sizes and design the team's inventory mammals and bird species and the types of habitats were bites trap such as this one designed to capture white tailed deer would not only be used for inventory purposes but what play an important role in the late nineteen forties and through the nineteen sixties for the trapping and redistribution of deer throughout the state the surveyors also trap birds using longer that's the team's captured both the lesser prairie chicken and far northwest oklahoma and the panhandle and the greater prairie chicken found in the osage country but even more important than prairie chickens surveyor spent extensive hours capturing and documenting well populations around the states particularly in areas hardest hit by the dust bowl besides bird and animal inventories the major focus of the

survey was categorizing vegetation communities duck and fletcher describe twelve individual against hikes what might be called an eco region by on our landscape and modern scientific terms that in fletcher's game five's described unique sets of plant communities some examples of the game tied to describe included the post of blackjack forest of central oklahoma the tall grass prairie of north central oklahoma the old pine forests of the southeast or the short grass high plains of the only one reading about in fletcher's a survey of the game and fur bearing animals of oklahoma was made in the year nineteen forty three one owner of a rare original copy of jack leger jr whose father supervised the survey in the eastern half of the state from their home and still well very

well right a very high in his accomplishments you never heard him talk about religion or work with while i forget that one great love that life and now i think that he would have enjoyed there is a clear legal comments in the cockpit in mom had about the events surrounding that and now has close relationships with the band all the great times it's a head that looks together this book is paul a survey of the game and fur bearing animals of oklahoma it was produced by the arm a wildlife conservation under a sport fishing wildlife restoration grant but everybody knows it and has known it for

decades by its authors the conflict this is the conflict should anyone who's familiar with this book i was first introduced to this book as a graduate student and of course they are a combined class gave me a copy of this book he was a great professor recently asked on private known him a thousand ford for me to look at this as i was preparing for my work on the distribution of redd foxx is in oklahoma this is a great baseline of information for the different types of vegetation where i might look for foxes this was old fashioned fieldwork walking in describing who is saying in the field they used a lot of game rangers of time a lot of folks working for the department to try to help them describe their habitat and these pieces composition of the day that was the whole time the script of silence and it still

pulls up today as one of the baseline truth from which we looked at changes that occurred since i am a cop routine book about your virtual slowest instance eastern swath in a wheel that book is very interesting because of descriptions of education jobs over at and the information about the big game animals survive their income for this album almost there is and i don't know how to do that but it's a it's a very interesting story i didn't copy of the book and get our wars along and look good and look at some of the facts that surround here where we live and the years that week you're an all birth of scholars and then never did really talk a lot about the year record you co authored the book although deadly fletcher's book continues to be cited as a reference and ongoing biological research it is not nearly as well known as their colorful

vegetation that on their landmark map back and fletcher identified the same twelve game tied listed in their book plus an additional three vegetation caught the cypress bottoms located in far southeast oklahoma the pockets of whiskey grasslands in western and southwestern oklahoma and the distribution opinion kind of the tip of the pen and how each of the fifteen game types was painstakingly plotted on to the larger state that is perhaps the most remarkable accomplishment of the duck and fletcher service using tools and techniques considered long obsolete by today's standards the map is remarkably accurate when compared with those using the latest and most advanced satellite imagery global positioning systems and computer aided mapping programs using a collection of crude county plans maps countless vegetation clippings dozens of field notebooks filled with scribbled descriptions encompassed ordinance

and natural landmarks such as rivers streams and a few mountains the duck and fletcher game tied map of oklahoma is not only the first of its kind but many still consider it the best and most accurate for showing the potential natural vegetation cover of oklahoma not bad for a document approaching its seventieth birthday i had been out of oklahoma about ten years and i came back into the state and the early nineteen nineties and i had been given a book of matt bartle a bit i was also interested in making sure that my children as well as my nieces nephews had a map and so i called the what i thought was the oklahoma game and fish department which have now changed its name to the oklahoma department of wildlife conservation i called him and they didn't have extreme acts of course and they referred me to the oklahoma biological service was bruce hoeger one and he's the one that told me that the map was still viable and are still being used in the

schools and it wasn't due to budget constraints at all the data dan several surveys but this one was the most comprehensive and they contain the music because it was so partner the lawyer went to work for several years and interest trying to learn more about just how it went down their research and compiling their map and reports those very exciting one day when i had the opportunity to talk to ducks daughter on on the phone and she called the former director of the biological survey and then he put her through to me and very pleasant conversation really remember it fondly soon as describing in particular to me the violin at their home for her father was doing most of the mapping another research and his listeners

can imagine the child to know nervously peering in the door to see just what dad was doing back there i did tara the you know the map was it was still in use and a lot of people or you know in the us or canada isn't actually adding their own copy of the map or the report knowing that it had played a quarter or held a place of significance in oklahoma conservation and she single surprised to learn that you know her her dad's work and endured over all those decades of course my statement are always well you know it's a test of how hard they worked detail they couldn't do that now that you know it still is considered an important resource one one looking airline cover in the state of oklahoma i've just been a nice to find

out that probably i was one of the last year really realize the importance of this despite being gone for that ten years and you have kids and you get busy doing that we don't pay attention to things as much and so as far as i can tell and looking back and letters and things he has tons of letters from people thanking him for this and also in later years on people have contacted my brothers with the army corps of army engineers about how much the book and i think that what ian jack lecture on all the young man did was just you know amazing to me as well as everybody in my family and i'm sure their families i don't recall exactly the first time us all of the conflict by a bubble is one lapse cracked up to be like many people live in oklahoma i don't realize the diversity of

habitat types into law so a map and it was amazing and so over the years i've used that note and fletcher map also recounts in a book and a new rich presentations of publications because in order to understand wildlife management and while i've had a tear in afghanistan vegetation talks with the conflict my truth you remember the slivers simpler and you think why do older from the fifth love to have them from that that simon says management in finland of all grace mapping technology in all things would have been on that many sources of maps from more places but i still wonder conflict rico's that it would set at what's their historical embrace the data's still there after the map ms folland on the cornerstones boar before a lot of water management practices going way way back has been based on the

work of the conflict or even with today's satellite imagery if you overlay those maps they were amazingly close with all of the unique ecosystems that oklahoma has were one of the most diverse states in the nation and mr dugan mr fletcher's work was just an absolute amazement at the time and it continues to be a very useful tool that we use today but it's a liar on our digital atlas it's it's so yes in a word it's been a it's been a very helpful while a management tool for a long time and it still is today the work of dr fletcher and their teams of biologists has withstood the test of time and serves as an inspiration to curb wildlife department employees their book and they're ingenious beautiful man continues to be cited

frequently in the bibliography of biological research being conducted with in oklahoma and surrounding states thanks to the sciences many people have learned how biologically diverse oklahoma city and can truly appreciate its many different landscapes however looking at a map or reading about oklahoma city places is no substitute for experiencing in person what lester doug antczak fletcher documented so many years ago and now oklahoma is the most diverse non coastal state in the country and i'm very proud that we got alligators manilow fan and what are the states where you got whiskey gentry we've got ozark up with beautiful maple tree forests pine trees in the southeast bald cypress swamps we got the black mesa country and pamela's ten inch rainfall annually or less sixty rounds of the southeast a little bit of

something for about our white whale scale flow like they'll do you hear it is really there's something further system beautiful spot to be in assad's lamb diversity we've got plenty of water springs and rivers and across the state we have very large important reservoirs in fact i've heard said that we have more miles of shoreline in any other state in the country or maybe sum that would disagree with us but i challenge and for that they get a great fisheries program drop a large mouth bass strike that small mouth bass you know we've got it so there it is the pope

the power is back march is traditionally the beginning of the annual paddle fish running oklahoma and if you're planning on getting in on the action be aware of new regulations put in place last year mondays and fridays or catch and release days only state walk also the spring reveries clothes from the highway sixty bridge upstream to the state line sagging is also closed on the grande river from the highway for twelve bridge upstream to the market very day and between ten pm and six am year round

and the last new regulation changed last year now require special fish and worst record the date and time of harvest of each fish on their coverage permit for additional information about how fish and in oklahoma law launder wildlife department dot com today if you need a federal fishing permit for this spring did you know that you can go to wallop department dot com and print one off for forty ft if it was no time in an orphanage part of a wildlife in and how they can get hired and the best way to do that the first step is to take exams the next examines march twenty fifth that roasting college there are some minimum requirements in order to take the exam minimum is two years of college for other job openings the minimum is a four year degree says you're interested we'd love to have you come and test with us those that score in the top will be asked to fill out applications if we have openings they'll be called where now accepting applications for this summer's annual wildlife

department youth camp applicants must be between fourteen and sixteen years of age and the camp is completely free of charge the weeklong camp elder like tech selma gives campers a well rounded taste of what it's like to work for the wildlife department plus have a lot of fun at the same time the camp is limited only thirty five us so be sure to get your application in by the deadline for complete instructions on how to apply log on to wildlife department dot com it like to hunt delight to fish well then we have the perfect magazine for you it's about your vocal and it can be yours for just ten dollars a year you'll receive six issues packed full of tips and information to help you in the field subscribe by calling one eight hundred seven seven seven zero zero one nine or you can even sign up for every one in a fishing licenses or so now let's take a look at a few new lake records set across the state to state

for more information about the oklahoma like worker program wildlife department dot com today you know if you're looking for something fun to do this weekend you know you can find plenty of outdoor related events on your calendar range of wildlife department what do something green for the environment where my support wildlife it really really is it doesn't

matter where you are you know they matter what canto pattern where iran from the trees in fact the wearable why secularists and oneness up at an icelandic one day with it all